After a two round voting procedure The European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS) elected Dr Antonio J. Gil of the College of Engineering to be awarded the O. C. Zienkiewicz Award for Young Scientists in Computational Engineering Sciences for 2016.

The award is one of the most prestigious in the field of computational mechanics and has been awarded to Dr Gil in recognition of the strength and excellence of his international research profile and the impact that his research is now making internationally.

Dr Gil said: “I feel grateful for this award. It is encouraging to see how the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences recognises the world leading research that we are developing in my group. I hope this is just the beginning of more great research to come”.

The award is named after Professor Olek Zienkiewicz who joined Swansea University in 1961 as Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, and was Emeritus Professor of the University until his death in 2009. Professor Zienkiewicz is internationally recognised as the "Father of the Finite Element Method", a computational modelling technique that allows engineers to design ever more challenging structures, aeroplanes or other components and processes with minimal use of expensive experimental testing.

Swansea University is home to the Zienkiewicz Centre for Computational Engineering, where Dr Gil is based and which is headed by Professor P Nithiarasu, who himself  won the O. C. Zienkiewicz Award in 2004.