Biography

Dr Benny Suryanto BEng(Petra) MEng(AIT) PhD(Tokyo) 
Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
School of the Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society
Institute of Infrastructure and Environment
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS, Scotland
United Kingdom


Dr Benny Suryanto is an assistant professor in the Institute for Infrastructure and Environment (IIE) at Heriot-Watt University (HWU).  His research interests are primarily concerned with the development, characterisation and numerical simulation of cement-based materials, with particular focus on advanced cementitious composites such as Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECCs).

Benny received his first class BEng in Civil Engineering from Petra Christian University (Indonesia) in 2003 and his MEng in Structural Engineering in 2005 from the Asian Institute of Technology.  He graduated with two prizes (http://intraweb.ait.ac.th/aru/newsl/Jul05/art/a4.html). Benny went on to undertake a PhD at the University of Tokyo where he embarked on his journey into ECC research.  From this work, he received an award from the journal of Advanced Concrete Technology for his paper “Modelling and analysis of shear-critical ECC members” (http://www.j-act.org/4m.html).

After obtaining his PhD in 2009, Benny was a postdoctoral fellow on a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) funded project, titled ‘Integrated material design and application of fibre reinforced concrete as an innovative construction material’ (JSPS/FF1/68; http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-fellow/data/gaitoku21-2e.pdf).  Aspects of this work have been patented (Patent No. JP2009000282250). During this time, he was awarded two Japan Concrete Institute awards in 2011 and 2013 (http://www.jci-net.or.jp/j/jci/award/award-history.html).  In 2012 he also won another award from the JACT for his paper ‘An investigation into the long-term excessive deflection of PC viaducts’ (http://www.j-act.org/4p.html).


Upon joining HWU in Nov 2012, Benny continued to work in ECC research, focusing on exploiting its potential for civil infrastructure.  He has now developed an ECC mixture using materials local to the UK. His current research interests are investigating the self-healing and self-sensing properties of ECCs.