Feifei Ren’s research focuses on Sensitivity Analysis for Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures.
Background
“I did my undergraduate and postgraduate study in China. I have researched in Structural Health Monitoring at Beihang University for three years before I started my PhD study.”
Research
“I study within the Structural Integrity and Health Monitoring group and our aim is to address challenges that exist for design, modelling and testing of next generation of smart aircraft structures. My research focus is on the damage detection and sensitivity analysis of composite structures. I use PZT sensors to monitor the status of aeroplanes structures and analyse the sensitivity of damage detection with the influence of temperature.”
“Before I graduated from Beihang University, I listed all my choices and I imagined what my life would be like. I realised that I don't have enough ability at that time, and I may need to compromise with reality. As a female worker in China, it's hard to balance my family and work. I decided to make a change. In a seminar, I met a PhD student in Imperial College London, and he gave me lots of suggestions. During my postgraduate study, I found Structural Health Monitoring quite interesting. I felt that if I can continue my research at Imperial College, it would change my life. I tried my best for my application, and now I study in my dreamed research group and my life is changed.”
PhD life
“All my colleagues are the best researchers, they give me lots of suggestion and guidance. I have a weekly meeting and I really enjoy communicating with them.”
“The cooperation with your supervisor is quite important during your PhD study. It is quite useful if you contact PhD students in the research group that you want to apply for in advance.”
“Due to the influence of COVID-19, I can only have online chats with others, and it is not quite efficient as it could be. My research is based on experiments and it is not convenient to do an experiment at the moment!”
“In the future, if my research group has a suitable postdoc position, I want to continue my research here.”
