Raj Das

Professor Raj Das is the Full Professor of 'Structures and Materials' and leads the ‘Simulation of Advanced Materials and Structures (SAMS)’ research group in the ‘Sir Lawrence Wackett Research Centre’ of RMIT University. He is the ‘Program Director’ in the Aerospace Engineering and Aviation discipline of the School of Engineering. He is also an honorary academic in the University of Auckland, New Zealand and the University of Quebec, Canada.

Professor Das has nearly 20 years of experience in the design, analysis and optimisation of engineering materials and structures with a focus on computational mechanics, structural optimisation, composite structures, failure analysis, and damage tolerance design.

Professor Das has published more than 350 papers in international journals and conferences in collaboration with several universities, institutes and industries. He has a PhD from Monash University, Australia, in Applied Mechanics, and has previously worked in the University of Auckland (New Zealand), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia), and the University of Manchester (UK).

Professor Das is associated with various scientific and technical societies broadly related to Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He is currently the President of the 'International Congress on Mechanical Behaviour of Materials (ICM)' and represents Australia as a ‘Director’ in the Executive Committee of the 'International Congress on Fracture (ICF)'. Within Australia, Professor Das serves as the Chair of the ‘National Committee on Applied Mechanics’ of Engineers Australia. He has chaired/co-chaired several well-known conferences (e.g., ICM-13, ACAM-8, ACCM-3, ICCM-6).

Professor Das has been granted several national and international awards and fellowships, including the ‘Computational Methods Award’ by ICCM, ‘Jim & Hazel D. Lord Emerging Faculty Fellowship’, ‘Research Excellence Award’, and ‘AUEA Emerging Researcher Award’ by the University of Auckland. He has received the ‘CONICYT Award’ from the Government of Chile, ‘Certificate of Merit Award’ from the International Association of Engineers, Hong Kong, ‘UQAC Visiting Fellowship’ from the University of Quebec, Canada, and ‘Visiting Researcher Fellowship’ from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Reserach topics
Computational Mechanics, Finite Element Methods, Multi-scale Modelling, Structural Optimisation, Composite Materials, Failure Analysis, Fracture Mechanics, Fatigue, Impact Mechanics, Metamaterials, Architected Materials.

Awards/Distinctions

• Best Paper Award in Additive Manufacturing, by the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS), presented at the 24th European Conference on Fracture (ECF-24), 26 - 30 August, 2024. Zagreb, Croatia.
• Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, July 2024 - June 2027.
• Erskine Fellowship, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, February-May, 2024.
• Sir George Julius Medal, Mechanical College of Engineers Australia, Best nominated publication in the field of Mechanical Engineering in Australia, 2023.
• Science Award, International Sustainable Aviation and Energy Research Society (SARES) for contributions to sustainable materials and composite research, 2021.
• RMIT Award for Impact and Collaboration, Multifunctional Materials and Composites Group, 2020
• Visiting Professor Fellowship, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand, 2019-.
• Visiting Researcher Fellowship, University of Sapienza, Rome, Italy, 2019.
•  International Computational Method Award, 9th International Conference on Computational Methods, Rome, Italy, 2018.
• Adjunct Faculty, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand, January, 2017-2022.
•  Invited Foreign Faculty in the GIAN program, Ministry of Education, India, 2017. 
• Visiting Scholars Fellowship (VSF), University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2014.
• Early Career Research Excellence Award, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2013.
• AUEA Emerging Researcher Award, Auckland University Engineers Association (AUEA), New Zealand, 2013.
• Visiting Fellowship (Professeur Associé), Department of Applied Sciences, University of Quebec, Canada, 2012.
• CONICYT Award, Ministry of Education, Government of Chile, Chile, 2011-2012 (out of 28 worldwide awardees).
• Jim & Hazel D. Lord Emerging Faculty Fellowship, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2011.
• Faculty Top Teachers Award, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2010.
• Adjunct Faculty (Professeur Associé), Department of Applied Sciences, University of Quebec (Université du Québec) at Chicoutimi, Canada, September, 2010- September, 2013.
• Certificate of Merit Award (Five Best Papers Award) in World Congress in Engineering, International Association of Engineers, Hong Kong, 2008.
• S.K. Basu Memorial Award for Academic Excellence, Jadavpur University Alumni Association, 1999: Awarded in recognition for academic accomplishments in Bachelor of Engineering.

Media Statements / Interviews

• Herald Sun, 21 March 2024, “Call for overhaul after Ballarat Gold Mine tragedy”, https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Ftruecrimeaustralia%2Fpolice-courts-victoria%2Fcall-for-site-general-manager-of-the-mine-to-be-immediately-stood-down-after-fatal-tragedy%2Fnews-story%2F80a7f2b07cf2290170af9f9f4b66d6b5&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=GROUPA-Segment-2-NOSCORE
• Manufacturers’ Monthly, 2023, “Australia’s first moon rover unveiled”, https://www.manmonthly.com.au/first-australian-moon-rover-unveiled/
• Au-Manufacturing (Australian Manufacturing Forum), 2021, “Fibres and composites transforming industry: Supporting research and development for composite advancement”, https://www.aumanufacturing.com.au/fibres-and-composites-transforming-industry-supporting-research-and-development-for-composite-advancement
• Joyce Foam Limited, 2019, “RMIT research proves Hygroflex provides more comfort and is more effective in reducing pressure sores than traditional memory foams”, https://www.joyce.com.au/news/hygroflex, (accessed 15/8/2019).
• Advances in Engineering, 2019, “Inspiration from nature: Functionally Graded Structure; from design to manufacture Numerical and experimental study on deformation of 3D-printed polymeric functionally graded plates” by Madeh Amirpour, 27 July, 2019 (accessed 15/8/2019), https://advanceseng.com/functionally-graded-structure-deformation-3d-printed-polymeric-functionally-graded-plates/
• Advanced Science News, 2016, “Three Decades of Auxetics Research – Materials with Negative Poisson’s ratio: A Review”, by Sandra Kalveram, 30 June, 2016 (accessed 15/8/2019), https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/three-decades-auxetics-research-materials-negative-poissons-ratio-review/

Professional Appointments/Service

   International Committees and Organisations

• Visiting Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai, India, January 2024 - January 2026.
• Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, July 2024 - June 2027.
• Vice President, International Congress (Committee) on Fracture, June, 2023 -.
• SPHERIC Steering Committee (Elected), SPH rEsearch and engineeRing International Community (SPHERIC), 2023 -.
• Elected Member of the FWO Review College, Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Belgium, January 2023- December 2025.
• IUTAM Congress Committee Member (Elected), International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), November 2022 – October 2026. https://iutam.org/a-propos/iutams-congress-committee-executive-committee/
• Chair (Elected), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Australian Section, July, 2022 -
• Vice-Chair (Elected), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Australian Section, July, 2021 – June, 2022 -.( https://community.asme.org/australia_section/groupleadership.aspx).
• Treasure (Elected), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Australian section, July, 2020 - June, 2021.
• International Panel Member, Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik Summit (Global Summit of Overseas and Resident Indian Scientist and Academicians), organised by the Government of India, 2–31 October, 2020.
• President (Elected), International Congress on Mechanical Behaviour of Materials (ICM), June, 2019 – (Affiliated Organisation of IUTAM).
• Executive Committee Member (Elected) and Council Member, International Congress (Committee) on Fracture (one of the Directors in the 15 member ExCo), June, 2017 -.
• Adjunct Faculty, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2017-2021.
• Adjunct Faculty (Professeur Associé), Department of Applied Sciences, University of Quebec, Canada, September, 2010- September, 2013.
• Council Member (Elected), European Society for Experimental Mechanics (EURASEM), July, 2022 -.
• Curriculum Review Committee, Faculty of Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa, 2015-.

National Committees and Organisations

• Member of Standards Australia Committees and Joint Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand Committees, BD-059 Demolition of Structure, 2022 -
• Engineers Australia, Member of the National Congress, Engineers Australia, 2022
• Engineers Australia Award Panel, Mechanical College Awards (Sir George Julius Medal, AGM Michell Medal), Engineers Australia, 2022-2023
• Accreditation Panel for Engineering, Engineers Australia, January 2022 –.
• College National Committees Congress Delegate (Elected), National Committees of the Engineers Australia (EA), 1 January 2022 – 31 December 2025.
• Executive Committee Member (Elected), National Committee on Space Engineering, Electrical College, Engineers Australia (EA), January 2022 –.
• Executive Committee Member (Elected), Mechanical College Victoria Branch Committee, Engineers Australia, January 2022 –.
• Chair (Elected), National Committee on Applied Mechanics, Mechanical College of the Engineers Australia (EA), June, 2018 – December, 2024.
• Deputy Chair (Elected), National Committee on Applied Mechanics, Mechanical College of the Engineers Australia  (EA), November, 2014 - May, 2018.
• National Panel Member, ‘Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank Program’, Shine Dome, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, 2010 (14 researchers from across Australia were selected for the “Innovation and New Technology” theme).
• Elected Committee Member, National Committee on Applied Mechanics, Mechanical College of Engineers Australia (EA), November, 2009-.

Plenary/Keynotes/Invited Speakers

• Plenary Speaker, 24th European Conference on Fracture (ECF24), 26 June – 30 August, 2024, Zagreb, Croatia.
• Plenary Speaker, 11th Australasian Congress on Applied Mechanics (ACAM-11), 7-9 February, 2024, Brisbane, Australia.
• Keynote Speaker, 6th Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics (ACCM6), 6-8 December, 2023, Melbourne, Australia.
• Plenary Speaker, 7th International Conference on Structural Integrity and Durability, 19 - 22 September 2023, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
•  Keynote Speaker, 12th Asian-Australasian Conference on Composite Materials (ACCM12), 25-28 April, 2023, Hangzhou, China.
• Plenary Speaker, 19th International Conference of Experimental Mechanics (ICEM2022), 17-21 July, 2022, Krakow, Poland.
• Keynote Speaker, International Symposium on Sustainable Aviation (ISSA), 26-28 July, 2023, Tainan, Taiwan.
• Keynote Speaker, 5th International Conference on Applications of Fluid Dynamics (ICAFD-2020), 13-15 December, 2020, VIT-AP University, Vijayawada, India, December.
• Plenary Speaker, 6th Asia-Pacific International Conference on Computational Methods in Engineering (ICOE2019), 27-30 September, 2019, Dalian, China
• Keynote Speaker, 8th International Conference on Structural Integrity and Fracture (SIF2013), 11 - 12 July, 2013, Melbourne, Australia (organised by Australian Fracture Society).
• Keynote Speaker, 5th International Conference on Structural Analysis of Advanced Materials (ICSAAM-2013), 23 – 26 September, 2013, Island of Kos, Greece.
• Invited Speaker, International Conference on Global Challenges and Prospects of Jute and Allied Fibres, Kolkata, India, 4-6 December, 2013.
• Invited Speaker, 6th International Conference on CFD in Oil & Gas, Metallurgical and Process Industries, Trondheim, Norway, 10-12 June, 2008.
• Conference Program Chairs, 3rd International Conference on Nanomaterials and Electronics Engineering (ICNEE), 5-6 October, 2013, Melaka, Malaysia.