Pro Vice-Chancellor, Engagement and International

Professor Hywel Thomas

Professor Hywel Thomas is Pro Vice-Chancellor, Engagement and International, Professor of Civil Engineering, and Founder Director of the Geoenvironmental Research Centre (GRC) at the School of Engineering.

A former Director of the School of Engineering from 2002 to 2010, he has also served as Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor, Engagement.

Professor Thomas has been at Cardiff since 1980, following five years work in industry. His research interests range from land regeneration to coupled multiphysics/geochemistry problems in soils, to sustainability issues in general.

During the course of his distinguished academic career at Cardiff, he has been awarded, in conjunction with colleagues, external research income of more than £28M, largely received from the European Commission and the UK Research Councils. He has produced more than 400 technical papers and reports and has lectured extensively both home and aboard on his research.

Professor Thomas is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, a Fellow of the Transport Research Foundation, and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is also the recipient of a UNESCO Chair in the Development of a Sustainable Geoenvironment, focussing initially on work with India and West Africa.

Professor Thomas has recently been awarded a major research contract (SEREN) to investigate a number of low-carbon Geo-Energy problems, namely ground source heat, carbon sequestration and underground coal gasification.