Rate My Professor Gavin Tabor

Professor Gavin Tabor is the Professor of Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Department of Engineering at the University of Exeter, within the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy and has held his position at the University since September 1999. His research specializes in computational simulations of complex fluid flows, utilizing physics-based Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodologies alongside machine learning techniques. Core interests encompass turbulence modelling, Bayesian machine learning for optimization, and practical applications in offshore marine renewable energy, sustainable urban drainage, biomechanics, fault detection, and plasma simulation. Tabor contributes significantly to the open-source CFD community through OpenFOAM, serving as Chair of the Joint Technical Committees under the OpenFOAM Governance project and as a member of the OpenFOAM Workshop international committee. He is involved in key initiatives such as the Isambard Tier 2 High Performance Computing project and the CCP-WSI+ collaboration on wave-structure interaction.

Tabor has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal papers, accumulating over 10,000 citations. Prominent publications include 'Surrogate-based evolutionary optimization of aerodynamic performance and emitted sound for an impeller fan' (2025), 'Refining electronic tagging of marine animals: Computational fluid dynamics and pelagic sharks' (2025), 'High-Fidelity Modelling of a Simplified Hinged-Raft WEC: A CFD Approach' (2025), 'Numerical simulation of a new type of cross flow tidal turbine using OpenFOAM - Part II: Investigation of turbine-to-turbine interaction' (2012), and 'Improving the quality of finite volume meshes through genetic optimisation' (2015). His work on tidal energy device simulation earned him recognition as a Distinguished International Associate by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Tabor also supervises PhD students and contributes to computational engineering education.