DrSamar Raffoul

Marie Curie Fellow at UCD. Passionate about modern methods of construction and the role they play in addressing global social and economic concerns with regards to the availability and affordability of adequate residential dwellings. Research interests include material development, constitutive modelling, modern methods of construction, structural robustness, composite design and the optimisation of structural systems for more sustainable construction.

I completed my BSc in Civil Engineering with distinction at the University of Balamand (2011), funded by the university merit scholarship, and my MSc in Structural Engineering with honours at the University of Manchester (2012). I then acquired my PhD at the University of Sheffield (2018), where I was involved in two large pan-European collaborative projects funded through FP7 and COST, respectively. In my PhD, I investigated the use of waste tyre components, in fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) confined concrete, to develop highly deformable structural elements with reduced environmental impact.

In 2018, I worked as a KTP research associate with a cold formed steel (CFS) frame manufacturer, in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University. My work involved developing refined design solutions for their modular frame design, with regards to performance and cost, whilst ensuring compliance with safety standards and building regulations. I then worked at an offsite construction design consultancy, based in Ireland, before acquiring funding to start my Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship at UCD in 2022. My Marie Curie research focuses on connection behaviour and robustness of modular methods of construction under accidental loading. My other main focus is to disseminate the knowledge and facilitate the robust design of such structures beyond the realm of specialist designers, leading to its higher uptake in the industry. At UCD, I am member of the Modern Methods of Construction Research Group (MMCRG; https://mmcrg.ucd.ie/) and the Centre for Critical Infrastructure Research (CCIR) at the School of Civil Engineering in UCD.

Funded projects:
- PhD research stipend. Project title: Innovative Reuse of All Tyre Components in Concrete [Anagennisi]; funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013]. Grant agreement no. 603722.
- Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) research associate. Project description: To develop the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of light gauge steel building system through engineering methodologies specific to thin-walled steel sections. Funded by the UK Research and Innovation through Innovate UK. Grant no. 511020.
- Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship. Project title: Novel connection design and modelling idealisations to utilise catenary action in the disproportionate collapse resistance mechanism of cold-formed steel panelised structures [Concatenation]; funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Grant agreement no. 101029972.