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Biography

Dr M. Amir Siddiq is a Reader in Solid Mechanics and Materials at the ºÚÁÏÍø, specialising in computational solid mechanics, multiscale materials modelling, structural integrity and data-driven engineering. With more than two decades of international academic and industrial experience, his research develops predictive computational frameworks linking material microstructure, deformation and damage to engineering performance and failure.

He is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA), Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FIMechE), and Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM). He has been included in the Stanford/Elsevier global Top 2% Scientists rankings in multiple years and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers.

Dr Siddiq has led and contributed to research programmes exceeding £3 million across advanced manufacturing, hydrogen energy systems, offshore engineering and computational modelling. His research spans hydrogen-material interactions, deformation and failure, residual stresses, stress corrosion cracking, advanced manufacturing and AI/data-driven mechanics.

His academic and professional service includes membership of an EPSRC Prioritisation Panel and election as a Councillor of the Scottish Association for Metals. He has supervised 14+ PhD researchers to completion, examined more than 20 doctoral theses internationally, and coordinates the MSc Advanced Mechanical Engineering and MSc Advanced Structural Engineering programmes.

Before joining Aberdeen, he worked at the Max-Planck Institute for Metal Research, Robert Bosch GmbH, the University of Sheffield, KAUST, the University of Strathclyde and the Advanced Forming Research Centre, alongside academic appointments in Pakistan.

Prizes and Awards

Research Recognition

• Top 2% Scientist Worldwide, Stanford University / Elsevier
• 100+ peer-reviewed publications, h-index 24
• £3M+ research funding secured from research councils and industry

Teaching, Supervision & Leadership Recognition

• University Teaching Awards — Nominee, 2024/25: Excellence in Student Support; Best Postgraduate Taught Lecturer; Excellence in Assessment & Feedback
• Teaching Excellence Award — Nominee, 2016; 2021–2026
• Research Supervision Excellence Award — Nominee, 2022 & 2023
• Excellence in Leadership Award — Nominee, 2022
• Best Teacher Award, Automotive Engineering, NED University, 2010

Research Overview

Dr Amir Siddiq’s research combines computational and experimental mechanics, materials modelling, and data-driven engineering to understand and predict deformation, damage and failure in engineering materials and structures.

His work integrates crystal plasticity finite element modelling (CPFEM), multiscale mechanics, experimental characterisation, and AI/ML to develop predictive models and digital twins for materials, manufacturing and structural integrity.

Core research areas include:

• Multiscale deformation, damage and fracture of engineering materials
• Crystal plasticity and constitutive modelling, including AI-assisted predictive mechanics
• Advanced manufacturing and process modelling, including additive, forming, joining and machining processes
• Hydrogen–material interactions, corrosion and structural integrity of energy infrastructure
• Offshore and renewable energy engineering, including pipeline, wind and marine systems

His research seeks to connect physical experiments, computational modelling and data-driven methods to improve material design, manufacturing processes and the reliability of engineering systems.

Current Research

Amir's research group focusses on a variety of materials and their behaviour along with different types of industrial manufacturing processes. We currently are working on the following projects.

• Microstructure-sensitive deformation and damage in dual-phase titanium alloys for aerospace applications
• Hydrogen-assisted degradation and structural integrity of metallic energy infrastructure
• Physics-informed machine learning for constitutive modelling and digital twins

We are always looking for outstanding PhD students, if you are interested in working on any of the above projects then please don't hesitate to contact me.

Knowledge Exchange

Dr Amir Siddiq has worked extensively with industry and research organisations to translate computational mechanics and materials modelling into engineering applications. Collaborations have included Robert Bosch, SKF, Boeing, Rolls-Royce, DSTL, Lloyd’s Register, AFRC/NMIS and Wilkinson Coutts Engineering.

Selected collaborations include:

• Automotive engineering – Robert Bosch: Dynamic modelling and response of automotive window-lift motor assemblies.
• Materials processing – SKF: Development of computational methods for simulation of diffusion and carburisation processes.
• Ultrasonic manufacturing – University of Sheffield, DSTL & Solidica: Macroscale modelling of ultrasonic consolidation.
• Advanced forming and residual stresses – AFRC and industrial partners: Modelling, experimental characterisation and residual-stress prediction for titanium forming, incremental sheet forming and quenched aerospace components.
• Marine and structural integrity – DSTL & Lloyd’s Register: Computational modelling of stress-corrosion cracking and underwater shock response of marine structures.
• Digital fitness-for-service – Wilkinson Coutts Engineering: Development of a digital framework for fitness-for-service assessment and structural integrity evaluation.

Collaborations

Collaborations and Funding

Collaborations span academia, industry, and government-funded research programmes including EPSRC, Chevron, Shell, Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Bosch, SKF, KAUST, Max Planck Institute, and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

Funding and Grants

Chevron Corporation (Co-I)   
Title: Long-term degradation of buried subsea pipeline coatings
Amount: £100,430
Period of award: 3 years (2024–2027)

EPSRC – New Materials and Methods for Hydrogen Transport and Storage (Co-I)
Title: Repurposing the economic future of the North Sea
Amount: £232,480
Period of award: 2025–2027

King Saud University, Saudi Arabia (Consultant)
Title: Development of a computational framework for laser-assisted 3D metal printing of biomedical components using novel metastable beta titanium alloys
Amount: £326,800
Period of project: 2026–2027

UKRI/EPSRC Research in Residence – National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (PI)
Title: A computational framework to understand and predict microstructure-dependent sporadic fracture behaviour in near-beta titanium alloys
Amount: £38,087
Period of award: 2024–2026

Petroleum Technology Development Fund (Co-I)
Title: Characterising and optimising the mechanical performance of additively manufactured titanium alloys
Amount: £55,300
Period of award: 2021–2025

Net Zero Technology Centre and Industry Partners (Co-I).
Title: Repurposing pipeline infrastructure for hydrogen and COâ‚‚ transportation in the UKCS using digital twins
Amount: £109,000
Period of project: 2023–2024

Oil & Gas Technology Centre / Chevron (Co-I)
Title: Longevity and fate of structures left in place
Amount: £200,000
Period of award: 2020–2024

Shell UK (Co-I)
Title: Post-decommissioning monitoring
Amount: £303,000
Period of award: 2020–2022

ºÚÁÏÍø Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Award / Wilkinson Coutts Engineering (PI)
Title: Framework for digitalisation of the fitness-for-service assessment process
Amount: £10,000
Period of award: 2020

Scottish Funding Council / Clockwise Technologies Ltd (Co-I)
Title: Induced Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Impact Cut (IDBTIC)
Amount: £122,280
Period of award: 2019–2023

Apache Ltd (PI)
Title: Hydrogen-induced stress corrosion cracking in steels
Amount: £60,000
Period of award: 2015–2021

EPSRC (PI)
Title: A multiscale constitutive model for intragranular ductile damage during sheet-metal forming processes
Amount: £100,000
Period of award: 2014–2016

DSTL UK (Co-I)
Title: A computational framework for underwater shock response of marine structures
Amount: £30,000
Period of award: 2014–2015

DSTL UK / Lloyd’s Register (Co-I)
Title: Multiscale modelling of stress corrosion cracking using peridynamics
Amount: £45,000
Period of award: 2014–2015

Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Barnes Aerospace, TIMET and Aubert & Duval (Co-I)
Title: Measurement and prediction of residual stress in quenched components
Amount: £300,000
Period of project: 2013–2014

Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Barnes Aerospace, TIMET and Aubert & Duval (Co-I)
Title: Sheet press forming and incremental sheet forming of titanium alloys
Amount: £330,000
Period of project: 2013–2014

EPSRC Small Equipment Grant (PI)
Title: Microstructure-based modelling of polycrystalline materials
Amount: £6,400
Period of award: 2012–2013

Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Barnes Aerospace, TIMET and Aubert & Duval (Co-I)
Title: Residual stress measurement core research project
Amount: £175,000
Period of project: 2012–2013

Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Barnes Aerospace and TIMET (Co-I)
Title: Sheet metal forming core research project
Amount: £118,000
Period of project: 2012–2013

Boeing (Co-I)
Title: Modelling and experiments of two-point incremental sheet metal forming and residual stress measurement and prediction
Amount: £125,000
Period of project: 2012–2013

University of Strathclyde, DMEM (PI)
Title: Rate sensitivity effects during intergranular failure in nanocrystalline materials
Amount: £5,000
Period of award: 2012–2013

Teaching Responsibilities

• EG5085 (2014-15): ADVANCED TOPICS

Coordinator/Organiser

• EG4578 : GROUP DESIGN PROJECT (BENG Mechanical)
• EG50F8/EG50G8: SUBSEA INTEGRITY
• EG55F2/EG55G2: PIPELINE AND SOIL MECHANICS
• EG59M9: INDIVIDUAL PROJECT IN MSc ADVANCED MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Supervision Responsibilities

• EG4013 : MEng INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS
• EG4014 : BEng ENGINEERING PROJECTS
• EG5565 : MEng GROUP DESIGN PROJECTS
• EG5908 : MSc INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS (OIL & GAS)
• EG5906/EG5910 : MSc INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS (SAFETY AND RELIABILITY)
• EG59F9/EG59G9 : MSc INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS (SUBSEA ENGINEERING)
• EG59M9: INDIVIDUAL PROJECT IN MSc ADVANCED MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
• EG4578 : GROUP DESIGN PROJECT (BENG)

Courses Taught in the Recent Past:

ºÚÁÏÍø: Advanced Topics, Renewable Energy (Wind), Subsea (Offshore) Integrity, Subsea Pipeline Design, UG/PG individual and group projects.

University of Strathclyde: Advanced Forming Technology and Systems, Advances in Machining, Integrating Studies, Professional Practice, Introduction to Production Engineering, UG/PG individual and group projects.

NED University of Engineering and Technology: FEM: Applications in Automotive Engineering, Finite Element Analysis, Automotive Vechicle Dynamics, Kinematics and Rigid Body Dynamics, Advanced Stress Analysis, Advanced Vehicle Dynamics, UG group projects.

University of Sheffield (as tutor): Engineering Mechanics, Materials under Stress, Thermo-Fluids.

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

• Employability & Skills Champion
• Programme co-ordinator
• Mentor
• Personal tutor