BOCIAN DYNAMICS LAB

Dr Mateusz Bocian

LAB LEAD

Mateusz graduated with BEng degree in Civil Engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh in 2009, being awarded the Watt Club Medal. He obtained a PhD scholarship funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) via Doctoral Training Account at the University of Bristol, for a project run in 2009-2014 jointly supported by the Department of Civil Engineering (Prof. John Macdonald) and the Department of Mechanical Engineering (Dr Jeremy Burn). In early 2014 he joined the Vibration Engineering Section at the University of Exeter as an Associate Research Fellow working on EPSRC-funded Platform Grant "Dynamic performance of large civil engineering structures: an integrated approach to management, design and assessment". Upon the completion of that project, he joined the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield as a Research Associate working on EPSRC-funded project "Synchronisation in dynamic loading due to occupants of vibration-sensitive structures". In 2014-2015 Mateusz worked as a project engineer for Full Scale Dynamics, a specialist company offering consultancy services on vibration serviceability. Mateusz was appointed a Lecturer in Structural Dynamics at the University of Leicester in 2015. In 2015-2018 he was a Scientific Advisor at the Advanced Structural Dynamics Evaluation Centre (ASDEC) - the UK's first commercial 3D laser measurement and modal identification facility located within MIRA Technology Park. In 2016 he was awarded a Prospects Fund for the development of augmented reality platform for the visualisation of vibration data and in 2018 he was presented the Digital Innovation Partnership Award. In 2018 he was awarded funding to set up the Biomechanics & Immersive Technology Laboratory and in 2019 he was appointed the director of the Dynamics, Vibration & Acoustics Laboratory. He was a part of the multidisciplinary ensemble who won the Research Team of the Year Award at Discovering Excellence Staff Awards 2019. He was chosen as one of twenty Great Minds at the University of Leicester in 2019. Mateusz was a Co-Investigator (and Principal Investigator for Leicester) on £3.25M EPSRC-funded VSimulators project, led by Prof. James Brownjohn (University of Exeter), which represents the highest investment ever made by the Research Councils UK (now UK Research and Innovation) in research on vibration serviceability. Mateusz is a Chartered Engineer registered with the Engineering Council UK and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). He was an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Bristol between 2014 and 2022. In 2015-2018 he held a position of a Guest Lecturer at the University of Leeds. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now AdvanceHE) and a member of the Engineering Professors' Council, and the International Association for Bridge Maintenance and Safety (IABMAS). Mateusz joined the Department of Roads, Bridges, Railways and Airports at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, where he currently holds a position of Associate Professor, in September 2020. He was awarded the degree of doctor habilitated in 2022. He was appointed a member of the Royal Society International Exchanges Committee for the tenure which commenced on the 1st of January 2024.

Dr Marco Teichgraeber

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Marco graduated with MEng Bridge Engineering degree from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Wrocław University of Sicence and Technology in 2015. He then conducted doctoral studies at the same institution under the supervision of Prof. Jan Biliszczuk between 2015 and 2020, and in 2021 he succesfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Durability assessment of cables in cable-stayed bridges based on structural health monitoring system data". The Faculty's Scientific Discipline Board awarded the dissertation with distinction. He is an author or co-author of dozens of publications, including a monograph entitled "Concrete beam bridges built using cantilever methods". He was a supervisor of several BEng and MEng projects. He has been an academic lead of the scientific students group "Young Bridge Builders", where he is involved in cross-curricular training for students in modern computer FEM software. In addition to his research and teaching work, he has been involved in numerous bridge design projects. This started during an internship undertaken in 2014 at the Leonhard, Andrä und Partner design office in Dresden, Germany. Since 2015 he has worked as a consultant for Mosty-Wrocław Research and Design Office. As part of this committment, he is responsible for providing annual reports on the the Rędziński Bridge - the biggest single-pylon concrete cable-stayed bridge in Poland, for the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA). In 2021 he was a member of the team entrusted with formulating a diagnosis and fixing the University Bridge in Bydgoszcz. In addition to the static analysis of the assembly stages of that bridge, he was also involved in the durability assessment of the stay cables using the algorithms developed during the course of his doctoral project.

Marco joined Dr Bocian's Lab in July 2022.

Bronisław (Bronek) Czaplewski

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Bronek obtained MEng degree in civil engineering with a specialisation in bridge engineering from Wrocław University of Science and Technology (WUST) in 2017. During his studies he was an active member of the Young Bridge Engineers Society, participating in various research trips, conferences and bridge design competitions. A highlight of that period was a co-authored presentation delivered at infraMOST conference in Wisła, Poland, entitled “Bridge competitions for university students – teaching and research values”. It was during the course of his studies that Bronek grew an interest in developing design tools for structural analysis. One of such tool was used during his final year project at bachelor degree level, supervised by Dr Paweł Hawryszków, the results of which were presented at the First Students Conference on Bridges and Tunnels in Warsaw in 2017. Prior to joining Dr Bocian’s Lab, Bronek worked as a site engineer for 1.5 years and then in a design office for 2.5 years. A highlight of his work as a site engineer was involvement in construction of a four-span 170 metres long road bridge, executed via longitudinal sliding method. Bronek was also responsible for the construction of a two-span road bridge built with precast prestressed concrete beams. A highlight of his work as a design engineer was the detailed design of a three-level road junction situated within the eastern bypass of Warsaw. The biggest design achievement so far has been a project of a new railway line running through the mountainous areas of southern Poland near Cracow and Zakopane. Bronek is now a chartered engineer with full Polish qualifications towards designing bridge structures.

Bronek joined Dr Bocian’s Lab in April 2021.

Dr Wentao Yin

Wentao completed a doctoral project under the supervision of Dr Mateusz Bocian and Prof. Jingzhe Pan at the University of Leicester, UK, in 2024. His disertation was entitled "Crowd dynamics and its consequences for structural stability".