Emilio Martínez Pañeda
Associate Professor of Engineering Science
Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda works as an Associate Professor in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. Prior to this, he was a Reader (Associate Professor) at Imperial College London, where he led an interdisciplinary research group from 2019 to 2023 (2019: Lecturer, 2021: Senior Lecturer, 2023: Reader). Before joining Imperial, he was an 1851 Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a Junior Research Fellow at Cambridge’s Wolfson College.
Teaching
Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda has more than 10 years of experience teaching structural, mechanics and materials related modules across multiple institutions, including the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge, the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Oviedo. These include numerical modeling modules that made use of COMSOL Multiphysics and the supervision of final year projects based on the use of COMSOL.
Research
Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda’s research spans a wide range of challenges lying at the interface between mechanics and other disciplines, such as materials science, geology, chemistry, biology, and structural engineering. He combines experiments, theory and computer simulations to develop mechanistic models that can reliably capture material deformation and fracture.
His recent focus has been on addressing fundamental scientific challenges that can accelerate our transition to a net-zero carbon society and assist in tackling our energy and climate crises. Examples include(i) understanding metal-hydrogen interactions to safely deploy hydrogen energy infrastructure,(ii) developing mechanistic corrosion-fatigue models to extend the service life of offshore wind turbines,(iii) designing new microstructures to enhance Li-Ion battery durability and performance, and(iv) developing physically-based models for predicting iceberg calving and improve sea-level rise projections.These efforts have been supported by various funding schemes such as such as the ERC Starting Grant programme, the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship programme, the EPSRC New Investigator Award, and Innovate UK; Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda has been the PI on over £5M of funding in the past five years (+£22M as co-I).
Numerical Simulation and COMSOL Multiphysics
Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda’s research and teaching activities are closely related to the use of COMSOL Multiphysics. His research group has developed applications and codes that have been later implemented into COMSOL Multiphysics and has openly released state-of-the-art models for simulating battery degradation, hydrogen-material interactions and corrosion engineering problems (https://mechmat.web.ox.ac.uk/codes).Prof Emilio Martínez-Pañeda was a plenary speaker of the 2024 edition of the Iberian COMSOL Multiphysics Conference.