Deborah Mary Greaves (born March 1967) is a British engineer, Professor of

Ocean Engineering Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circ ...

and Head of the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics at the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

. In 2020 she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

Early life and education

Greaves studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1988 and started work as a civil engineer. In 1992 Greaves returned to academia, and moved to

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

for her doctoral studies. Her doctoral research considered the numerical modelling of fluid flows, and she graduated in 1998.

Career

After earning her doctoral degree Greaves joined

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

as a lecturer in mechanical engineering. In 2002 Greaves joined the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

as a lecturer in architecture and civil engineering. She was awarded a

Royal Society University Research Fellowship __NOTOC__ The Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) is a research fellowship awarded to outstanding early career scientists in the United Kingdom who are judged by the Royal Society to have the potential to become leaders in their fie ...

. Here she investigated the impact of wind on fabric in an effort to design new materials to cover large open spaces. In 2008 Greaves moved to the

. Greaves studies offshore renewable energy as well as creating numerical models of wave-structure interactions. At the University of Plymouth she serves as Head of School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics. Here she led the €2 million

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

project Streamlining of Ocean Wave Farm Impacts Assessment (SOWFIA), which looked at the development of wave farms in European countries. SOWFIA considered several

Wave Energy Converter Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC). Waves are generated primarily by wi ...

s in an attempt to improve expertise of large scale energy projects. An outcome of SOWFIA was a catalogue of wave energy test sites, as well as several workshops and reports on the environmental risks and benefits associated with the use of wave energy. She leads the Collaborative Computational Project in Wave Structure Interaction (CCP-WSI), a project which develops

wave tank A wave tank is a laboratory setup for observing the behavior of surface waves. The typical wave tank is a box filled with liquid, usually water, leaving open or air-filled space on top. At one end of the tank, an actuator generates waves; the othe ...

codes for tackling challenges that arise from complex wave-structure interactions. Greaves is director of the Sustainable PowER GENeration and supply (Supergen) Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub, which researches several renewable energy technologies. Supergen ORE is a £9 million

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British UK Research Councils, Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical scienc ...

project that looks at future challenges for renewable energy sources and looks at how the offshore energy distribution system will need to be transformed in the future. She had developed the University of Plymouth Coastal, Ocean and Sediment Transport (COAST) laboratory which looks at

marine energy Marine energy, also known as ocean energy, ocean power, or marine and hydrokinetic energy, refers to energy harnessed from waves, tides, salinity gradients, and temperature differences in the ocean. The movement of water in the world's oceans sto ...

devices and environmental impact modelling.

Academic service

Greaves is the chair of the board of the Partnership for Research In Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE) and Directs the Supergen ORE Hub. She serves on the

Carbon Trust The Carbon Trust is a consultancy established in March 2001, with offices across the world. Its aim is to accelerate the pace of private and public sectors decarbonisation and increase energy efficiency in organisations worldwide. The Carbon ...

Advisory Board She is a Fellow of the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

and the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

as well as serving as an expert advisor for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. She was shortlisted for the

WISE Campaign The WISE Campaign (Women into Science and Engineering) is a United Kingdom-based organization that encourages women and girls to value and pursue science, technology, engineering and maths-related courses in school or college and to move on into ...

Research Award in 2014. In 2018 Greaves was awarded an

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the Queen's

Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are ...

in recognition of her services to marine engineering, equality and higher education.

Selected publications

* * * * Greaves is on the editorial board of ''Engineering and Computational Mechanics'' and the ''International Journal for Marine Energy''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greaves, Deborah Living people Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1967 births Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Academics of University College London Academics of the University of Bath Academics of the University of Plymouth 20th-century British engineers British civil engineers British women engineers 21st-century British engineers 21st-century British women engineers Fellows of the Institution of Civil Engineers Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Scientists from Plymouth, Devon