Department of Engineering / Profiles / Prof. David Cardwell

Department of Engineering

Prof. David Cardwell FREng

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Research interests

Professor Cardwell's research interests include the processing, modelling and characterisation of bulk superconductors for high field engineering applications. Materials of particular interest include high temperature superconductors within the (RE)BCO family and MgB2.

Strategic themes

Energy, transport and urban infrastructure

Bulk superconductors have potential for application in flywheel energy storage devices, low loss transportation and as fault current limiters in electrical distribution systems.

Manufacturing, design and materials

Co-ordinating a portfolio of collaborative projects with a large industrial research partner, covering a range of timescales to market, and invited to disseminate insights to CUED colleagues  in a forthcoming workshop.

Research projects

  • The development of bulk superconductors for high field engineering applications (Boeing)
  • Novel, multi-seeded bulk superconductors for sustainable engineering applications (EPSRC)
  • The engineering of bulk superconductors for sustainable engineering applications (KACST)

Teaching activity

  • IA Exposition
  • IIA Bicycle Design Project
  • IIB 4C3 Electrical and Nanomaterials

Research opportunities

Other positions

  • Director of the KACST-Cambridge Research Centre
  • Technical Coordinator of Cambridge Boeing Collaboration
  • Deputy Head of Department with responsibility for Graduate Studies
  • Treasurer of the European Society for Applied Superconductivity
  • Chair of the IoP Superconductivity Group Prize Committee
  • Chair of the ICMC Awards Committee
  • Member of the Editorial Board of International Materials Reviews
  • Member of the Advisory Board of Superconductor Science and Technology
  • Advisor to the Prime Minister on Advanced Materials

Biography

David Cardwell is Professor of Superconducting Engineering in the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, where he is Head of Department. Professor Cardwell chairs the University’s Board of Graduate Studies, Graduate School of Technology and Researcher Development Committee and is a member of the Education Committee. He leads the Bulk Superconductor research group at Cambridge on the processing and applications of bulk high temperature superconductors, which can be used to generate very high magnetic fields. He is Treasurer of the European Society of Applied Superconductivity (ESAS) and a board member of a number of international journals and conferences. He has authored of over 280 technical papers and patents since 1984. Professor Cardwell has been a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge since 1993, where he was Admissions Tutor for Sciences for 13 years between 1999 and 2012. Professor Cardwell was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012.