The team

For enquiries, please contact Dr Eddie McCarthy (FastBlade Manager) at Ed.McCarthy@ed.ac.uk.

Principal Investigator

  • Dr Edward McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Composite Design and Testing at the School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh

Design and Manufacturing Lead

Data Scientist

Dr Sergio Antonio Lopez Dubon is in charge of developing the facility's data structure and the data analysis's main algorithms. Moreover, he will lead the design and implementation of new data-driven algorithms to improve FastBlade's performance and the study of the different tested specimens. This will reduce the time of new technology transfer, helping FastBlade be at the vanguard of fatigue testing of composites structures.

Before joining FastBlade, Sergio obtained a civil engineer degree and a master's in hydrology. He worked for a hydrometeorological service for a few years, where he started to handle big data problems. Later, he completed a PhD focused on long-term river morphodynamics, using a physical-statistical modelling approach, which was completed from 2014 to 2018. Following that, he worked in Italy as a data scientist in the industry. His role centred on developing quasi-real-time control algorithms for big data environmental measurements, and the design and implementation of relational algorithms, for data-driven support decisions.

Engineering Technician

Graham Miller comes from a heavy engineering background with a wealth of experience in electrical power generation, including wind, thermal and  energy from waste. Since joining the team, he has been heavily involved with the set-up and commissioning of the facility with a particular emphasis on the set-up of the control, monitoring, and safety systems, along with their associated instrumentation. Graham’s focus is now split between day-to-day maintenance tasks in the facility and the adaptation of our electrical and instrumentation systems to each new test specimen, tailored to our clients' requirements.

Student projects and placements

Find out more about the students that have contributed to the design and development of FastBlade throughout a wide range of projects. If you are interested in a student project or placement please contact us.