Dr Gareth Neighbour

Gareth joined the Open University in 2019 and became Head of School in August 2021 until July 2024. Previously, he joined BCU as a Professor and Head of the School of Engineering and the Built Environment in October 2016 from Oxford Brookes, where he was a Professor and also the Head of Mechanical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. He joined Brookes in 2011 from Hull, where he formed the Materials and Process Performance Group and was Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Science, responsible for Learning and Teaching. Previously, he led the internationally recognised Bath Nuclear Materials Group. To date, he has provided independent research and advice to the nuclear and other heavy industries, including EDF Energy, the regulator, and the IAEA in Vienna. He has a substantial research income to date and has advised other universities on educational and strategic matters. He has been instrumental in major projects such as the creation of UTC Swindon, the creation of the IAEA Database on Irradiated Graphite Properties and the formulation of nationwide programmes and standards for foundation degrees in Chemical & Process industries.  Before his academic career, during 1992-1996, Gareth worked for UKAEA (trading as AEA Technology) at their Windscale plant, where, amongst other things, he managed the integration of various engineering systems. A significant proportion of Gareth's research is interdisciplinary in nature but often involves 'big data' and levels of complexity, as well as the integration of different disciplines and perspectives. However, his core interest is carbon materials, including in the energy sector, although his curiosity ranges from integrated management systems to fracture mechanics and fundamental structure-property relationships of engineering materials. Currently, the main thrust of his activity is the effectiveness of UK gas-cooled nuclear reactor core designs, particularly materials performance and the functionality of core components to support life extension using various modelling and analytical techniques. Other research interests include nuclear energy and graphite technology in general, post-irradiation evaluation of nuclear materials (inc. fuels), carbon deposition, mechanical properties of porous materials, redundancy in design, BPEO and HAZOP studies.  He has an interest in the wider aspects of carbon, such as using game theory to describe strategy selection for environmental risk and carbon emissions reduction in the green supply chain, broadening to systems theory & waste materials treatment related to design theory and the effect of risk assessment methodology has on environmental and societal decision-making. He is passionate about employer-facing education and has extensive experience in programme development and supporting apprenticeship development, including various grants from HEFCE.  He has given plenary lectures to climate change conferences on the ‘remarkable story of carbon’.  He is currently the Senior Editor of the high-impact, internationally renowned journal Carbon and a past Chair of the British Carbon Group.  He has also been a consultant to EDF Energy for over twenty years, helping to ensure the technical safety of the nuclear graphite cores as Chair of the Independent Graphite Validation Group and predecessor committees.