Staff Profile

Background & Research Interests

Since joining Newcastle as an academic in 2017, my role has been to co-ordinate the research activities of the National Green Infrastructure Facility (NGIF), part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) network, situated at Newcastle Helix.

Completed in September 2017, the National Green Infrastructure Facility is a ‘living lab’ for exploring how Green features such as planting and soils (natural and amended) help mitigate the effects of climate change in urban areas, making them more resilient and sustainable. This is a world-class facility hosting collaborative, full-scale, multi-disciplinary research into Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), Green Infrastructure performance and fundamental soil-plant-atmosphere interactions.

Prior to my involvement in the NGIF, I completed a PhD in numerical modelling of desiccation cracking in unsaturated, compacted clay fill in the field of infrastructure slope stability. I then worked simultaneously on two large EPSRC funded projects –iSMART and Assessing The Underworld - as an experimentalist (laboratory and full-scale). I continue to manage the BIONICS research facility - a trial infrastructure embankment which hosts a number of innovative techniques to monitor the slope asset condition (e.g. Electrical Resistivity Tomography and Acoustic Emission) as well as a comprehensive suite of buried and meteorological sensors and associated extensive dataset.

My laboratory interests centre on the cyclic wetting-drying behaviour of clays - specifically geotechnical properties (e.g. Soil-Water Retention Curves (SWRC), tensile and shear strength testing and small-large strain stiffness testing), geophysical techniques (i.e. resistivity) and imaging (Digital Image Correlation, Environmental-SEM and XRCT). My work also centres on understanding geotechnical deterioration mechanisms across the scales of infrastructure performance, from the soil element up to the network, strategic level. Through my involvement with a number of large projects (e.g. ACHILLES, iSMART and ATU), I have helped to develop ideas of progressive asset deterioration in the context of infrastructure slopes and buried utilities, assets upon which the future resilience of our cities relies.

The National Green Infrastructure Facility: @NGIF_UK |UKCRIC NGIF

Consultancy

I am actively engaged in geotechnical design consultancy and have worked with Electrokinetic Ltd on several slope stabilisation sites for Highways England. Electrokinetic Ltd provides solutions for remediating unstable slopes and dewatering slurries and sludges based on patented electrokinetic geosynthetic technology. They are recipients of numerous ICE awards owing to the outstanding sustainability credentials that electro-osmotic remediation brings.

Together with the Environment Agency, I have supervised bank stability monitoring and analysis on the River Tyne. The purpose of this work is to identify sustainable remediation methods that exploit coupled hydro-mechanical mechanisms to provide green, aesthetic solutions.

Current Roles

Director, UKCRIC National Green Infrastructure Facility

Deputy Head of Geotechnics and Structural Engineering (GEST) Group

GEST Group PhD Selector

Chair UG & PGT Personal Extenuating Circumstances (PEC) Committee

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) - Geology - Durham University 2008
• MSc - Geotechnical Engineering - Newcastle University 2009
• PhD - Multiphase modelling of desiccation cracking in compacted soils - Newcastle University 2014 (available here)

PhD: Development of a pseudo-discrete continuum finite difference model (FLAC) capable of capturing two-phase flow within a porous media subject to mechanical and hydrological boundary conditions and a tension failure criterion. Additionally, this work saw the design and development of an apparatus to establish the variable (un)saturated soil tensile strength.

External Memberships & Esteem Indicators

• European Commission registered Expert (EU Funding and Tender evaluation and monitoring) - 2023
• National Slope Simulator (Loughbrough, UK) - Steering Board Academic Advisor - 2023-Present
• American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2023 Convenor: NH43B - 'Advances in Geotechnical Infrastructure Condition Assessment and Monitoring in a Changing Climate'
• RILEM Technical Committee Member: MAE : Mechanical performance and durability assessment of earthen elements and structures
• 2nd Rainfall Simulator Workshop, International Organising Committee member and Session Chair, University of Coimbra (Portugal) 2023
• 8th International Conference on Geotechnical Research and Engineering (ICGRE'23) Scientific Committee member, University of Lisbon (Portugal) 2023
• BGA Young Geotechnical Engineers' Symposium 2022 Chair
• ICE Flooding Knowledge Network Member
• ICE Civil Engineering Structures Knowledge Network Member
• Fellow of the Geological Society of London (GSL)
• Member of the British Geotechnical Association (BGA)
• International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM)
• EU COST Action TU1202 Member
• Editorial Board Member - Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology (GSL)
• Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Manual of Blue-Green Infrastructure, Chapter ‘Frontiers in blue-green infrastructure’ (Published Jan 2023)
• CIRIA Steering Group member - RP1090 Improving performance of linear assets through green infrastructure

Invited lectures:

• Workers' Educational Association - Green Branch, 12^th Back to the Land Conference 2023
• UKRI RECLAIM (Reclaiming Forgotten Cities - Turning cities from vulnerable spaces to healthy places for people) Network Plus, University of Surrey 2023
• Department of Civil Engineering Seminar Series, Institute of Engineering, University of Algarve 2022
• University of Oxford’s Nature-Based Solutions Initiative “Working with Nature: Cities” COP26 film 2021
• Lanzhou University - 4th International Symposium (on-line) on New Techniques for Geohazards Research and Management 2021
• Chang'an University - International Workshop on Fine-Grained Soils and their Engineering Significance - from micro to macro, Xi'an. China (online) 2021
• TWENTY65: Bringing the Water Sector Together (online) 2021
• British Water’s Surface Urban Water Management FG Meeting 2020
• ICE Northern Geotechnical Group 2019 Annual Seminar series “Green Geotechnics”Smart Cities Alliance (EU) 2019 Heating and Cooling Smart City Initiative
• Environment Agency NE H&T Briefing Day 2017
• Landscape Institute & Royal Town Planning Institute NE 2017
• Urban Flood Resilience - Learning and Action Alliance 2017
• Addressing the impacts of climate change on engineered slopes for infrastructure: COST TU1202 2016 Dissemination symposium (École des Ponts ParisTech)
• EU COST TU1202 - The Vadose Zone Workshop 2015, Durham University

External Grants & Awards

• PhD Studentship support (WIRe CDT and Newcastle City Council) - Peri-urban strategies for sustainable surface water management Sept 2024 - Aug 2028 (£60,000)
• Commercial Soil Water Retention Testing (Stockholm Tree Pits) Aug 2024 (£5,377)
• Permeable Cities (UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship - Imperial College London - Consultancy) July 2022 - June 2026 (£83,472)
• PhD Studentship Research Support (NERC and Network Rail) Sept 2020 - August 2024 (£2,000)
• “From Roots to Leaves: Linking vegetation to natural hazards” Incubator workshop (EPSRC Inclusion Matters project: Reimagining Recruitment @University of Bath EP/S012168/1), Date TBC (£15,000)
• UGDaMS - Urban Green Design and Modelling of SuDS) (EP/S005862/1) Co-Investigator, March 2018 - Feb 2023 (£800,000)
• ACHILLES - Assessment, Costing and enHancement of long lIfe, Long Linear assEtS (EP/R034575/1) Co-Investigator, July 2018 - Dec 2023 (£4,872,904)
• CACTUS - Climate Adaptation Control Technologies for Urban Spaces (EP/R005834/1) Co-Investigator, Jan 2018 - Aug 2024 (£1,761,592)
• PLEXUS - Priming Laboratory EXperiments on infrastructure and Urban Systems (EP/R013535/1) Co-Investigator, Jan 2018 - Feb 2021 (£1,013,092)
• UKCRIC - UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure & Cities: Newcastle Laboratories (EP/R010102/1) Co-Investigator, April 2016 - March 2021 (£9,671,332)
• Organiser of the International Training School ‘The Vadose Zone Workshop’. An event for European Early Stage Researchers convened between Newcastle University and Durham University, July 2015 (15,000EUR)
• ‘Short Term Scientific Mission’ travel grant to École des Ponts ParisTech, February 2015 - COST Action TU1202 (Report) (2,500EUR)
• CEGS Newcastle internal conference - Oral Presentation Prize 2011
• CEGS Newcastle internal conference - Poster Prize 2010

Journal Reviewer

• Canadian Geotechnical Journal
• Journal of Geotechnical and Geological Engineering
• International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
• Engineering Geology
• Geotechnique
• Geotechnique Letters
• Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
• Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment
• Applied Clay Science
• Computers and Geotechnics
• Transportation Geotechnics 
• Geosciences
• Geotechnical Testing Journal

Figshare (publically available publication data): Click here.

Researcher Profile: Click here.

Google Scholar: Click here.

SCOPUS: Click here.

PhD Supervision:

• Madeleine Tate - Peri-urban strategies for sustainable surface water management (2024 - present) - support from Newcastle City Council
• Aelaf Mulugeta - Maximising urban green infrastructure for surface water flood management (2023 - present) - IAPETUS2 with Heriot Watt University
• Rosa Maleki - Illuminating the internal condition of safety-critical transportation infrastructure slopes: new geophysical approaches for the early warning of landslides (2022 - present) - IAPETUS2 with British Geological Survey - support from Network Rail
• Narryn Thaman - Investigating moisture dynamics in vegetated soil using novel geophysical tools (2020 – present) - support from Network Rail
• Elena Mugarza - Infrastructure slope drainage design (2020 – present)
• Emma McConnell – Desiccation cracking on Infrastructure slopes (2020 – present)
• Charalampos Ntigkakis - Groundwater modelling to simulate groundwater/surface water interactions (2020 - present)
• Alethea Walker - Understanding connectivity, maintenance and vegetation specification in Green Infrastructure (2019 – present) - support from Northumbrian Water Ltd
• Inga Sirbu - Medical imaging of soil-water processes (Completed 2024)
• Sam Hall - Digital Twins for Resilient Geo-Infrastructure (2019 – present)
• Rixia Zan - Innovative Stormwater Management: From Monitoring to Solutions (Completed 2023)
• Oboho Eminue - Environmental and Material Controls on Desiccation Cracking in Engineered Clay Embankments (Completed 2018)

Undergraduate Teaching

• CEG3001 Design of Sustainable Engineering Systems 3
• CEG3099 Individual Design Project

Project supervision:

• CEG3099 BEng Individual Design Project
• CEG8099 MEng Investigative Research Project

Postgraduate Teaching

• CEG8220 Data Centric Ground Engineering
• CEG8216 Engineering Geology Field Skills
• CEG8217 Ground Engineering Practice and Professional Skills

Project supervision:

• CEG8296 MSc Project in Geotechnical Engineering
• CEG8297 MSc Project in Engineering Geology

• Articles

  • Holmes J, Stirling R, Taggart R, Thaman N, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Performance of sustainable drainage capillary barrier systems for climate change adaptation in temperate climates. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 2025, 62, Epub ahead of print.
  • White A, Chambers J, Whiteley J, Wilkinson P, Boyd J, Briggs K, Blake A, Smethurst J, Glendinning S, Stirling R, Uhlemann S. Rapid Condition Assessment of Earthworks Assets. Ground Engineering 2024, 28-32.
  • De-Ville S, Edmondson J, Green D, Stirling R, Dawson R, Stovin V. Effect of vegetation treatment and water stress on evapotranspiration in bioretention systems. Water Research 2024, 252, 121182.
  • Zan R, Stirling R, Blackburn A, Walsh C, Werner D. Activated carbon amendment of sand in the base of a permeable pavement reduces total nitrogen and nitrate leaching. Science of the Total Environment 2024, 931, 172831.
  • Peng Z, Edmondson J, Stirling R, Green D, Dawson R, De-Ville S, Stovin V. Visualisation of Clogging in Green Infrastructure Growing Media. Urban Water Journal 2023, 20(4), 477-486.
  • Briggs KM, Helm PR, Smethurst JA, Smith A, Stirling R, Svalova A, Trinidad González Y, Loveridge FA, Glendinning S. Evidence for the weather-driven deterioration of ageing transportation earthworks in the UK. Transportation Geotechnics 2023, 43, 101130.
  • Zan R, Blackburn A, Plaimart J, Acharya K, Walsh C, Stirling R, Kilsby C, Werner D. Environmental DNA clarifies impacts of combined sewer overflows on the bacteriology of an urban river and resulting risks to public health. Science of The Total Environment 2023, 889, 164282.
  • Morsy A, Helm P, El-Hamalawi A, Smith A, Hughes P, Stirling R, Dijkstra T, Dixon N, Glendinning S. Development of a Multi-Phase Numerical Modeling Approach for Hydromechanical Behavior of Clay Embankments Subject to Weather-Driven Deterioration. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering 2023, 149(8), 04023062.
  • Du H, Wei L, Dimitrova V, Magee D, Clarke B, Collins R, Entwisle D, Torbaghan ME, Curioni G, Stirling R, Reeves H, Cohn AG. City Infrastructure Ontologies. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 2023, 104, 101991.
  • Loveridge F, Schellart A, Rees S, Stirling R, Taborda D, Tait S, Alibardi L, Biscontin G, Shepley P, Shafagh I, Shepherd W, Yildiz A, Jefferson B. The potential for heat recovery and thermal energy storage in the UK using buried infrastructure. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Smart Infrastructure and Construction 2022, 175(1), 10-26.
  • Chambers J, Holmes J, Whiteley J, Boyd J, Meldrum P, Wilkinson P, Kuras O, Swift R, Harrison H, Glendinning S, Stirling R, Huntley D, Slater N, Donohue S. Long-term geoelectrical monitoring of landslides in natural and engineered slopes. The Leading Edge 2022, 41(11), 742–804.
  • Yildiz A, Stirling R. Ground heat exchange potential of Green Infrastructure. Geothermics 2022, 101, 1-12.
  • Wang J, Manning DAC, Stirling R, Lopez-Capel E, Werner D. Biochar benefits carbon off-setting in blue-green infrastructure soils - A lysimeter study. Journal of Environmental Management 2022, 325(Part B), 116639.
  • Stirling RA, Toll DG, Glendinning S, Helm PR, Yildiz A, Hughes PN, Asquith JD. Weather-driven deterioration processes affecting the performance of embankment slopes. Géotechnique 2021, 71(11), 957-969.
  • Yildiz A, Stirling RA. Thermo-hydrological behaviour of green infrastructure: a comparative field and laboratory study. Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment 2021, 25, 1-11.
  • Green D, O'Donnell E, Johnson M, Slater L, Thorne C, Zheng S, Stirling R, Chan FKS, Li L, Boothroyd RJ. Green infrastructure: The future of urban flood risk management?. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water 2021, 8(6), e21560.
  • De-Ville S, Green D, Edmondson J, Stirling R, Dawson R, Stovin V. Evaluating the Potential Hydrological Performance of a Bioretention Media with 100% Recycled Waste Components. Water 2021, 13(15), 2014.
  • Yu Z, Eminue O.O, Stirling R, Davie C, Glendinning S. Desiccation cracking at field scale on a vegetated infrastructure embankment. Géotechnique Letters 2021, 11(1), 1-21.
  • Kennard N, Stirling R, Prashar A, Lopez-Capel E. Evaluation of Recycled Materials as Hydroponic Growing Media. Agronomy 2020, 10(8), 1-27.
  • Dixon N, Crosby CJ, Stirling R, Hughes PN, Smethurst J, Briggs K, Hughes D, Gunn D, Hobbs P, Loveridge F, Glendinning S, Dijkstra T, Hudson A. In situ measurements of near-surface hydraulic conductivity in engineered clay slopes. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 2019, 52(1), 123-135.
  • Walsh C, Stirling R, Stott K, Cherry B. Putting green infrastructure to the test for urban catchments. Water Industry Journal 2018, (8), 48-49.
  • Tang AM, Hughes PN, Dijkstra TA, Askarinejad A, Brencic M, Cui YJ, Diez JJ, Firgi T, Gajewska B, Gentile F, Grossi G, Jommi C, Kehagia F, Koda E, ter-Maat HW, Lenart S, Lourenco S, Oliveira M, Osinski P, Springman SM, Stirling R, Toll DG, Van-Beek V. Atmosphere–vegetation–soil interactions in a climate change context; impact of changing conditions on engineered transport infrastructure slopes in Europe. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 2018, 51(2), 156-168.
  • Hen-Jones RM, Hughes PN, Stirling RA, Glendinning S, Chambers JE, Gunn DA, Cui Y-J. Seasonal effects on geophysical-geotechnical relationships and their implications for electrical resistivity tomography monitoring of slopes. Acta Geotechnica 2017, 12(5), 1159-1173.
  • Elia G, Cotecchia F, Pedone P, Vaunat J, Vardon PJ, Pereira C, Springman SM, Rouainia M, Esch JV, Koda E, Josifovski J, Nocilla A, Askarinejad A, Stirling R, Helm P, Lollino P, Osinski P. Numerical modelling of slope-vegetation-atmosphere interaction: an overview. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 2017, 50(3), 249-270.
  • Stirling RA, Glendinning S, Davie CT. Modelling the deterioration of the near surface caused by drying induced cracking. Applied Clay Sciences 2017, 146, 176-185.
  • Stirling RA, Hughes P, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Tensile behaviour of unsaturated compacted clay soils — A direct assessment method. Applied Clay Science 2015, 112-113, 123-133.
  • Stirling RA, Simpson DJ, Davie CT. The application of digital image correlation to Brazilian testing of sandstone. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 2013, 60, 1-11.

• Book Chapters

  • Hardman M, Baldock K, Connop S, Taylor K, Stirling R, Washbourne C-L, Wansbury C. Frontiers in blue-green infrastructure. In: Washbourne C-L; Wansbury C, ed. ICE Manual of Blue-Green Infrastructure. ICE Publishing, 2023.
  • Stirling RA, Hughes PN, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Cyclic relationship between saturation and tensile strength in the near-surface zone of infrastructure embankments. In: Khalili K, Russell A, Koshghalb A, ed. Unsaturated Soils: Research and Applications. London: CRC Press, 2014, pp.1501-1505.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Mugarza E, Glendinning S, Stirling R, Davie C. Slope Drainage Design and Operation: A Study of Legacy Assets. In: 10th World Congress on Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering (CSEE 2025). 2025, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Ntigkakis C, Birkinshaw S, Stirling R, Thomas B. Urban hydrogeologic uncertainty characterisation to evaluate risk of groundwater flooding. In: EGU General Assembly 2024. 2024, Vienna, Austria.
  • Ntigkakis C, Birkinshaw S, Stirling R, Thomas B. Urban hydrogeologic uncertainty characterisation to evaluate risk of groundwater flooding. In: American Geophysical Union. 2024, Washington, D.C: American Geophysical Union.
  • Morsy AM, Helm PR, El-Hamalawi A, Smith A, Stirling RA. Simulation of weather-driven deterioration of clay embankments. In: Geo-Congress 2024. 2024, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: American Society of Civil Engineers.
  • Chambers J, Wilkinson P, Meldrum P, Kuras O, Swift R, Ngui J, White A, Cimpoiasu M, Harrison H, Maleki R, Boyd J, Dashwood B, Bruce E, Donohue S, Holmes J, Stirling R, Whiteley J, Binley A. Long-term geophysical monitoring of safety critical geotechnical infrastructure slopes. In: EGU General Assembly 2024. 2024, Vienna, Austria.
  • White A, Watlet A, Boyd J, Chambers J, Smethurst J, Stirling R, Blake A, Wilkinson P, Harrison H, Meldrum P. Imaging Seasonal Moisture Dynamics within a Levee: Two Years of Automated Resistivity Monitoring. In: 6th Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience and Engineering. 2024, Tsukuba, Japan: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.
  • Maleki ZR, Wilkinson P, Swift R, Meldrum P, Harrison H, Camacho XKC, Ngui J, Kuras O, Harms J, Jessamy G, Donohue S, Holmes J, Stirling R, Chambers J. Assessment of railway infrastructure slope failure by automated time-lapse ERT monitoring. In: EGU General Assembly 2024. 2024, Vienna, Austria.
  • McConnell E, Holmes J, Stirling R, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Investigation of the hydraulic regime of a desiccated slope under both natural and simulated environmental conditions. In: 8th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils (UNSAT 2023). 2023, Milos, Greece: EDP Sciences.
  • Thaman N, Holmes J, Wilkinson P, Boyd J, Meldrum P, Chambers J, Stirling R, Davie C, Glendinning S. Developing a novel geophysical tool to investigate the influence of vegetation on slope stability. In: 8th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils (UNSAT 2023). 2023, Milos, Greece: EDP Sciences.
  • Green D, Stirling R. Design and development of a novel automated 'runoff simulator' system. In: 2nd Rainfall Simulator Workshop. 2023, Coimbra, Portugal: University of Coimbra.
  • Holmes JL, Stirling R, Davie CT, Thaman N, Glendinning S. Composite Barrier Systems for Climate Adaptation. In: 8th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils (UNSAT 2023). 2023, Milos Island, Greece: EDP Sciences.
  • González YT, Briggs K, Stirling R, Dijkstra T, Glendinning S, Helm PR. A conceptual model for the weather-induced deterioration of transport infrastructure earthworks. In: 14th Congress of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG XIV Congress 2023). 2023, Chengdu, China.
  • Isidoro JMGP, Green D, Iserloh T, de Lima JLMP, Pattison I, Marzen M, de Lima MIP, Silveira A, Stirling R. Towards harmonization in the use of rainfall simulators – On the pursuit of better and more comparable experimental results. In: 18th Biennial Conference of the Euromediterranean Network of Experimental and Representative Basins. 2022, Portoferraio, Italy.
  • Green D, Goddard A, Stirling R. Stratified hydraulic conductivity testing of green infrastructure: A lysimeter bioretention cell study. In: European Geophysical Union General Assembly 2022. 2022, Vienna, Austria: EGU.
  • Blake A, Smethurst J, Yu Z, Brooks H, Stirling R, Holmes J, Watlet A, Whiteley J, Chambers J, Hughes P, Smith A, Briggs KM. Long-term monitoring of long linear geotechnical infrastructure for a deeper understanding of deterioration processes. In: 11th International Symposium on Field Monitoring in Geomechanics. 2022, Imperial College London, London, UK.
  • Toll DG, Kerr H, Hughes PN, Johnson KL, Osman AS, Tripathy S, Wang H, Rees SW, Bengough AG, Boldrin D, Knappett JA, Thangarajah J, Pandey P, Sivakumar V, McKinnon P, Tsiampousi A, Petalas A, Zdravkovic L, Potts DM, Stirling RS, Holmes J, Glendinning S, Davie CT, Leung AK. Investigating Water Holding Barriers for Climate Adaptation. In: 20th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. 2022, Sydney, Australia: Australian Geomechanics Society.
  • McConnel E, Holmes J, Stirling R, Davie C, Glendinning S. Hydrological monitoring of an outdoor, large-scale desiccation crack experiment. In: 11th International Symposium on Field Monitoring in Geomechanics. 2022, Imperial College London, London, UK.
  • Thaman N, Stirling R, Chambers JE. Developing Novel Geophysical Tools to Investigate Urban Vegetated Soil Moisture Dynamics. In: European Geophysical Union General Assembly 2022. 2022, Vienna, Austria: EGU.
  • Yildiz A, Stirling R. Combining green infrastructure and ground heat exchangers in urban areas. In: European Geophysical Union General Assembly. 2022, Vienna, Austria: European Geosciences Union (EGU).
  • Brooks H, Stirling R, Blake A, Holmes J, Yu Z, Watlet A, Whiteley J, Briggs K, Smith A, Hughes P, Smethurst J, Chambers JE, Dixon N. Climate-driven deterioration of long-life, long-linear geotechnical infrastructure. In: European Geophysical Union General Assembly 2022. 2022, Vienna, Austria: EGU.
  • Stirling R, Nadimi S. 16th BGA Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium (YGES 2022). In: 16th BGA Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium. 2022, Newcastle upon Tyne.
  • Green D, Stirling R, Walsh C, Starkey E, Walker A, Yildiz A, Thaman N, Dawson R. National Green Infrastructure Facility – a specialised ‘living laboratory’ to assess the value of urban green infrastructure. In: EGU General Assembly. 2021, Online: Copernicus.
  • Green D, Stirling R, De-Ville S, Stovin V, Dawson R. Monitoring bioretention cell performance: A large-scale lysimeter study. In: 15th International Conference on Urban Drainage. 2021, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Green D, Stirling R, De Ville S, Stovin V, Dawson R. Investigating bioretention cell performance: A large-scale lysimeter study. In: EGU General Assembly. 2021, Online: Copernicus.
  • Holmes JL, Stirling R, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Experimental SuDS-Barrier Systems for Climate Adaptation and Protection of Buried Geo-Infrastructure. In: 15th International Conference on Urban Drainage. 2021, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Yildiz A, Stirling RA, Glendinning S. Monitoring of thermo-hydrological behaviour in Green Infrastructure. In: 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020). 2020, Lisboa, Portugal: E3S Web of Conferences.
  • Yildiz A, Stirling RA. Investigating green infrastructure as potential medium for ground heat exchangers. In: 2nd International Conference on Energy Geotechnics (ICEGT 2020). 2020, La Jolla, California, USA: EDP Sciences.
  • Loveridge F, Shepley P, Stirling R, Yildiz A. Harvesting Energy from Buried Infrastructure: current UKCRIC research. In: European Geophysical Union General Assembly. 2020, Online: Copernicus Publications.
  • Isidoro J, Pattison I, Iserloh T, de Lima J, Green D, Marzen M, de Lima I, Silveira A, Stirling R. A (small) step towards standardisation in rainfall simulation experiments. In: European Geophysical Union General Assembly. 2020, Vienna, Austria: Copernicus GmbH.
  • Yildiz A, Stirling RA, Walsh C, Starkey E, Glendinning S. Monitoring capabilities at the National Green Infrastructure Facility. In: Multi-scale Analysis of Slopes under Climate Change. 2019, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Pembele W, Gui Y, Stirling R. Laboratory Tensile Strength Testing of Clay Soils using Direct Measurement. In: 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils (AP-UNSAT 2019). 2019, Nagoya: Japanese Geotechnical Society.
  • Hughes PN, Margrave-Jones S, Huang C, Dobson K, Toll DG, Stirling RA, Glendinning S. Laboratory Assessment of the Impact of Freeze-Thaw-Cycling on Sandy-Clay Soil. In: XVII European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 2019. 2019, Reykjavik, Iceland.
  • Stirling RA, Glendinning S, Davie CT, Hen-Jones R, Hughes PN. The Behaviour and Influence of Desiccation Cracking on a Full-Scale, Vegetated Infrastructure Embankment. In: 7th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils (UNSAT2018). 2018, Hong Kong, China: UNSAT.
  • Stirling R, Helm P, Glendinning S, Asquith J, Hughes P, Toll D. Deterioration of geotechnical infrastructure: the influence of asset aging through environmental cycling. In: 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ICSMGE 2017). 2017, Seoul, Korea.
  • Clarke BG, Magee D, Dimitrova V, Cohn AG, Du H, Mahesar Q, Sadeghioon AM, Rogers CDF, Gunn D, Entwisle D, Reeves H, Collins R, Stirling R, Glendinning S. A decision support system to proactively manage subsurface utilities. In: International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructure. 2017, London: ISNGI.
  • Helm P, Stirling RA, Glendinning S. The Implications of Using Estimated Solar Radiation on the Derivation of Potential Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture Deficit within an Embankment. In: 3rd International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics. 2016, Guimaraes, Portugal: Elsevier.
  • Hughes PN, Hen-Jones R, Stirling RA, Glendinnning S, Gunn DA, Chambers JE, Dijkstra TA, Smethurst J, Flesjo K. Challenges in monitoring and managing engineered slopes in a changing climate. In: 3rd European Conference on Unsaturated Soils E-UNSAT 2016. 2016, Paris, France: EDP Sciences.
  • Du H, Dimitrova V, Magee D, Cohn A, Stirling R, Curioni G, Clarke B, Reeves H. An Ontology of Soil Properties and Processes. In: 15th International Semantic Web Conference. 2016, Kobe, Japan.
  • Toll DG, Asquith JD, Fraser A, Hassan AA, Liu G, Lourenço SDN, Mendes J, Noguchi T, Osinski P, Stirling RA. Tensiometer techniques for determining soil water retention curves. In: 6th Asia Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils. 2015, Guilin, China: CRC Press.
  • Glendinning S, Helm PR, Rouainia M, Stirling RA, Asquith JD, Hughes PN, Toll DG, Clarke D, Powrie W, Smethurst J, Hughes D, Harley R, Karim R, Dixon N, Crosby C, Chambers J, Dijkstra T, Gunn D, Briggs K, Muddle D. Research-informed design, management and maintenance of infrastructure slopes: development of a multi-scalar approach. In: International Symposium on Geohazards and Geomechanics. 2015, Warwick, UK: IOP Publishing.
  • Stirling RA, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Multiphase modelling of desiccation cracking in the near-surface of compacted soils. In: XVI European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. 2015, Edinburgh, UK: ICE Publishing.
  • Stirling RA, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Multiphase modelling of desiccation cracking in the near-surface of compacted soils. In: XVI European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering for Infrastructure and Development. 2015, Edinburgh, UK: ICE Publishing.
  • Uhlemann S, Chambers J, Wilkinson P, Gunn D, Stirling R, Hen-Jones R. Geoelectrical Imaging of Moisture Dynamics in Engineered Slopes. In: 3rd International Workshop on Geoelectrical Monitoring (GELMON,2015). 2015, Vienna, Austria: Geologische Bundesanstalt.
  • Hen-Jones R, Chambers J, Gunn D, Hughes PN, Glendinning S, Stirling RA. Development of a landslide monitoring system using electrical resistivity tomography. In: American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. 2015, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • Stirling RA, Hughes PN, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Cyclic relationship between saturation and tensile strength in the near-surface zone of infrastructure embankments. In: Sixth International Conference on Unsaturdated Soils, UNSAT 2014. 2014, Sydney, Australia: CRC Press.
  • Stirling RA, Davie CT, Glendinning S. Numerical modelling of desiccation crack induced permeability. In: 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. 2013, Paris, France.

• Reports

  • Helm PR, Morsy AM, Postill H, El-Hamalawi A, Stirling R, Rouainia M, Briggs KM. ACHILLES Reading Guide 3: Asset scale deterioration. Newcastle: Newcastle University, 2023.
  • Dias AS, Hughes P, Najdi A, Holmes J, Stirling R. ACHILLES Reading Guide 2: A deeper understanding of deterioration of engineered soils. Newcastle University, 2023.
  • Glendinning S, Helm PR, Rouainia M, Stirling RA, Asquith JD, Hughes PN, Toll DG, Clarke D, Hudson A, Powrie W, Smethurst J, Woodman N, Hughes D, Harley R, Karim R, Dixon N, Crosby C, Dijkstra T, Postill H, Chambers J, Dashwood B, Gunn D, Uhlemann S, Briggs K, Muddle D, Loveridge F. Infrastructure Slopes: Sustainable Management And Resilience Assessment: iSMART Final report. iSMART Consortium, 2018.

• Research Datasets/Databases

  • Morsy A, Helm P, El-Hamalawi A, Smith A, Hughes P, Stirling R, Dijkstra T, Dixon N, Glendinning S. Data used for the validation of the BIONICS research embankment hydromechanical model. 2023. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, Newcastle Data Repository, 2.2MB.
  • Yu Z, Stirling R, Glendinning S, Hughes P, Brooks H. Data from BIONICS research embankment. 2022. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, Newcastle Data Repository, 11.5 MB.
  • Yildiz A, Stirling RA. PLEXUS @ NGIF - Field and laboratory measurements. 2020. Newcastle University.
  • Stirling R, Toll D, Glendinning S, Helm PR, Yildiz A, Hughes P. Laboratory and field testing data - weather-driven deterioration processes on embankment slopes. 2020. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, Newcastle Data Repository.
  • Yu Z, Stirling RA, Davie CT, Eminue O. BIONICS Cracking Data. 2020. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, Newcastle Data Repository.

• Review

  • Maleki ZR, Wilkinson P, Chambers J, Donohue S, Holmes JL, Stirling R. Geophysical Survey and Monitoring of Transportation Infrastructure Slopes (TISs): A Review. Geosciences 2025, 15(6), 200.