Young members are represented within the SECED by the Young Members' Subcommittee (YMSC). The aim of the YMSC is to provide a platform to showcase the talent of young members to the wider community, promote collaboration amongst students and young professionals, enhance knowledge in the fields of earthquake engineering and civil engineering dynamics and sharing ideas and concerns with the wider membership of the Society. They all share a passion for earthquake and engineering dynamics and have already shown great enthusiasm and ideas in the early meetings. Included as part of this section are brief bias of each YMSC member.
| Mohamed Elzeadani | YMSC Chair |
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Mohamed is a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Research Fellow in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on enhancing connection ductility for the safe design of timber structures under both static and dynamic loading. His technical interests revolve around the response of structures to extreme loads and ways to ensure safety and robustness in structural design. Mohamed holds a PhD from Imperial College London, as well as a MSc (Structural Engineering) and a BEng (Civil Engineering) from Universiti Putra Malaysia. |
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Maria Liapopoulou |
YMSC Immediate Past Chair |
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Maria is a Brunel Fellow of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on developing an integrated design framework for energy-efficient and safe construction. She holds a PhD and an MSc (Dist) in Earthquake Engineering from Imperial College London and an MEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She also has teaching experience as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Imperial and as a supervisor at St John’s and Pembroke College at Cambridge, and she is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. |
| Zeyad Khalil | YMSC Elected Member |
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Zeyad is a PhD Scholar at Imperial College London. His research is focusing on the seismic performance and risk assessment of renewable energy structures with particular emphasis on offshore wind farms. In addition, Zeyad's recent research work involved the numerical investigation of the fatigue-induced fracture in steel components undergoing low-cycle fatigue. Zeyad has also been involved in the collaborative European project FAILNOMORE where he has contributed to the development of a design manual on the design of steel and composite buildings against progressive collapse. Zeyad obtained his MSc degree in Earthquake Engineering with Distinction from Imperial College London in 2020 and his BSc degree in Civil Engineering with First Class Honours from the German University in Cairo in 2018, where he completed his BSc project and thesis at the Institute of Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. |
| Ashraf Nayel | YMSC Elected Member |
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Ashraf is a PhD Candidate at Imperial, working on the response and protection of historical masonry structures under blast loads. He holds a B.Sc. from Benha University and an M.Sc. from Cairo University. With extensive experience in structural design, he has worked on projects ranging from private dwellings and multi-story buildings to bridges and tunnels, primarily across Egypt and the MENA region, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. He has also collaborated on projects with European partners from Italy and France. Additionally, Ashraf has been involved in assessing the condition of existing structures and designed strengthening and repair interventions with on-site support when necessary. Moreover, Ashraf contributed to the Egyptian Codes of Practice (ECP) as a technical secretary and subcommittee member for ECP 201 (Design of Prestressed Concrete) and ECP 208 (Design of PFRP and Composite Structures). |
| Jessica Christie | YMSC Elected Member |
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Jessica is a Civil Engineer at AtkinsRéalis working within the Nuclear & Power industry of the UK. She is currently seconded to Rolls-Royce SMR and is working within the Civil, Structural, and Architecture team. She holds an MEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering from the University of Bristol where she completed a research project, in which a comprehensive analysis was undertaken on raw vibration data, producing the input for a generated and validated neural network, to generate an algorithm capable of detecting damage preventatively for the application to offshore wind turbines. Her technical interests include galloping and vortex shedding instability, incremental dynamic analysis, and seismic risk management. |
| Atif Rasheed | YMSC Elected Member |
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Atif is a PhD Scholar in the Emerging Structural Technologies group at Imperial College London. His research is centred on developing innovative and low-cost solutions to enhance the seismic resilience of vulnerable communities in developing regions. Atif holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology and a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Pakistan. Before pursuing his doctoral studies, Atif served as a Lecturer at NUST for three years. He played a pivotal role in the development of seismic hazard maps that have been incorporated into the updated Pakistan Building Code, demonstrating his commitment to improving the country’s preparedness for seismic events. His research interests include seismic hazard analysis, disaster risk reduction, and the development of strategies for resilient infrastructure in earthquake-prone regions. |
| Maria Maglio | YMSC Elected Member |
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Maria Maglio is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Salerno, Italy. Her research focuses on the seismic design and probabilistic assessment of steel moment-resisting frames, with particular emphasis on innovative damage-free connection systems such as FREEDAM. She achieved her PhD in Risk and Sustainability in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Systems from the University of Salerno, where she investigated force-based seismic design methodologies in European and Japanese practice. She has been a visiting researcher at Nagoya Institute of Technology (Japan) and City, University of London (UK). Her current work involves developing design criteria for predefined collapse mechanisms in steel seismic-resistant structures using the Theory of Plastic Mechanism Control. More recently, she has expanded her research to the seismic performance of aluminium structural elements for building applications. |
| James Douglas | YMSC Elected Member |
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James is a Senior Engineer working at AtkinsRéalis and his work focusses on the seismic analysis in the Nuclear industry. After graduation from the University of Sheffield with an MEng in Mechanical Engineering, he joined an AtkinsRéalis team that specialises in Structural Dynamics. He has worked on design of nuclear safety-classified structures on Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C projects, as well as other nuclear new-build sites in France. In addition, he has worked on defence projects, performing substantiations for existing and new structures with a safety-case requirement to consider a seismic hazard. James is currently responsible for leading seismic analysis teams in AtkinsRéalis and is active in developing new methodologies. |