Rate My Professor Rebecca Lunn

Professor Rebecca Lunn is Professor of Engineering Geosciences and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, where she also leads the Centre for Ground Engineering and Energy Geosciences. She earned a BA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Engineering Hydrogeology from Newcastle University, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from Newcastle University in 1995 for her thesis on a nitrogen modelling system for large river basins. Her academic career began with postdoctoral research at Newcastle University until 1997, followed by a lectureship at the University of Edinburgh in 1997, and a position at Heriot-Watt University from 2000. Lunn joined the University of Strathclyde in 2005, was promoted to Professor of Civil Engineering in 2010, and appointed Head of Department in 2011. She holds the BAM Nuttall/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Biomineral Technologies for Ground Engineering.

Lunn's research centers on engineering geosciences, with expertise in microbially mediated mineral precipitation for ground improvement and sealing, development and application of colloidal silica-based grouts, detectable cementitious grouts for barrier formation, fluid flow and solute transport in geological faults—particularly fault permeability relevant to radioactive waste disposal, CO2 sequestration, and oil and gas exploitation—the relationship between fault permeability and seismicity, groundwater flow and contaminant transport, rock mechanics, structural geology, sustainable urban drainage systems, and computer modelling. As Principal Investigator, she leads major projects including the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Nuclear Energy-SATURN, DTP 2224 University of Strathclyde, and Mechanochemical Reactions in Silicate Rocks for decarbonising critical materials production (2026-2036). She chairs EPSRC consortia on geological disposal of radioactive waste, such as Biogeochemical Applications in Nuclear Disposal Environments (BANDD) and Strategies for the Afterlife of Facilities in Decommissioning (SAFE). Key publications include 'Microbially induced carbonate precipitation for soil improvement: insights from a meter-scale radial grouting trial' (Biogeotechnics, 2026), 'Predicting the tensile and unconfined compressive strength of MICP-treated sands' (Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2025), 'Influence of end caps on the unconfined compressive strength of bio-cemented sand' (Biogeotechnics, 2025), and 'Fingerprinting dissolved organic compounds: a potential tool for identifying the surface infiltration environments of meteoric groundwaters' (Geoenergy, 2024). Lunn has been honored with the Geological Society of London's Aberconway Medal (2011), MBE (2017), Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2018), Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2014), Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers (2014), and Best Paper Award at the RM4L Conference (2021). She serves on UK Government advisory boards for nuclear research and development and Scottish Government working groups on geothermal energy.