Profile
Background
Dr Abolfazl Zahedi holds PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Loughborough University (2013). During his doctoral research, he developed a crystal plasticity model to characterise the anisotropic deformation and damage behaviour of single crystals under excessive deformation. Following the completion of his PhD, he awarded the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellowship, securing funding for a year to extend his collaboration with the Mechanics of Advanced Materials Research Group at Loughborough University. Subsequently, he joined the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) at the University of Strathclyde (2014), managing industrial projects in Advanced Manufacturing disciplines and leading the forming modelling and simulation group.
In 2015, he started his position as a research fellow at the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE) at the University of Manchester. Here, he developed a discrete energy approach to understand the fracture behaviour of elastic-brittle polymers. His computational code has been integrated into the Code-aster FE software for public use.
Dr Zahedi appointed a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at De Montfort University in 2018, during which time he served as the Research Lead of the Mechanical and Aeronautical Subject Group.
In 2023 he returned to Loughborough University as a Lecturer in Mechanics of Materials.
Dr Zahedi is recognized as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and serves as an EPSRC peer review college member.
Key awards
-
Nominated for Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, De Montfort University, April 2023
-
Future Leadership Programme award, De Montfort University, May 2022
-
Most Impactful Publication Prize in the School of Engineering and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, January 2019
-
Best PhD Student Prize in the Mechanics of Advanced Materials Research Group, Loughborough University, 2013
-
Fully Funded PhD Studentship for Doctoral Study at Loughborough University, 2010
-
Appreciation Prize from the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, October 2010
-
Innovation Prize from Iran Tractor Industrial Group, August 2008