Institute for Composites Science Innovation (InCSI) has built a long-run collaboration with the world-leading composite research institute ACCIS in Bristol University, UK. InCSI has signed a collaboration agreement with ACCIS to provide possible opportunities on jointly training PhD students under the support of scholarship funding by China Scholarship Council (CSC). A research partnership has been kicked-off with Prof. Michael Wisnom, Prof. Kevin Potter, Prof. Fabrizio Scarpa now appointed as Foreign Experts in Zhejiang University.

ACCIS was established in 2007 to bring together composites activities across the Bristol University which was then rebranded as Bristol Composites Institute in 2017 after being recognized as Specialist Research Institute. ACCIS is a world-leading institute for composites research and education, combining cutting-edge fundamental science with strong industrial links for exploitation and technology transfer. ACCIS now has a strong core team of 24 academic staff and more than 30 postdoctors contributing to composites research. Current funded research projects within the centre are worth over 250 million pounds. The Composites University Technology Centre (UTC), supported by Rolls-Royce was also launched in 2007 based in ACCIS, providing validated analysis capability for the response of composites that can be used in the design and manufacture of components.

ACCIS is in very close relationship with National Composites Centre (NCC) UK (owned by University of Bristol), which is the UK’s leading centre of excellence for advancing commercialisation of composites technologies. NCC works closely with ACCIS provide a seamless, effective route for the exploitation of research outputs, and to enhance opportunities for staff, students and customers. In the past ten years Bristol Composites Institute (ACCIS) has successfully hosted nine cohorts of PhD students under the support of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Composites for Innovation and Science (ACCIS CDT), which has led the training and development of over 100 researchers, significantly widening the pool of highly skilled engineers and scientists for the UK labour market, and advancing world-leading composites research.

InCSI has facilitated collaboration with Profs Michael Wisnom, Kevin Potter and Fabrizio Scarpa in ACCIS in areas of novel composite processing technologies, design and failure analysis, intelligent structures, etc.

Michael Wisnom is Director of the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science. He is a leading expert on the mechanics of fibre reinforced composites, failure mechanisms and finite element analysis, with over 350 published papers. He is a member of the steering board of the National Composites Centre and Editor in Chief and European Editor for Applied Science and Manufacturing of the international journal Composites Part A. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the American Society for Composites. Professor Wisnom was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2005 and was President of the International Committee on Composite Materials from 2009-2011.

Kevin Potter is a world-renowned expert in the design and manufacture of advanced composites. Since his joining in ACCIS, he has been responsible for developing and running a number of research programmes in the general area of materials and manufacturing. These include looking at innovative approaches to composite structures, generating an understanding of dimensional variability in composite components, developing technology to control crack propagation in bonded joints and improving the understanding of reinforcement deformation and drape over the tool geometry. Almost all of the work is carried out in collaboration with industrial companies such as Airbus, Agusta Westland and Bombardier.

Fabrizio Scarpa is a leading scientist in smart structures and composites. His research activities span the field of auxetics (foams and honeycombs), shape memory alloy honeycombs, smart multifunctional cellular solids, viscoelasticity and structural-acoustic coupling. He is Principal Investigator in EPSRC, European Framework 6, Transfer Technology partnerships and DTI projects, working also in International Collaboration projects with US Army ARO and Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society and features in the Editorial team of the Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology Journal.