Professor Joby Boxall FREng (he/him)
PhD
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Professor of Water Infrastructure Engineering
+44 114 222 5760
Full contact details
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Room E104a
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
91直播
S1 3JD
- Profile
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My research protects public health and well-being by ensuring the quantity and quality of our drinking water and the resilience and sustainability of our water supply.
Professor Joby Boxall
Professor Joby Boxall is Chair of Water Infrastructure Engineering.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management.
He trained as a civil engineer, specialising in hydraulics. His PhD was in mixing and transport of pollutants in natural river channels.
Joby鈥檚 research is concerned with urban water (with a focus on water supply, distribution pipe networks in particular), and helps to protect public health and well-being through ensuring the quantity and quality of that supply. His research is challenge driven and involves close collaboration and trusted partnerships across the water sector.
He takes a multidisciplinary approach to ensuring the provision of sustainable water services in the face of global grand challenges such as population growth and increasing density, climate change and ageing infrastructure. Joby鈥檚 research focuses on the operation and management of water distribution systems, ranging from leakage, to water quality and asset management.
His core expertise is in hydraulic engineering, but he is known for integration and application of other disciplines to address major challenges. His interdisciplinary work ranges from applied microbiology to computer to social science. His leadership of the EPSRC Water Grand Challenges consortium is a flagship example of this.
His long-running Prediction of Discolouration in Distribution Systems research is a leading example of world leading research delivering real world impact and change. It has and continues to help water companies and their supply chain to deliver substantial service improvements in the supply of safe and wholesome drinking water through ageing pipe infrastructure, while delivering multi-million-pound efficiency savings.
He looks at the conditions inside our water pipes, including the biofilms in our water systems to ensure they don鈥檛 harbour harmful bacteria. He also investigates contaminant ingress, where dangerous contaminants can enter pipes through leaks and be transported through the pipe network.
Joby鈥檚 research aims to understand our hydraulics systems鈥 behaviour by modelling networks and using data, modelling and AI to better understand and predict where failures might occur and to inform proactive decision making.
His research on leakage ranges from fundamental understanding of fluid structure ground iterations to novel artificial intelligence based software for leak detection that has been commercialised.
Joby has taught a range of modules, from specialist masters levels modules on modelling water distribution systems, to core undergraduate modules on open channel flow and principles of hydraulics. He pioneered innovative 鈥榮elf-teach鈥 open-channel flow laboratory classes.
Joby has held a number of important roles in the Department including being Head of Department from 2017 until 2021. He was also Departmental Director of Research from 2009 to 2014, where he led the 2014 Research Excellence Framework submission.
- Publications
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- Edited books
- Journal articles
- Chapters
- Conference proceedings papers
- Reports
- Posters
- Theses / Dissertations
Edited books
Journal articles
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
Reports
Posters
Theses / Dissertations
- Research group
- Grants
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Past Grants
The role of biofilms has been identified as a critical component in material layer development on the pipe walls of distribution networks.
The EPSRC-funded Grand Challenge Centre for Water, comprising 6 UK universities and 100+ industrial partners working in collaboration to develop the sustainable water solutions of the future and to accelerate innovation uptake across the water sector.
This research is developing a fundamental understanding of the microbial ecology of intermittently operated water distribution systems to inform operational or construction risk reduction strategies.
EPSRC Water Grand Challenge consortium that is undertake exciting and ambitious scientific and engineering research to develop the complex sociotechnical solutions needed to address key challenges facing the water sector up to 2065.
- PhD opportunities
I am always keen to hear from enthusiastic talented individuals interested in various research aspects of quantity, quality and asset management for water distribution systems infrastructure. Specific funded PhD opportunities with me will be advertised on and , please keep an eye on or sign up for alerts on these sites.
Links