Young Stress Analyst (YSA) Competition
The YSA is a long running and prestigious competition run annually by the Society to recognise excellence in early career research. Previous YSA winners have gone on to occupy key positions in academia and industry.
Entrants are invited to submit a summary of their work and finalists are selected to present their work before a panel of expert judges. The YSA usually runs in conjunction with the Society’s main annual Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics. It is an eagerly awaited central slot at the conference and popular with delegates.
Being a winner, or finalist, at the YSA completion is a valuable addition to an early career CV and partaking is also very helpful in terms of fine tuning your presentation skills and networking with peers. Why not give it a shot!
2023 Competition
In 2023 YSA will take place alongside the BSSM's 17th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics between 30 August and 1 September 2023 at Glasgow University Union, Glasgow.
Deadline for YSA entry 31 July, 2023
More information for YSA23 including entry
2022 Competition
In 2022 YSA took place alongside the BSSM's 16th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics on 7th September 2022 at St Anne's College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
YSA 2022 Winner
Rafael Ruiz-Iglesias, University of Bristol, UK
Subsurface Damage Assessment in Composite Laminates Using a Novel Full Field Imaging Technique.
YSA 2022 Runners up
Jack Chester, Proctor & Chester Measurements, UK
Percutaneous Screws for the Treatment of Long Bone Fracture Non-Union
Filipa Cunha, NOVA University, Lisbon
On material identification of Pinus pinaster Ait. at high strain rate loading by the image-based inertial impact tes
Tijmen Vermeij, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Integr2d Experimental-Numerical Testing of “2D” Steel Microstructures
2022 Competition Winner
YSA 2022 Winner Rafael Ruiz-Iglesias
Rafael Ruiz-Iglesias, University of Bristol, UK
Subsurface Damage Assessment in Composite Laminates Using a Novel Full Field Imaging Technique.
I'm very happy for having the chance to participate in the BBSM Young Stress Analysis Competition (YSA) and actually to win it! The projects and researchers participating in the YSA demonstrated enthusiasm and ambition which resulted in a highly competitive event.
Rafael Ruiz Iglesias
This competition is perfect to connect with different researchers from varied fields and entities to discuss about related scientific interests. Additionally, the YSA's been an enjoyable and deeply rewarding experience which gave me a big opportunity to let others know what my PhD project is about.
My sincere gratitude to all the people that supported me during my PhD journey, specially my supervisors Professors Janice Barton and Ole Thomsen, and Dr Geir Olafsson for the guidance. Thanks to Airbus (for sponsoring the competition) and the Bristol Composites Institute, EPSRC and CERTEST for the funding provided.
2021 Competition
In 2021 YSA took place alongside the BSSM's 15th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics on 8th September 2021 - both the competition and conference were virtual.
YSA 2021 Winner
Jules Trubert (University of Rennes 1)
Surface calorimetry under large deformations of rubbers: a bi-dimensional heat source field reconstruction method in the Lagrangian
configuration
YSA 2021 Runners up
Oscar Brennan (University of Oxford)
Extreme Plastic Deformation by High-Pressure Torsion
Guanbo Min (University of Glasgow)
Origin of the Contact Force-Dependent Response of Triboelectric Nanogenerators
Hing Ho Janzen Choi (University of New South Wales, Australia)
Multi-objective genetic algorithms for material parameter optimisation to predict high-temperature creep behaviour
2021 Competition Winner
YSA 2021 Winner Jules Trubert
Jules Trubert, University of Rennes 1
Surface calorimetry under large deformations of rubbers: a bi-dimensional heat source field reconstruction method in the Lagrangian
configuration
I am very glad to have participated in the Young Stress Analyst competition. My work and the presentation I gave are getting real scientific recognition through this BSSM competition, As a Master's degree student, I discovered the importance of such conferences, especially in providing a forum for high-level scientific exchanges within our scientific community, it was very formative. Thanks to Jean-Benoît Le Cam for accompanying me and offering such an internship. I would never have imagined participating in such a competition so early. it was truly a great experience!
Jules Trubert
2020 Competition
The 2020 YSA competition was held on 16th September 2020. It was the first YSA event to be held online (due to the Coronavirus pandemic). Four excellent finalists presented their work and took questions from the audience. The standard of work presented was as high as ever. A panel of nine judges adjudicated. The presentations covered a wide array of topics including the contact stiffness of mechanical interfaces, rate dependent and steady state behaviour of soft materials, dwell fatigue in titanium alloys and structural health monitoring of embedded sacrificial devices! At the end of the event, BSSM Chair Andrew Ramage gave participants a talk on the BSSM’s activities before announcing the result. We would like to thank the judges, presenters and attendees alike for making the event a success.
2020 Competition Winner
YSA 2020 Winner Alfredo Fantetti
The YSA has been generously sponsored for many years by our Corporate Member Airbus UK who provide the prize money and funds for the YSA finalists to attend the Annual Conference free of charge.
Alfredo Fantetti, Imperial College London, UK
Ultrasound Measurements to Characterise Friction in Dry Sliding
Participating in the Young Stress Analyst competition has been a great experience. I had the opportunity to share my research with international colleagues from all over the world. I want to thank my supervisors, and my colleagues Stefano and Luca for the great work we conducted together. I hope more events like this will be held in future in the engineering community!
Alfredo Fantetti
2020 Runners Up
Kshitiz Upadhyay, John Hopkins University, UK
Characterization of the Rate-Dependent Transient and Steady-State Shear Responses of Soft Materials,
Michelle Harr, University of Michigan, USA
The Effect of Temperature on Slip in Microtextured Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo under Dwell Fatigue
Geir Ólafsson , University of Southampton. UK
Embedded Sacrificial Devices: A Novel Structural Health Monitoring Approach
The Judges
Dr Hari Arora, Swansea University
Dr Hari Arora is a Mechanical Engineer by training, and a Senior Lecturer at Swansea University within the Biomedical Research Group and Zienkiewicz Centre for Computational Engineering. Hari is interested in a whole host of in situ measurement techniques across strain rates, including the use of DIC.
Dr Salih Güngör, The Open University
Salih Güngör, who is a past chair of BSSM, is a senior lecturer in materials engineering at The Open University. His main areas of research include the characterisationof in-situ behaviour of materials and structures using experimental methods.
Prof Johan Hoefnagels, Eindhoven University of Technology
Johan Hoefnagels is Associate professor in the field of experimental micro-mechanics with a focus on thin films and interfaces. The research includes size effects, interface and damage mechanics, flexible/stretchable electronics, and MEMS.
Dr Feras Korkess, Swansea University
Dr Feras Korkees is a Lecturer in Polymers and Composites in the Materials Research Centre at Swansea University (SU) with research specialisms in the long-term lifetime behaviour of polymers and polymer-based composites, nanocomposites, and 3D printing of composites.
Dr Daniel Mulvihill, University of Glasgow
Dr Daniel Mulvihill is Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the James Watt School of Engineering in the University of Glasgow. His research interests are in the areas of tribology, experimental mechanics, metal alloys and composite materials and he teaches on solid mechanics and materials topics.
Prof Adrain Murphy, Queens University, Belfast
Adrian Murphy is Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Queen's University Belfast, with research interests focused on predictive modelling, in particular developing methods to understand the influence of processes on product in-service performance and cost. His research has covered the structural and economic performance of laser beam and friction stir welding for metal aerospace structures, thermoforming, layup automation, load case analysis and lightning strike on composite aerospace structures. Adrian joined the academic staff of Queen's in 2002.
Prof Fabrice Pierron, University of Southampton
Fabrice Pierron is Professor of Solid Mechanics at the University of Southampton. He is a recognised specialist of the development of innovative procedures for mechanical testing of materials based on deformation imaging and inverse identification.
Prof Liz Tanner, Queen Mary University, London
Dr Yang Xu, University of Glasgow
Dr Yang Xu is a research associate at the University of Glasgow under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Mulvihill. He has research interests in the area of rough surface contact using analytical, numerical, and experimental methodologies, lubrication modelling, and surface metrology.
Winners from Previous Years
The proud winners in Exeter, 2016
"I am grateful for the experience of participating in the Young Stress Analyst competition this year. It was a great opportunity to not only share my research and hone my presentation skills, but also to look at the work of other people in the research community. It has truly been fun and eye-opening, and I highly recommend this competition for aspiring researchers."
Janzen Choi, YSA 2021 Finalist
I should say thank you to BSSM for the opportunity. The competition was good. I really enjoyed the fact that we (the competitors) were the only presentation at that time and had everyone's attention. That was great for me especially as I try to launch my academic career.
TM, University of Southampton
Winning has given me enthusiasm to start my PhD and allows me to keep up to date with the community through membership of the British Society for Strain Measurement
GH, Young Stress Analyst Winner
Continued Professional Development (CPD) for Early Careers
The BSSM is ahead of the game when it comes to encouraging early career development. We offer membership, courses, competitions, conferences and networking opportunities in a relaxed and friendly environment.
Membership levels available to meet Individual, Corporate and Student requirements.
It is a fantastic competition to be involved with, and is a great opportunity to boost your exposure in front of a large and international audience of experts.
Geir Ólafsson YSA 2020 Finalist
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