William Powrie
FREng (University of Southampton)
Professor Powrie is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering within the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton. His main technical areas of interest are transport infrastructure and sustainable waste and resource management, underpinned by an understanding of fundamental soil behaviour. Professor Powrie is also a Geotechnical Consultant for the internationally leading groundwater control company, WJ Groundwater Ltd. He is also a co-author of two Construction Industry Research and Information (CIRIA) reports incorporating the results of my research in groundwater control (C515) and embedded retaining walls (C580). He currently leads TRACK21, a major EPSRC-funded research consortium with the aim of revolutionising techniques for railway track design, construction and maintenance. Professor Powrie’s research on waste and resource management focuses on landfill science and engineering and has led to the development of methods to improve resource recovery and reduce the pollution potential from landfills. He has also worked on the design and engineering risk assessment of the low-level radioactive waste repositories at Drigg, and from 2004-2010, chaired the Technologies Advisory Committee for Defra’s £30m programme of research and demonstrator projects for new technologies for the treatment of biodegradable waste.