Professor Duc Truong Pham OBE, FREng, FLSW, FSME, BE, PhD, DEng, CEng, FIET, FIMechE

Professor Duc Truong Pham

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Chance Professor of Engineering

Contact details

Email
d.t.pham@bham.ac.uk
Address
Mechanical Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Duc Truong Pham’s research covers the fields of mechanical, manufacturing, computer and systems engineering. 

His academic output includes more than 600 technical papers and 17 books. He has supervised over 100 PhD theses to completion. He has won in excess of £30M in external research grants and contracts. 

In addition to pursuing and leading research, he has acted as a consultant to several major companies and has been active with knowledge transfer to industry, applying the results of his work to help multinational companies and SMEs generate wealth and create and safeguard jobs. 

He has lectured extensively abroad on his research and has delivered more than fifty keynote presentations at international conferences.  He was Professeur Invité at École Centrale de Paris, Consulting Professor at HUST (China), Erskine Visiting Fellow at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Visiting Professor at the Université Paul Verlaine (France), Visiting Professor at King Saud University (Saudi Arabia), Strategic Scientist at Wuhan University of Technology and Honorary Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University (China). 

He has received several prizes including the Sir Joseph Whitworth prize from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1996 and 2000 and the Institution's Thomas Stephens Group Prize in 2001 and 2003 and Donald Julius Groen Prize in 2004, and the 5th ICMR Best Paper Prize in 2007. He is also a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award (2016, World Automation Congress) and a Distinguished International Academic Contribution Award (IEEE SMC Society TC on Enterprise Info Sys and IFIP TC8 WG8.9, 2017)

He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Learned Society of Wales, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Institution of Engineering and Technology, and Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

He was made an OBE in the 2003 New Year's Honours List for his services to Engineering.

Qualifications

  • FLSW 2011
  • FIMechE 2006
  • FIET 2005
  • FREng  2000
  • FIET 1994
  • DEng in Systems Engineering 1995
  • PhD in Robotic Assembly 1979
  • BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering 1974

Biography

Duc Truong Pham obtained his Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) degree with First-Class Honours, PhD degree and DEng degree from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His DEng degree was for published work in the field of Systems Engineering in the period 1979-1993.

Between 1979 and 1988, he held a lectureship in Control Engineering at the University of Birmingham where his research focussed on robotics and automation.

In 1988, he joined Cardiff University following his appointment to the Chair in Computer-Controlled Manufacture there. 

In 1996, he founded the Manufacturing Engineering Centre at Cardiff University.  Under his leadership, the Centre won numerous awards for its innovative manufacturing research and industrial collaboration.  Notable accolades include the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry's First Prize for “success in building lasting research partnerships with industry” and the Queen's Anniversary Prize for creating an “exceptional programme of support for firms” using the Centre’s research expertise and state-of-the-art facilities.

At Cardiff, his research encompassed the areas of intelligent systems and advanced manufacturing engineering. His projects covered topics such as knowledge-based systems for manufacturing design and quality control, robot vision and automated visual inspection systems, neural networks for non-linear systems identification and control, rapid prototyping and tooling, micro fabrication, virtual reality and multi-media intelligent product manuals.  The amount of external research grants and contracts he secured for the Centre exceeded £30M.

He returned to the University of Birmingham in 2011 to take up the position of Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering and Chance Professor of Engineering

Appointments

Present

  • Chance Professor of Engineering and Head of School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham (since October 2011).

Previous

  • Professor of Computer-Controlled Manufacture (October 1988 - September 2011) and Founder Director of the Manufacturing Engineering Centre, Cardiff University (November 1996 - September 2011). 
  • Lecturer in Control Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham (October 1979 - September 1988).

Other

  • Strategic Scientist: 2013 - 2018, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China.
  • Visiting Professor: 2010 - 2012, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  • Visiting Professor: September 2010, Université de Metz, France.
  • Erskine Visiting Fellow: July-August 1991, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
  • Consulting Professor: 1987, Huazhong University of Science &   Technology, Wuhan, China. 
  • Professeur Invité: May 1985 and January 1986, Ecole Centrale de Paris.

Prizes/Awards

Research papers

  • 5th ICMR Best Paper Prize (2007, 5th Int Conf on Manufacturing Research) (with K Popov, S Dimov and A Ivanov)
  • Donald Julius Groen Prize (2004, Institution of Mechanical Engineers) (with R Setchi)
  • Thomas Stephens Group Prize (2003, Institution of Mechanical Engineers) (with S Dimov, P V Petkov and S P Petkov)
  • Joseph Whitworth Prize (2000, Institution of Mechanical Engineers) (with X Wang)
  • Thomas Stephens Group Prize (2000, Institution of Mechanical Engineers) (with S Dimov and F Lacan)
  • Joseph Whitworth Prize (1995, Institution of Mechanical Engineers) (with E Oztemel)

Other

  • OBE for contribution to engineering (2003 New Year’s Honours)
  • Innovation Network Special Award for contribution to innovation and to the links between university and industry (1999, Cardiff University)

Research

Research Themes

Rapid manufacturing, micro manufacturing, automation, robotics, IT and intelligent systems.

Some of the major grants awarded to D T Pham as principal investigator:

  • “Automated Manufacturing Process Integrated with Intelligent Tooling Systems (AUTOMAN)” (2014-2017), Sponsor: TSB/EPSRC, Value: £286,814 
  • “Flexible tooling for the manufacture of free-form architectural cladding and facades (FLEXITOOL)” (2010-2012), Sponsor: European Commission (FP7),Value: £385,062.
  • “Research, build and test the world's first low cost integrated 1kW remote environmental monitoring system using novel platinum free liquid regenerating cathode technology” (2009 -2012), Sponsor: TSB, Value: £127,416.
  • “Intelligent robot swarm for attendance, recognition, cleaning and delivery (IWARD)” (2007-2009), Sponsor: Commission of European Communities, Value: £198,220.
  • “Digitally adjustable tooling for manufacturing of aircraft panels using multi-point forming methodology (DATAFORM)” (2006-2009), Sponsor: Commission of European Communities, Value: £433,160.
  • “Development of lithography technology for nanoscale structuring of materials using laser beam interference (DELILA)” (2006-2009),
    Sponsor: Commission of European Communities, Value: £386,980.
  • “MicroTechnologies for Re-launching European Machine Manufacturing SMEs (LaunchMicro)” (2005-2009), Sponsor: EC FP6, Value: £ 300,000.
  • “Innovative production machines and systems I*PROMS - RCMC008” (2004-2009), Sponsor: Commission of European Communities, Value: £945,102.
  • “Supporting innovative product engineering and responsive manufacture (SUPERMAN Phase 2)” (2004-2007), Sponsor: The National Assembly for Wales (European Regional Development,  Fund), Value: £2,505,348.
  • “Supporting innovative product engineering and responsive manufacture (SUPERMAN)” (2001-2003), Sponsor:The National Assembly for Wales (European Regional Development Fund), Value: £5,330,982.

Other activities

Committee Memberships

  • Member of the Research Excellence Framework 2014 Sub-Panel 12 (Aeronautical, Mechanical, Chemical and Manufacturing Engineering) (2011-2014)
  • Member of the Manufuture Implementation Support Group, European Commission (2014 - )
  • Member of Panel of Experts, G8 Research Councils Initiative on Multilateral Research Funding (Nov 2011-Apr 2012)
  • Member of the Programme Board of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (2011 – to date)
  • Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of VTT (Finland) (2009-2010)
  • Member of the Steering Group for the Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Scheme (2007-2011)
  • Member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Industrial Agents (2005 – to date)
  • Member of the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 Sub-Panel 28 (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) (2005-2008)
  • Member of the Manufacturing Industry Division Board of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (2004 - to date)
  • Member of Membership Panel 1 of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2003-2006)
  • Member of the EPSRC College of Peers (2000 - to date)
  • Member of the International Federation of Automatic Control Technical Committee for Robotics (1998 - to date)
  • Member, vice-chairman and deputy chairman of the Manufacturing Division Board of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (1998-2000)        
  • Editor-in-Chief of Cogent Engineering (2014 - )
  • Co-editor of the International Journal of Production and Manufacturing Research (2013 - ) and Associate Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science (2013 - )
  • Member of the editorial boards of several international journals including the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (2005-2006), IMechE Proceedings Part C (1999 - to date), Part B Short Communications (2002-2007), Part I (2007 - to date), Robotica (1998 - 2012), and Int J of Systems Science (1998 - 2013), International Journal of Automation and Control (2004 – to date), International Journal of Virtual and Physical Prototyping (2006 – ) and Micromachines (2010 – ) and International Journal of Advances in Systems Science and Applications (2013 - ).

Professional Affiliations

  • Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (elected in 2011)
  • Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (since 2006)
  • Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (elected in 2005)
  • Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (elected in 2000)
  • Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (since 1994)