Role at ANSTO
Following a distinguished career as the Head of the former Institute of Materials Engineering at ANSTO overseeing research into diverse nuclear technologies for almost ten years, Prof Edwards was appointed to lead Australia’s research into the Generation IV reactors and represent Australia at the Generation IV Forum (GIF) He is a member of the GIF Policy Group and the GIF Expert Group.
Australia undertakes R&D in support of the Very High temperature Reactor (VHTR) and the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) Gen IV reactor systems. Within GIF Prof Edwards leads the MSR Materials and Components project and chairs the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Engineering Task Force.
The Task Force is investigating how this technology can be used to reduce the time to deploy advanced reactor systems.
Profile on Generation IV
Expertise
Prof Edwards has a long-standing international reputation in the materials engineering of nuclear, aerospace and defence related systems. He has over 250 publications, and has worked on the structural integrity of advanced aircraft structures, nuclear power generation plant and defence platforms. He is internationally recognized as an expert on residual stress and one of the leading proponents of engineering stress measurement using neutron diffraction.
Qualifications & Achievements
- Undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Oxford University (UK)
- Personal Chair in Structural Integrity at the Open University, UK
- Adjunct Professor of Materials Engineering at Monash University
- Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Manufacturing and Mining. (UK)
- Chartered Engineer (UK)
Awarded the 2017 Iain Finnie Award for “Seminal contributions to both residual stress measurement, especially neutron diffraction, and the application of those measurements for the prediction and mitigation of residual stress effects in the field of structural integrity."
Committees, Affiliations and Memberships
- Chair of the International Conference of Residual Stress series