Staff Profile

Background

I am a civil and structural engineer, with an interest in the resilience of our modern communities. The majority of my research focuses on the resilience of our infrastructure systems - with the aim of improving the resilience of our communities through the adaptation of their underpinning infrastructure systems. I am interested in developing techniques that can recognise vulnerable areas within infrastructure systems, identify fragile system architectures and also establish methods that can help to protect them from hazard.

Roles and Responsibilities

Director of Education (interim)

Qualifications

PhD in Civil Engineering (Newcastle University - Feb 2014) - Thesis Title "An Investigation to Improve Community Resilience using Network Graph Analysis of Infrastructure Systems"

MEng in Civil and Structural Engineering (Newcastle University - Sept 2010) (1st Class (Hons))

Awards

2016 Teaching Excellence Awards (TEAs):

• Taught Supervisor of the Year (Shortlisted)
• Overall Contribution to Outstanding Practice (Shortlisted)

Links

Google Scholar Profile: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3tHQ8moAAAAJ&hl=en

LinkedIn Profile: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/sarah-dunn/74/37a/517

ResearchGate Profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah_Dunn3

Research Interests

critical infrastructure, resilience, disaster management, network graph theory, resilient communities, network reliability

PhD Supervision (Current)

Alaa Alkrud (start Jan 2022) - Automated Decision Making Framework for Smart City Open Data Publishing (co-supervised with School of Computing)

PhD Supervision (Completed)

Beth Barnes - Development of a Modelling Framework to Improve Mitigation Methods and Contingency Planning for Emergency Scenario

Louise Westoby - The Road to Recovery: Understanding the Process of Rebuilding Seismic Resistant Schools in Nepal

Xiaoyan Zhang - A computational model incorporating individual and social behaviour for building emergency evacuation

John Naylor - How can architectures increase the use of full-culm bamboo to provide adequate urban housing in tropical developing economies? (co-supervised with School of Architecture)

MPhil Supervision (Completed)

Hanan Tamimi - Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation of Co-ordinated Emergency Responses to Major Incidents (co-supervised with School of Computing)

Research Funding

• Jan 2022 - Jan 2023: ACCELERATE: Assessment of Climate Change Event Likelihood Embedded in Risk Assessment Targeting Electricity Distribution, CoI
• July 2021 - April 2023: "CS-NOW: Climate Services for a net zero resilient world": BEIS, CoI
• Jan 2020 - Nov 2020: "Averted!", gaming app to challenge perception of engineering in young people: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), PI, £30,000
• May 2017 - Aug 2019: "Emergency Resource Location-Allocation and Deployment (eROAD) too": Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), PI, £121,339
• Feb 2016 - Jan 2018: "Realtime assessments of wind related damage to electricity infrastructure": Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), CoI, £177,321

Undergraduate Teaching

ENG1009: Sustainable Design Creativity and Professionalism

CEG3099: Supervision of undergraduate BEng projects

CEG8099: Supervision of undergraduate MEng projects 

• Articles

  • Zhang X, Dunn S, Luo Y, Shen Y. Integrating human behaviors in an agent-based model for multi-floor building emergency evacuation. Journal of Building Engineering 2025, 112, 113716.
  • Cranley D, Dunn S, Taylor J-P, Desborough MJR, Craig J, Sprigg N, Mccomish R, Foltynie T, Wardlaw J, Oatey K, Heye A, Bath P, Innes K, Dinsmore L, Griffiths J, Fox L, Williamson PR, Al-Shahi Salman R. Carbon footprint of a sample of clinical trials for people with neurological disorders: cross-sectional analysis. BMJ Open 2025, 15(6), e090419.
  • Dunn S. A Flipped Classroom Model for First-Year Engineering Mechanics in a Post-Pandemic Era. Technology, Knowledge and Learning 2025, epub ahead of print.
  • Dunn S, Brocklebank V, Bryant A, Carnell S, Chadwick TJ, Johnson S, Kavannagh D, Lecouturier J, Malina M, Moloney E, Oluboyede Y, Weetman C, Wong EKS, Woodward L, Sheerin NS. Saftey and impact of eculizumab withdrawal in patients with atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome: protocol for a multicentre, open-label, prospective, single-arm study. BMJ Open 2022, 12(9), e054536.
  • Barnes B, Dunn S, Wilkinson S. Replicating capacity and congestion in microscale agent-based simulations. Travel Behaviour and Society 2022, 29, 308-318.
  • Wilkinson S, Dunn S, Adams R, Kirchner-Bossi N, Fowler HJ, Gonzalez Otalora S, Pritchard D, Mendes J, Palin EJ, Chan SC. Consequence forecasting: A rational framework for predicting the consequences of approaching storms. Climate Risk Management 2022, 35, 100412.
  • Westoby L, Wilkinson S, Dunn S. The road to recovery: Understanding the challenges affecting school reconstruction in rural Nepal following the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 2021, 56, 102120.
  • O'Brien JT, McKeith IG, Thomas AJ, Bamford C, Vale L, Hill S, Allan L, Finch T, McNally R, Hayes L, Surendranathan A, Kane JPM, Dunn S, Bentley A, Barker S, Mason J, Burn D, Taylor J-P. Introduction of a management toolkit for Lewy body dementia: A pilot cluster randomised trial. Movement Disorders 2021, 36(1), 143-151.
  • Barnes B, Dunn S, Pearson C, Wilkinson S. Improving human behaviour in macroscale city evacuation agent-based simulation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 2021, 60, 102289.
  • Dunn S, Gonzalez-Otalora S. Development of an Adaptive Solution to Increase Infrastructure System Resilience Based upon a Location-Allocation Methodology. Journal of Infrastructure Systems 2021, 27(1).
  • Barnes B, Dunn S, Wilkinson S. Natural hazards, disaster management and simulation: a bibliometric analysis of keyword searches. Natural Hazards 2019, 97, 813-840.
  • Dunn S, Holmes M. Development of a hierarchical approach to analyse interdependent infrastructure system failures. Reliability Engineering and System Safety 2019, 191, 106530.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson S, Alderson D, Fowler H, Galasso C. Fragility Curves for Assessing the Resilience of Electricity Networks Constructed from an Extensive Fault Database. Natural Hazards Review 2018, 19(1), 04017019.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson S. Hazard Tolerance of Spatially Distributed Complex Networks. Reliability Engineering and System Safety 2017, 157, 1-12.
  • Ogie R, Dunn S, Holderness T, Turpin E. Assessing the vulnerability of pumping stations to trash blockage in coastal mega-cities of developing nations. Sustainable Cities and Society 2017, 28, 53-66.
  • Ogie RI, Holderness T, Dunn S, Turpin E. Assessing the vulnerability of hydrological infrastructure to flood damage in coastal cities of developing nations. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 2017, 68, 97-109.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson S, Ford A. Spatial Structure and Evolution of Infrastructure Networks. Sustainable Cities and Society 2016, 27, 23-31.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson S. Increasing the resilience of air traffic networks using a network graph theory approach. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review 2016, 90, 39-50.
  • Dunn S, Fu G, Wilkinson S, Dawson R. Network Theory for Infrastructure Systems Modelling. Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability 2013, 166(5), 281-292.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson SM. Identifying Critical Components in Infrastructure Networks using Network Topology. Journal of Infrastructure Systems 2013, 19(2), 157-165.
  • Wilkinson SM, Dunn S, Ma S. The Vulnerability of the European Air Traffic Network to Spatial Hazards. Natural Hazards 2012, 60(3), 1027-1036.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Alkrud A, Mace J, Dunn S. A Taxonomy for Smart Building Data Sensitivity. In: ICICM '24: Proceedings of the 2024 14th International Conference on Information Communication and Management. 2025, Paris, France: ACM.
  • Westoby L, Dunn S, Wilkinson S. The Road to Recovery – Understanding Challenges Affecting School Reconstruction in Nepal. In: SECED 2019 Earthquake Risk and Engineering Towards a Resilient World. 2019, London, UK.
  • Dunn S, Gonzalez-Otalora S, Jordan J. A New Generation of Flexible and Adaptable Decision Making Tools for Resilient Infrastructures. In: Council of Engineering Systems Universities: Global Conference. 2018, Tokyo, Japan: CESUN.
  • Ogie RI, Holderness T, Dunn S, Turpin E. Vulnerability analysis of hydrological infrastructure to flooding in coastal cities - A graph theory approach. In: Transforming the Future of Infrastructure through Smarter Information - Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Infrastructure and Construction, ICSIC 2016. 2016, Cambridge, UK: ICE Publishing.
  • Wilkinson S, Dunn S, Adams R. Infrastructure Network Modelling for Resilience Assessment and Investment Decisions. In: National Infrastructure Commission visit to Newcastle University. 2016, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Newcastle University.
  • Dunn S, Galasso C, Wilkinson S, Manning L, Alderson D. Development of Empirical Vulnerability Curves for Electrical Supply Systems Subjected to Wind Hazard. In: 12th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering. 2015, Vancouver, Canada: University of British Columbia.
  • Pickering T, Dunn S, Wilkinson S. Securing community resilience by modern infrastructure design. In: ECCOMAS Thematic Conference - COMPDYN 2013: 4th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Proceedings - An IACM Special Interest Conference. 2013, Kos, Greece: National Technical University of Athens.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson S. Enhancing the Resilience of Lifeline Systems Using Network Graph Theory. In: SECED - Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics Young Engineers Conference – 2013. 2013, Newcastle upon Tyne: SECD.
  • Dunn S, Wilkinson S, Fu G, Dawson R. Analysis of Infrastructure Networks. In: Earth Systems Engineering 2012. 2012, Newcastle University: Centre for Earth Systems Engineering Research, Newcastle University.