Many congratulations to Edinburgh PhD graduate Dr Barbara Lane, Technology Group Leader at Arup and Visiting Professor of Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, on her election as Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng).

In announcing Dr Lane’s election, The Royal Academy of Engineering noted that:

"Dr Lane crystalised fire safety engineering as a profession by immersing it in the field of building design and construction. She integrated it with other disciplines by incorporating structural engineering into fire analysis, and driving competence, education, regulation and stakeholder relationships. She was one of the first to study, develop and bring to practice the explicit coupled analysis of structures and fire-generating methods that migrated from science to the mainstream. Before, fire safety engineering was a niche specialist discipline, and now it is a well-accepted mainstream profession."

Dr Lane and Arup are longtime strategic research partners, collaborators, and supporters of fire safety engineering research and education within the School of Engineering at Edinburgh; working in partnership with Chair of Fire and Structures Prof Luke Bisby and others, partnering on EPSRC-funded research projects, funding and co-supervising numerous PhD studentships, and sponsoring and participating in our BEng/MEng and taught MSc programmes in fire safety engineering. The research and education undertaken through this partnership continue to revolutionise the fire safety engineering profession globally.