Professor Peter Guthrie CBE
Peter Guthrie is the first Professor in Engineering for Sustainable Development in the UK having held this post since 2000. His research is focused on the assessment of large scale projects for sustainability and resilience. Peter is currently a Director of Studies and Fellow of the Construction Engineering Masters programme in the Engineering Department. He is engaged in research consultancy for Arup on a five-year programme on resilience of infrastructure funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. His research has been in the sustainable development of large scale projects, and infrastructure in developing countries, including the challenging the appropriateness of technical standards, waste management, the potential for waste materials to be used as materials in construction, and the engineering of earth roads. A civil engineer with geotechnical specialisation by background, Peter has worked on roads in countries such as Nigeria, Lesotho, Sudan, Philippines Ethiopia, and Botswana, and on major infrastructure projects such as London 2012, Orange County Great Park, Channel Tunnel Rail Link, CrossRail, West Coast Mainline Route Modernisation, Birmingham and Manchester Airports, and major building projects such as Eden Project Phase 4. He was involved in the founding of RedR, a charity that provides engineers and other personnel to relief agencies in disasters. In recognition of this initiative he was awarded the prestigious Beacon Prize for charitable giving in 2005. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of DEFRA from 2003-2011. He was awarded the OBE in 1994. He was Vice-President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the late 1990s. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and is currently a member of the Academy’s programme Frontiers for Engineering Development.