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Professor David Ian Blockley BEng, PhD, DSc, FREng[1], FIStructE, FICE, FRSA is a British Civil and Structural Engineer who has pioneered systems thinking in engineering. [2] [3]. He was Dean of Engineering at the University of Bristol (1994-97) and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering (1989-94) and (1997-2006) [4] [5] [6]. He was a Non-Executive Director of Bristol Water (1998-2007) [7] [8] and consultant to Craddys [9] (1981- 2005). He was president of the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2001-2. [10]

David Ian Blockley
2005
Born18th September 1941
Ashbourne, Derbyshire, UK
NationalityBritish
EducationThe Bemrose School, Derby, University of Sheffield
OccupationEngineer
Engineering career
DisciplineStructural engineer
InstitutionsInstitution of Structural Engineers
Institution of Civil Engineers
Royal Society of Arts
AwardsTelford Medal, Institution of Civil Engineers

Early Life & Education

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Blockley was educated at The Bemrose School, Derby [11] before gaining a place at the University of Sheffield to read Civil engineering [12]. He graduated in 1964 and stayed on to carry out research supervised by Professor Wilfred (Bill) Eastwood and Alan Wood and sponsored by Stewarts & Lloyds. His 1967 PhD thesis was titled ‘The structural behaviour of rectangular hollow sections’ [13].

Career

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Blockley married Karen Bailey in 1966 and they moved to London where Blockley worked as a Development Engineer for the British Constructional Steelwork Association [12]. They moved to Bristol in 1969 when he was appointed lecturer in civil engineering at the University of Bristol [12] working under Professor Roy Severn. In 1968 a block of flats at Ronan Point had collapsed and in the early 1970s a number of box girder bridges also failed. Blockley saw that there were significant gaps between what we know (science), what we do (engineering) and why things fail. The bridging or 'joining-up' of those gaps convinced him that systems thinking was needed. In 1980 he explored the issues in his first book ‘The Nature of Structural Design and Safety’ [14]

Blockley wrote on the philosophy [15][16] and mathematics of uncertainty in engineering [17], worked with sociologist Barry Turner [18] and psychologist Nick Pidgeon [19] on human and organisational factors in incubating failure[20]. In the 1990s he began a collaboration with Patrick Godfrey who at that time was working for Halcrow. Blockley invited Godfrey to be a visiting professor at the University of Bristol and together they developed an undergraduate course on civil engineering systems which became the basis of their first book. [3] When Blockley retired Godfrey moved to the University of Bristol in 2006 to head up The Systems Research Centre [21] and organised the Blockley Lectures [22] for example [23] [24]

Blockley was a member of Advisory Panel to the Secretary of State, Dept. of the Environment, on Limestone Mines in the West Midlands (1983-1995) [25]

[26] 

and of the Advisory Committee to the Health & Safety Commission on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (NuSAC) [27]

Since his retirement in 2006 Blockley has promoted engineering to a wider audience through lectures and his most recent 5 books [28] [29] [30][31]

Awards & Honours

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Blockley was awarded the Telford Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1978 for his paper ‘An Analysis of Structural Failures’ [32]. With his first postgraduate student Richard Henderson he was awarded the George Stephenson Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1980 for the paper Structural Failures and the Growth of Engineering Knowledge, [33]. He was awarded with Barry Turner and Nick Pidgeon the Oscar Faber Diploma by Institution of Structural Engineers in 1986 for their paper Design Practice and Snow Loading - Lessons from a Roof Collapse [34]. He was an honorary Professor Austral University (Argentina), Buenos Aires, Argentina; an honorary member Asociacion de Ingenieros Estructurales, Argentina, [35] the Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, Argentina, [36] the Academia Nacional de Ingenieria, Argentina [37], 1991 and guest of Honour, National University of Tucumán Argentina 1994. He was an Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, [38] New Zealand in 1993.

Personal Life

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As a student Blockley was a keen sportsman playing football, cricket and athletics. He has continued to support Derby County F. C. through their varying performances. He is married to Karen and they have two children Andrew and Alison.

Publications

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  • Blockley, David (1980). The Nature of Structural Design and Safety (PDF). Ellis Horwood, Chichester UK. ISBN 978-0470270479. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  • About 200 research papers, book reviews etc [39] [40]

Notes

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  1. ^ "List of Fellows". 1992.
  2. ^ "Papers selected from SYSTEMS 2030 – A Symposium to felicitate David Blockley". Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems. Taylor Francis. ISSN 1029-0249. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b Blockley, David I.; Godfrey, Patrick S. (2017). "Doing it Differently: Systems for rethinking infrastructure (2nd Edition}". ICE Publications, London. ISBN 9780727760821.
  4. ^ "David Blockley at GoodReads". 3 July 2018.
  5. ^ Blockley, David. "Engineering- A Very Short Introduction".
  6. ^ "University of Bristol, Department of Civil Engineering".
  7. ^ "David Blockley at Bristol Water".
  8. ^ "Bristol Water plc - Investegate".
  9. ^ "Biographical notes: Integrating soft and hard risks".
  10. ^ "Stand up for the Structurals, NCE 1 September 2002". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  11. ^ "Bemrose school 6th formers". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  12. ^ a b c "David Ian Blockley at Prabook". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  13. ^ Blockley, David; Eastwood, Wilfred (8 July 1968). "Elastic behaviour of joints between structural hollow sections". The Engineer: 22–25.
  14. ^ Blockley, David (1980). The Nature of Structural Design and Safety (PDF). Ellis Horwood, Chichester UK. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  15. ^ "Theories about Engineering & Engineering theorists".
  16. ^ Blockley, David (1985). "Reliability or Responsibility". Structural Safety. pp. 273–280.
  17. ^ Blockley, David (October 1979). "The Role of Fuzzy sets in Civil Engineering". Fuzzy Sets and Systems. pp. 267–278.
  18. ^ "Barry Turner Obituary". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  19. ^ "Nick Pidgeon at Cardiff University". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  20. ^ Pidgeon, Nick; Blockley, David; Turner, Barry (October 1988). "Site Investigations:Lessons from a late discovery of hazardous waste". The Structural Engineer.
  21. ^ "University of Bristol Systems Research Centre". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  22. ^ "Blockley Lectures at the Systems Centre the University of Bristol" (PDF). Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  23. ^ "Shifting paradigms by Dave Snowden". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  24. ^ "Decision Theory and Rules of Thumb by Konstantinos Katsikopoulos". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  25. ^ "Hansard, Written Answers to Questions, Thursday 23 February 1995". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  26. ^ Brook, Dave (Aug 1987). "Abandoned Mines in the West Midlands of England". Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology. 20 (3): 193–198. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  27. ^ "Advisory Committee to the Health & Safety Commission on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (NuSAC)". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  28. ^ "David Blockley at the Oxford Literary Festival 2013". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  29. ^ "David Blockley Key Note at Bridge:The Heritage of Connecting Places and Cultures, Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage site". 6–10 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  30. ^ "David Blockley on Engineering at the 'Ways with Words Festival', Devon 2013" (PDF). Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  31. ^ "Dulwich Picture Gallery Contextual Lecture: Turning Dreams into Reality: Engineering the Future". 1 May 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  32. ^ Blockley, David. "An Analysis of Structural Failures". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  33. ^ Henderson, Richard; Blockley, David. "Structural Failures and the Growth of Engineering Knowledge". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  34. ^ Pidgeon, Nick; Blockley, David; Turner, Barry. "Design Practice and Snow Loading - Lessons from a Roof Collapse". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  35. ^ "Asociacion de Ingenieros Estructurales, Argentina". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  36. ^ "Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, Argentina". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  37. ^ "Academia Nacional de Ingenieria, Argentina" (PDF). Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  38. ^ "Erskine Fellowship, University of Canterbury, New Zealand". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  39. ^ "David Blockley publications at ResearchGate". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  40. ^ "David Blockley publications at the University of Bristol". Retrieved 4 July 2018.
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Category: 1941 births

Category: Living people Category: Academics of the University of Bristol Category: Presidents of the Institution of Structural Engineers Category: Structural engineers Category: Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Category: Telford Medal winners

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