Steve Denton, a Visiting Professor in the University of Bath's Faculty of Engineering & Design, has been elected Vice President of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng).

The prestigious appointment comes alongside the election of Professor Sarah Hainsworth, the University's Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research & Enterprise), to the Academy's board of trustees.

Prof Denton, who has been a visiting professor at the University since 2008, is also an Executive Director and the Head of Civil and Bridge Engineering at multi-disciplinary professional services consultancy firm WSP.

In his new role, which runs for a three-year term, he will be responsible for co-ordination across the Academy’s activities on skills, research, innovation, enterprise, engineering policy, awards, diversity and inclusion, and external affairs.

His election as Vice President for Committee Coordination was formally approved at the Royal Academy's Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 19 September. He will also serve as a Trustee.

Following his appointment, he said: "I'm tremendously excited to be taking on this important role within the Royal Academy of Engineering. Over the past decade, I have been privileged to work on a range of the Academy’s projects and programmes and am consistently inspired by the insights, contribution, commitment and impact of the Fellows and the staff.

"Engineering underpins our daily lives and will play a critical role in addressing global challenges. I look forward to supporting the Academy in its goal to harness the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy."

Prof Denton is an internationally renowned civil engineering expert who combines his leadership roles with direct engagement in technically complex and major projects. Since 2013, as Chair of CEN/TC 250, he has led the evolution of the Structural Eurocodes, the design standards used by over half a million engineers across Europe and in many other countries around the world.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2014 and has been with WSP for over 30 years.

Professor Tim Ibell, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & Design, added: “I am thrilled to see that Professor Steve Denton FREng has been elected Vice President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Steve is a long-standing Visiting Professor in ACE, who has contributed greatly over the years to the department’s success exactly in the areas over which he now holds responsibility in the Academy.

"This new role for Steve is wonderful news for us, for WSP, for the Academy and, most importantly, for the whole of the engineering profession in the UK and beyond. Well done, Steve! This is so well deserved, and such an exciting time for engineering to benefit from your leadership.”

Professor Sarah Hainsworth joins Prof Denton on the RAEng board of trustees. She joined the University of Bath in 2021 and is Professor of Materials and Forensic Engineering.

She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List, for services to Engineering and Forensic Science.

Her research expertise in Forensic Engineering is in the areas of knife crime and tool mark characterisation. She was part of the research team that worked on the discovery of the body of Richard III at Leicester, working to characterise the weapon marks on the skeleton that allowed identification of how the King died on the battlefield – including the first use of micro-computed X-ray tomography in the analysis of tool marks in archaeological investigations.

She also has research interests in surface engineering, microstructural evolution in power plant materials, and measurement of residual stress in engineering components. She has worked with the automotive industry on the use of diamond-like-carbon coatings on engine components for reduced friction and wear and thus reductions in CO2 emissions. Her work on materials for power plant involved understanding how new steels and nickel-based alloys could be used for long periods at high temperatures and thereby help reduce emissions from power plant.

Academy President Professor Sir Jim McDonald said: "The Trustee Board is the Academy's governing body and is accountable for setting the Academy's strategy to ensure it continues to deliver public benefit from engineering excellence and technology innovation. We thank our Trustees for taking on this important responsibility and look forward to working with them during the coming year."