Athanasios Kolios

Biography

Dr Athanasios Kolios (Dip Eng, MSc, PhD, MBA, PGCAP, CEng MIMechE, FHEA) is a Senior Lecturer in Risk Management and Reliability Engineering and Director of the Energy Doctoral Training Programme at Cranfield University. He holds a five year Dip-Eng in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (Greece, 2005), followed by a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from University College London (UK, 2007) with specialization in computational methods and a PhD in probabilistic and structural engineering from Cranfield University (UK, 2010). In 2014 Dr Kolios has completed a Master in Business Administration from the School of Management at Cranfield University. Dr Kolios has contributed over the past few years in several projects related to energy systems. Working on the ETI funded NOVA VAWT Project, he has led the design of a jacket support structure, the integration of rotor components, the successful planning and execution of a scaled proof-of-concept experiment and the Life Cycle Assessment at a wind farm scale. He was involved on the development of the TEL Deltastream tidal device prototype (funded by the ERDF and the Welsh Government), on the detailed design of the support structure and the development of a novel structure-seabed interaction system, aiming to decrease installation costs. He was also the technical lead and project manager of the APP VAWT project (funded by EEDA) which aimed to deliver an innovative 50 kW Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with an integrated battery storage system. He has participated from the onset (2012) in the development of the largest Joint Industry Project related to Offshore Wind, called SLIC (Structural Lifecycle Industry Collaboration), with the participation of ten wind turbine operators, the support of two certification authorities and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), from the initial scoping study, to leading the pre-testing phase and currently managing the delivery of the main scope of the project. In 2014, Dr Kolios was awarded an EPSRC Grant (Newton Fund EP/M020339/1) as PI to perform research on the structural monitoring and reliability assessment of marine energy technologies. He is also associated with the EPSRC Renewable Energy Marine Structures Centre for Doctoral Training (2014). Dr Kolios is currently the PI and technical lead for the ELECTRA project, funded by the DECC through Aerogenerator Power Limited (APL) for the development of a novel Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, with the aim of scaling up the concept to the MW scale. Dr Kolios has been part of a team recently successful on a research proposal from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the development of a high reliability, energy self-sustainable domestic, sanitation system. Further he has completed consultancy projects for companies within the Energy industry. Dr Kolios has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, acts as a reviewer in key journals and has chaired sessions on the Risk and Integrity Management of Energy Assets. He is a member of the board of the European Academy of Wind Energy and a member of the ISSC Offshore Renewable Energy Committee. He currently leads the Risk and Reliability Engineering, Computer Simulations in Engineering Design and Renewable Energy Technologies for several MSc courses of the Energy Theme at Cranfield University. Dr Kolios is a Chartered Engineering of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has supervised MSc and PhD students through to completion.

Research Interest

Dr. Kolio's research focuses on Computing, Simulation & Modelling, Design, Strategy & Innovation, Energy Asset Management, Oil and Gas, Renewable Energy Safety, Resilience, Risk & Reliability, Structures and Materials.