Professor Peter Guthrie

Peter is currently engaged on research in resilience of infrastructure, working with Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Arup.

He is also working on research into energy efficiency and retrofit, funded by Kingspan Limited, and energy efficiency in China (funded by EPSRC and NSF). He has worked on the sustainable development of infrastructure in developing countries, including waste management, and the engineering of earth roads. He has worked with FIDIC (Federation of International Consulting Engineers) to produce a report on sustainability assessment for infrastructure.

Peter has worked in countries such as Nigeria, Lesotho, Sudan, Philippines Ethiopia, and Botswana, and on major infrastructure projects such as London 2012, Orange County Great Park (California), Conwy Tunnel, Channel Tunnel Rail Link, West Coast Mainline Route Modernisation and Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester Airports, and building projects such as Eden Project Phase 4.

Peter was a member of DEFRA’s Scientific Advisory Council (2003-2011). He was on the DECC Project Board for the Severn Tidal Power scheme study. He was a member of the Lead Expert Group for the Government Office of Science Foresight project on Reducing Risks of Future Disasters, and chaired the Steering Group for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Global Water Report in 2010.

In 2011/12 Peter chaired the Global Agenda Council (GAC) on Disaster Management for the World Economic Forum, and was then a member of the Catastrophic Risks GAC (2012-2014). He is Founder (1980) and Vice-President of the charity RedR Engineers for Disaster Relief.

Before coming to Cambridge Peter had thirty years’ experience in industry including twenty-five years with Scott Wilson, where he was a Main Board Director.

Areas of speciality:

• Civil engineering
• Disaster recovery
• Energy efficiency
• Sustainability assessment
• Developing countries