Ben Hicks BEng PhD CEng
Ben leads the Engineering Systems and Design group whose research activities necessitate close collaboration with industry to research, develop, implement and evaluate new tools, methods and technologies. Ben has worked closely with more than 100 organisations from the creative, design, high value manufacturing and construction sectors. Prior to joining Bristol he worked initially as a machine design consultant, entrepreneur and then academic at the Universities of Sydney and Bath. While at the University of Bath he was a founding member and later director of the (£10M) EPSRC-funded innovative manufacturing research centre. The Centre had a particular focus on machine design, design/manufacturing informatics, advanced manufacturing processes and verification.
In addition to his academic roles, Ben is a Chartered Engineer and has been involved in a number of science and education startups. He presently holds non-executive roles for a design SME and charity. Ben has also worked closely with professional organisations and research councils through a variety of strategic advisory roles.
Ben’s research concerns tools and methods to support the design and improvement of products, machines and manufacturing systems. His research has resulted in the creation of new processes and methods for design management, methods for computer-based design and optimisation, approaches for managing manufacturing information and knowledge discovery, and techniques for modelling machine-material interaction.
In addition to leading the ES&D group, Ben heads up the Design & Manufacturing Futures Laboratory which undertakes cutting edge research into how emerging ICT tools and technologies can deliver a transformative change in the way high-value products are designed, developed, manufactured and commissioned. The focus of the lab is on product modelling (e.g. constraint-based and topological optimisation), process improvement (such as engineeirng project health monitoring and artefact-based information management) and prototyping methods (tangible interfaces, augmented reality and fabricative, additive and subtractive technologies).
Ben is the Director of the EPSRC-funded Language of Collaborative Manufacturing Programme Grant and PI of the PhysiCAD project.
Research Interests
- Manufacturing Informatics
- Manufacturing Systems
- Manufacturing Processes
- Machine-Material Interaction
- Design Methods
- Design Thinking
- Constraint-Based Modelling and Optimisation
- Machine Design
- 3D Fabrication
- Tangible-Interfaces
Latest Publications
- The prototype taxonomised: Towards the capture, curation, and integration of physical models in new product development
- Data mining prototyping knowledge graphs for design process insights
- Optimal configurations of Minimally Intelligent additive manufacturing machines for Makerspace production environments
- Digital Twin Design and Evaluation for Dynamically Optimised Distribution Strategy in Food Supply Chains: An Exploratory Case Study
- Maker communities and the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal analysis of Thingiverse's response to supply shortages
- Knowledge dimensions in prototyping: investigating the what, when and how of knowledge generation during product development
- A generative-based design methodology to enable the democratisation of 3D printing
- Improving the feel of 3D printed prototypes for new product development: A feasibility study of emulating mass properties by optimising infill structures and materials
- HOW DO PROTOTYPES CHANGE? CHARACTERISING QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE CHANGES BETWEEN PROTOTYPE ITERATIONS
- A Cost–Benefit Analysis Simulation for the Digitalisation of Cold Supply Chains