Swasthi Surendran

Swasthi Surendran is an MRes + PhD student at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment (FIBE3 CDT). Her research is focussed on using calcined clays as a supplementary cementitious material to lower the embodied carbon of concrete, and reducing the uncertainty of its application. Her project is supervised by Prof Janet Lees as she joins the Concrete Infrastructure Research Group (CIRG).

Swasthi has graduated from the University of Cambridge with a MEng degree in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. Her final year project was titled ‘Performance-based Investigation of Cement Replacement Mixes’. This involved testing a ternary blend of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Ground Granulate Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Calcined Clay for performance, to determine its feasibility for use in industry. For this project, Swasthi was awarded the departmental prize, as well as the Student Prize 2024 by the Institution of Structural Engineers (Beds & Adjoining Counties Regional Group).