Dame Sarah Marcella Springman (born 26 December 1956) is a British-Swiss triathlete, civil engineer, and academic. She was educated in England and spent much of her career in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. She is a former rector of the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

and currently Principal of St Hilda's College at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

.Nils Pfändler
''Rektorin Sarah Springman im Portrait.''
NZZ, 7 December 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022.

Early life, education and family

Born in London in 1956, Springman was educated at

Wycombe Abbey Wycombe Abbey is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private girls' boarding and day school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The school was founded in 1896 by Dame Frances Dove (1847–1942), who was previously headmistress of ...

, where she was later a governor from 1993 to 1996. She studied for a BA degree in engineering sciences at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the un ...

, from 1975 to 1978, and completed a MPhil in

soil mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and ...

at St Catharine's College in 1983. She carried on her doctoral research in soil-structure interaction, this time at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, earning her doctorate between 1984 and 1989. From 1979 to 1983, she worked as an engineer on geotechnical projects in England, Australia, and

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

(primarily on the Monasavu Dam in

Viti Levu Viti Levu (pronounced ; ) is the largest island in Fiji. It is the site of the country's capital and largest city, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population. Geology Fiji lies in a plate tectonics, tectonically complex area betwe ...

), before she became a

chartered engineer Regulation and licensure in engineering is established by various jurisdictions of the world to encourage life, public welfare, safety, well-being, then environment and other interests of the general public and to define the licensure process thr ...

and Member of 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 ...

in 1983. She is married to Rosie Mayglothling.

Academic career

Springman was a doctoral student in the Soil Mechanics Group at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and was supervised initially by Mark F. Randolph, until he moved to the University of Western Australia in 1985, who was succeeded by Malcolm Bolton. She was the first female research fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, before becoming a university lecturer in 1990. She has been professor of geotechnical engineering at

ETH Zürich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ra ...

since 1997, and was the Deputy Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering from 2013 to 2014. She became Rector of ETH Zürich on 1 January 2015. Supported by various funds to introduce computer aided learning at ETH Zurich, she worked with Les Davison from the University of Western England to improve opportunities for teaching and learning of soil mechanics through the Computer Aided Learning in Civil Engineering (CALICE) project (1999-2006), which was shortlisted for a Medida Prix award in 2002. CALICE was redesigned and extended to become the GeoTechnical Information Platform (GeoTIP) (2005-2020). The emphasis of Springman's research is on geotechnical modelling of soil structure interaction problems, including design and construction of

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s, pile foundations, reinforced soil, and ground improvement of soft and sensitive soils (e.g. sand compaction piles, dynamic compaction). Springman combines physical modelling in a geotechnical centrifuge with

numerical model Computer simulation is the running of a mathematical model on a computer, the model being designed to represent the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be determin ...

ling so that the data may be used to develop, calibrate or validate new design methods. At ETH Zürich, her group uses a drum geotechnical centrifuge to carry out practical studies on a range of geotechnical problems. Springman is an advocate for access for women to STEM / MINT studies and engages in many events and campaigns to support this. In March 2021, it was announced that Springman would be the next Principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford, in succession to Sir

Gordon Duff Sir Gordon William Duff, (born 27 December 1947) is a British medical scientist and academic. He was principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford, from 2014 to 2021. He was Lord Florey Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Sheffield ...

. She took up the position on 1 February 2022. In June 2022, she gave a farewell lecture at the ETH in Zurich.

Sporting career

In addition to being a civil engineer, she represented Great Britain at the elite level in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

from 1983 to 1993, competing in the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

Triathlon in Auckland, New Zealand, and winning twenty elite

European Triathlon Union World Triathlon, previously known as the International Triathlon Union (ITU), is the international Sports governing body, governing body for the Multisport race, multi-sport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and other triathlon#Nonst ...

(ETU) Championship medals in triathlon and

duathlon Duathlon is an sports, athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format similar to triathlons. The World Triathlon governs the sport internationally. Distance and format Duathlon ...

. She served as Vice-President of the

International Triathlon Union World Triathlon, previously known as the International Triathlon Union (ITU), is the international governing body for the multi-sport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and other nonstandard variations. It is recognised as the inte ...

(ITU) from 1992 to 1996, during which time, she played an important role in getting triathlon into the Olympics and establishing it as a recognised sport for the Commonwealth Games. She stepped down as President of British Triathlon on 31 December 2012 after celebrating

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

's first triathlon medals won at an Olympic Games. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sunday Times and Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year Awards in London in 2013. She is a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

's Sustainability and Legacy Commission. On 18 August 2016, she was chosen as a presentation official at the Olympic triathlon medal ceremony, at which brothers Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee received gold and silver medals for Team GB in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. The

named her to their Hall of Fame in 2019. She started rowing in 1994 as part of a Women's Rowing Development Project, sponsored by the ARA (now British Rowing), which was based at Thames Tradesmen Rowing Club, coached by Doug Parnham. Subsequently, she has won medals at the

British Rowing Championships The British Rowing Championships usually take place every year and are normally held at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont (Nottingham), with occasional championships held at the Strathclyde Country Park Strathclyde Coun ...

for Rob Roy BC in the single and quad sculls and in th
Swiss National Rowing Championships
for Belvoir RC (Zurich) in the single, quad sculls and women's eight and in European and World Masters Championships in various boat classes. She is a 3-time winner of the Masters CRASH-B World Indoor Rowing sprints over 2000m, and holds World and British indoor rowing records in the 60-69 age group.

Honours and awards

Springman was appointed

Officer of the 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 ...

(OBE) in 1997,

Commander of the 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 ...

(CBE) in 2012 and

Dame Commander of the 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 ...

(DBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to engineering and international sports administration. She holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Bath, Berne, Sheffield, and Wollongong, Australia, and is an Honorary Fellow of all three of her Cambridge Colleges. * 2000–2008: Member of Schweizerischer Wissenschafts- und Technologierat and ETH Planungskommission. * 2009:

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

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 ...

* 2013: Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sunday Times and Sky Sports Sportswomen of the Year Awards * 2025: Karl Terzaghi Lecture

Publications

* ''Physical Modelling in Geotechnics'' (Proc. 7th Int. Conference, ICPMG, Zürich), CRC Press 2010, ISBN . * P. W. Mayne, M. R. Coop, Sarah Springman, A. B. Huang, J. Zornberg ''State of the Art Paper: GeoMaterial Behavior and Testing'', Proc. 17. ICSMGE, Volume 4, Mill Press/IOS Press, Rotterdam 2009, ISBN . * Sarah Springman, Phillips, Arenson: ''

Permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

'', Swets und Zeitlinger 2003, ISBN . * ''Constitutive and Centrifuge Modelling – two Extremes'', Taylor and Francis 2002, ISBN .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Springman, Sarah 1956 births Living people Engineers from London British female triathletes Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Academic staff of ETH Zurich Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering People educated at Wycombe Abbey Athletes from London 21st-century women engineers Recipients of the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award Fellows of the Women's Engineering Society Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Principals of St Hilda's College, Oxford Sportspeople awarded damehoods English LGBTQ sportspeople