Congratulations to Professor Brendon Bradley of QuakeCoRE

Congratulations to Professor Brendon Bradley, winner of the 2016 Prime Minister's MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist prize.

Prof. Bradley, from the University of Canterbury, is leading worldwide research into the effects of ground shaking caused by earthquakes.

His research is already being used to set new building design codes internationally, putting emphasis on more robust designs for buildings and infrastructure of critical importance, such as hospitals, telecommunications headquarters and office blocks that are occupied by large numbers of workers. Several major rebuilding projects in Christchurch are being influenced by his findings, with an expected trickle-down effect as these new, advanced methods of engineering become the norm.

Brendon’s prize recognises his sophisticated seismic hazard analysis and assessment modelling, and pioneering ground motion simulation to identify and mitigate earthquake impacts. His modelling relies on physics-based data, examining the geological and geophysical properties of rock and soil at specific locations. This differs from traditional ground motion modelling, which is based primarily on observation and generalised information.

Super computers are helping to revolutionise his research by completing in just one day, large-scale calculations and video animations in a day that could take up to five years on a laptop.

Prof. Bradley and his team at QuakeCoRE have worked with NeSI over the past few years, and you can read more about this in our case studies: "Visualisation of Canterbury earthquake simulations" and "When getting back to basics is better than fancy new tools".

Read more on the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes website.