Dr Robert Andrew Hawksley Goodson BEng (Hons), MEng, PhD

Lecturing and curriculum development in the Mechanical Engineering.

My teaching experience has been in excess of sixteen years at Higher Education level, with eight years as a full-time Lecturer / Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.   My entire teaching experience has covered a very wide range of Mechanical Engineering disciplines, at levels ranging from HNC to MSc. As an Associate Lecturer with the Open University, I have had the opportunity to develop an understanding of Virtual Learning Environments, and also conduct one-to-one tutorials with students in HM Prisons. As a Teaching Fellow at the University of Bristol, I had the opportunity to become conversant with different VLE tools, such as ‘Blackboard’.  I contributed to teaching and assessment of Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering subjects, and developed assessment material, as well as providing detailed feedback to students.

Whilst employed by Sheffield Hallam University as a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, I became instrumental in the curriculum development and teaching of Undergraduate modules in the discipline of Food Engineering.

For a short period I was employed as a Professional Engineer by BAE Systems – Airbus UK, to develop design tools to aid designers in their task of designing & analysing aircraft wings and landing gear.  I have also been Course Manager whilst employed at Yeovil College in Somerset, where the emphasis was on the delivery of EDEXCEL courses, and the development of an engineering Foundation Degree programme.

Whilst at Nottingham Trent University I was a member of a group of engineering lecturers who oversaw local “Young Engineers” teams who designed and developed products for national competitions. In this role I also represented my department on a national forum on the teaching of mathematics at secondary education for entry to undergraduate engineering courses. I have also become involved in ‘Outreach’ activities with the Open University, by means of presenting roadshows alongside the popular BBC scientific programme – Bang Goes the Theory, with the view of widening participation in Mathematics and Engineering for the Open University.

Mechanical Engineering; Thermodynamics & Fluid Mechanics, Statics & Dynamics, Control Systems & Automation, Engineering Mathematics.

Second supervisor to PhD student undertaking research in the area of Biomechanical Engineering.

My doctorate research interest was undertaken in the field of Biomechanical numerical simulation, and in particular, to analyse the growth and rupture potential of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAAs). 

A novel analytical model was developed, which employed the Law of LaPlace and Bernoulli's equation for steady fluid flow, to predict the wall stress of AAAs.  Numerical models of AAAs were also developed, using computational engineering tools such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA).  A sequential coupled-field analysis approach was adopted to simulate the fluid-structural problem of blood flow and vascular wall stress, whereby the wall model incorporated clinically determined mechanical properties from uniaxial tensile tests of aneurysmal tissue.  The proposed models were able to predict the diameter at which failure, i.e. rupture, of the AAA may occur.  

Development and delivery of industry-relevant modules and teaching & learning material, for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Mechanical Engineering, adhering to UK-SPEC criteria.