Submitted by jb733 on Fri, 23/01/2026 - 00:00
We’re delighted to announce that Douglas Morley, Cohort 2, FIBE2 CDT, has successfully completed his PhD.
His doctorate research, titled “Integral bridge abutment and backfill behaviour”, sponsored by National Highways and carried out within the Geotechnical and Environmental research group under the supervision of Professor Gopal Madabhushi and Dennis Sakufiwa, investigated the soil-structure interaction behaviour of integral bridges.
Based on data obtained from centrifuge modelling and field monitoring, this research indicates that the low-maintenance integral bridge form behaves far better than typically expected, with the thesis making several suggestions for the improvement of current design practice in PD 6694-1. Douglas has achieved great success presenting this research at three conferences and published the findings in five academic journals. Douglas was also awarded with the Geotechnical and Environmental Research Group’s annual Turner Prize for outstanding work in geotechnical centrifuge testing.
Having completed his PhD, Douglas will soon begin army officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst with the aim of joining the Royal Engineers. Reflecting upon his time at Cambridge, Douglas said:
“My time at FIBE2 has been fantastic, with the CDT offering a huge amount of support throughout the PhD. As well as benefitting from the taught content in the MRes year, it has afforded me the opportunity to travel to South Korea and Japan for international conferences, as well as to South Africa to undertake a secondment at the University of Pretoria. I believe the experiences gained through being a part of FIBE CDT have been extremely valuable in preparing for life after the PhD”.
We wish Douglas all and every success for the future!