Rob Benham

Rob Benham MSc, BEng (Hons), PGCE (Post-compulsory ed.), MIET

Course Leader

Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering

023 8201 3327 ext. 3327 Room no. RM402

Biography

Rob has been teaching on engineering courses at Solent University for over 15 years. He is a senior lecturer in engineering science and currently course leader for the HNC Engineering and Foundation Year Engineering. Prior to the introduction of individual course leaders, he was programme leader on the old engineering programme.

In 2003 Rob completed his PGCE (post-compulsory education) at Oxford Brookes University. He then taught in further education for one additional year. He continued some FE teaching and also supply teaching when working part-time. In addition to this, in more recent times, Rob has delivered many taster days at Solent. He has strong research interests in manufacturing and materials. As a result, he brings a wide range of experience of educational settings with a diverse scope of learners.

Rob started teaching at Solent in 2004 as an associate lecturer, delivering units in mechanics, materials (for engineering and built-environment) and teaching on the foundation programme. As a full-time senior lecturer in engineering science for both full-time and part-time students, he currently teaches at levels 4, 5 and 6, which completes the lifecycle of undergraduates in engineering. At level 4 he helps to deliver the Manufacturing Principles unit (workshop practice) and Engineering Principles (lectures and laboratories), with some block laboratory/tutorial teaching for yacht students in metallurgy; level 5 Applied Mathematics for Mechanical Systems (lectures and laboratories) and Engineering Materials (ditto), Applications of Engineering Principles (lectures), Applied Mathematics for Engineering (lectures and tutorials); level 6 Analysis of Materials and Structures (lectures, tutorials and laboratory work), Manufacturing and Automation (lectures and tutorials).

He is keen to incorporate his research into teaching and use new equipment to enhance the student learning experience, as well as support his continued desire to develop his research goals.

Taught courses

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BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering
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BEng (Hons) Renewable Energy Engineering
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BEng (Hons) Yacht and Powercraft Design
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BEng (Hons) Yacht Design and Production
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BEng (Hons) Electronic Engineering
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Science and Engineering Foundation Year
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HNC Engineering

Further information

  1. Industry experience

    Rob has previously worked as a trainee calibration engineer for Southern Calibration technologies.

  2. Teaching experience

    Before joining Solent in 2004, Rob was a lecturer at Fareham College, teaching mechanics, engineering business and drawing on BTEC and NC/HNC/GNVQ courses; and after that, a lecturer at Eastleigh College, teaching building services on BTEC courses. During his PGCE placement in 2002/03, Rob taught on A-level, GCSE Maths and Access to Science Maths, and City & Guilds engineering courses.

  3. Research interests

    Rob's interest in materials research lie in the areas of additive manufacturing (AM). He has written several papers covering his investigations into the tensile, shear, thermal conductivity values of these materials. Recent work has looked into the applications of AM materials in experiments at the University. This research has been well received and the plan is to continue this work further.
    Rob has also taken an active approach into researching improving data collection techniques for several pieces of equipment in the applied mechanics and materials laboratories.

  4. Recent publications

    Follow the link below to find out more about Rob’s recent publications.
    • Benham, R. and F. Rehman, 2019. An Investigation into the Exploratory Use of Additively Manufactured Vanes Subjected to the Impact of a Water Jet Experiment.Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Manufacturing Research, 9 -12 September, 2019, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK.
    • Benham, R. and F. Rehman, 2018. An investigation into additive manufacturing (AM) materials subjected to shear failure. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Manufacturing Research, 11-13 September, 2018, University of Skövde, Sweden.
    • Benham, R. and F. Rehman, 2017. An investigation into AM material tensile properties for different build orientations of parts. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Manufacturing Research, 12-14 September, 2017, University of Greenwich.
    • Benham, R. and F. Rehman, 2016. A study of linear heat transfer gradients on 3D printed specimens. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Manufacturing Research, 6 - 8 September, 2016, Loughborough University.

  5. Work in progress

    Rob continues to work on improving data collection for experiments by incorporating data logging into the apparatus. He is currently supervising four final-year undergraduate students, which includes projects in the laboratory. His research into AM vanes for a jet experiment will be expanded to look into producing nozzles and, with other colleagues, Rob is aiming to produce a journal paper on the findings of the new research.

  6. Awards

    Over the course of his career, Rob has received academic awards. Follow the link below to find out more.
    • MSc (Open) Science – Pass with Merit.
    • BEng (Hons) Mechanical Design, Southampton Institute of Higher Education.
    • PGCE (post-compulsory education), Oxford Brookes University.