Professor Soutis FREng, is a graduate of the University of London (BSc, Queen Mary College and MSc, Imperial College London, Aeronautics) and Cambridge University (Department of Engineering, PhD). He has taught and performed research in the areas of mechanics of aerospace composite materials and structures at the University of Cambridge (1986-1991), University of Leicester (1991-1994), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States of America (2000-2001 as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics), Imperial College London (1994-2002), where he held a personal chair in composite structures in the department of Aeronautics. Professor Soutis was the first Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Sheffield where he served as Head of Aerospace and Head of the Composite Systems Innovation Centre (Founding Director) until September 2012. In October 2012, he was appointed at the University of Manchester as Chair of Aerospace Engineering, Director of the Aerospace Research Institute and in 2013 also Director of the Northwest Composites Centre.   On 5 August 2014 Professor Soutis was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.  "He is distinguished for his major contributions to the science and technology of the mechanics and mechanisms of failure of fibre-composite materials based upon polymeric matrices.  His research is innovative and world-leading.  The output from his research is being used extensively by major companies working with composite materials".  The Academy's Fellows represent the nation's best engineering researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, business and industry leaders.