Meet Saiful Bahri Mohd Yasin, Dr Ashraf Ben El-Shanawany Memorial Prize winner

Every year, the Department of Mechanical Engineering awards prizes to recognise the achievements of our PhD students.

The Dr Ashraf Ben El-Shanawany Memorial Prize is awarded for outstanding achievement by a PhD or EngD student to include research, public outreach, innovation and entrepreneurial achievement.Dr El Shanawany was an Engineering Doctorate student in the Nuclear group, who died in 2017, shortly after finishing his thesis entitled Uncertainty Quantification in Probabilistic Safety Analysis.

One of the current holders of the prize is Saiful Bahri Mohd Yasin, let’s get to know him better:

Can you say a few words about the award you’ve received?

The first thing that came to mind was my parents, Siti Esah and Mohd Yasin, who are in my hometown, 10,365 km away from London. I believe that they would be proud to see my small contribution to safety being so well acknowledged. It is inspiring, and I believe that this is one of the main reflections and true values of this prize. 

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Ambrose Taylor and Professor Bamber Blackman, for their excellent guidance throughout my studies.

Why did you decide to study for a PHD? 

Between 2014 and 2015, I worked in the automotive industry, where I was involved in simulating airbag deployment for a new vehicle development project. This phase was critical in ensuring crash safety, a top priority for automakers aiming to minimize injuries or fatalities during collisions. Since then, I have been driven to investigate key questions regarding the structural integrity of airbags. This led me to apply for funding from Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) for a PhD at Imperial College London, which has enabled me to study the effect of the properties of automotive polymers on the safe deployment of airbags.

My PhD project aims to enhance crash safety by examining the fracture mechanisms, structural integrity, and durability of materials used in airbag systems through Finite Element (FE) analysis and laboratory tests. The tests cover a wide range of temperatures and strain rates, which are essential to ensuring that the materials in airbag systems meet the stringent requirements for such demanding applications.

Understanding the behaviour of materials under extreme conditions, such as low or high temperatures and high strain rates, can be challenging. However, these studies are essential because they ultimately help protect our lives.

What are your interests beyond Engineering? 

In my personal life, my current hobby is traveling and photography. It provides a valuable escape from the pressures of my studies. Over the past two years, I travelled around the UK and visited 30 countries in Europe, travelling with my wife and children and capturing many beautiful photos along the way. In the future, I wish to photograph photogenic puffins and sleepy polar bears.