Dr Esdras Ngezahayo BSc, MSc, PhD, MCIHT

• PhD in Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2020
• MSc in Geotechnical Engineering and Management, University of Birmingham, 2014
• BSc in Civil Engineering and Environmental Technology, 2012

Dr Esdras Ngezahayo graduated with a BSc in Civil Engineering and Environmental Technology in 2012. He completed his MSc in Geotechnical Engineering and Management in 2014 and went on to study for a PhD in Civil Engineering graduating in 2020, both degrees from the University of Birmingham. Esdras has over a decade of experience in Higher Education, both overseas and in the UK. Prior to his current position, he worked at the School of Engineering as a Postgraduate Teaching Associate, Researcher, Research Fellow, and Teaching Fellow. Esdras published in peer reviewed journals, international conferences and contributed many technical reports and presentations. Recently, one of his papers was awarded the best from the UK on roads adapting to change for the World Winter Service and Road Resilience Congress in Calgary, Canada. The award was presented to him by the Minister for Transport, CIHT and PIARC in the UK.

Esdras teaches or has taught on the following modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (BEng, MEng, MSc):

• Level 2: Geotechnical Engineering 1
• Level 3: Integrated Design Project 3
• MSc Road Management and Engineering (RME): Road Asset Management
• MSc Geotechnical Engineering (GE): Analytical Approaches in Geotechnical Engineering
• Level 2, 3, 4, and MSc GE: Geotechnical laboratory experiments

Esdras is currently supervising 9 Individual Projects for MSc students in Geotechnical Engineering, Road Management and Engineering, and Advanced Engineering Management programmes.

Esdras is accepting PhD students and also welcoming postdoctoral researchers and academic visitors. Applicants could be interested in projects, with physical and numerical investigative approaches, related to characterisation and deformation of geomaterials, problematic (collapsible, erodible, and expansive) soils, buried structures and facilities, vertical and lateral soils erodibility, infrastructure resilience and adaptability, innovative materials and technologies for sustainable infrastructure, road and railway infrastructure, local and rural roads, amongst others.

Esdras recently worked on the Climate Resilient Sustainable Road Pavement Surfacings (CRISPS, https://more.bham.ac.uk/hvt-crisps/about-the-project/) project, investigating the use of modified epoxy asphalt surfacing, modified epoxy chip seal, and fibre mastic asphalt as long-life pavement options for LICs. He utilised Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to develop robust quality control and anti-fraud systems to control the content of epoxy in the modified bituminous binder. He then used HDM-4 to perform lifecycle analysis of modified epoxy asphalt, modified epoxy chip seal, fibre mastic asphalt to investigate the viability and benefits of these technologies over the traditional asphalt surfacings commonly used in Ethiopia such as asphalt concrete and double bituminous surface treatment. Esdras also supported the constructability of trials in Ethiopia. Prior, Esdras investigated the effect of geotextiles in reducing sub-ballast flow and hence stabilising subgrade soils while also preventing pumping of fines at the surface of ballasted railways. During his PhD, Esdras studied the erodibility of soils in local and rural roads, developing predictive models for soils erodibility in highly compacted grounds. He had previously investigated the impacts of shrink-swell soils on buried pipes and is an integral member of the education sector at the National Buried Infrastructure Facility (NBIF).

Esdras is currently a co-investigator on two projects:

• Social accessibility and social equity in global transport systems, a special project of the World Road Association, PIARC.
• Challenge Based Learning (CBL), a HEFi education enhancement project.

Esdras is active in the following activities and bodies:

• Chattered Institution of Highways and Transportation (MCIHT)
• West Midland Geotechnical Society (MGS)
• British Red Cross: Volunteer
• Sustainability Journal: Special Issue Guest Editor
• Peer reviewer: IJCI Journal, Sustainability Journal