Simon Iwnicki

Biography

Simon Iwnicki graduated from Manchester University with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering then worked as a maintenance engineer at Chloride Motive Power in the 1980s working on battery production and electric vehicle design. He undertook a PhD in the dynamics of underground railway vehicles sponsored by the National Coal Board at South Bank University in London. He spent 21 years as Lecturer and Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University teaching and carrying out research into the interaction between railway vehicles and track where, in 1998, he set up the Rail Technology Unit which provided expert advice and solutions for the railway industry. In 2012 he joined the University of Huddersfield as Professor of Railway Engineering and Director of the Institute of Railway Research.

Research Interest

Professor Iwnicki’s main research activities are in the field of wheel-rail contact and computer modelling of railway vehicle suspensions, a small and highly specialised area which has a major influence on the design of railway vehicles and track. He has been working in this area for over 25 years and has built up a substantial international reputation for this work, providing not only valuable practical solutions to specific problems in the industry, but making significant contributions to the understanding of some of the fundamental mechanisms of the wheel-rail interaction on which the safe and economical operation of railways depends. At the University of Huddersfield Professor Iwnicki leads the Institute of Railway Research (IRR) which has an international reputation for excellent research and support to industry in the core area of railway vehicle dynamics modelling, wheel-rail interface engineering and vehicle-track interaction. The IRR was set up in 2012 with the transfer of the Rail Technology Unit from Manchester Metropolitan University and plays an important part to the vibrant and rapidly growing research community within the University of Huddersfield which aims to become an internationally recognised research-led institution, solving the problems and answering the questions posed by industry, science and society as a whole. The IRR is involved in EPSRC and EU funded projects including current projects: DYNOTRAIN which aims to increase the use of computer simulation in the introduction of new railway vehicles and SUSTRAIL and SPECTRUM which aim to increase modal shift of freight from road to rail.