Boksun Kim

Academic profile

Dr Boksun Kim

Associate Head of School (Resources)
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Boksun's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

Goal 04: SDG 4 - Quality EducationGoal 05: SDG 5 - Gender EqualityGoal 07: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean EnergyGoal 14: SDG 14 - Life Below Water

About Boksun

As Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at the °µÍø½âÃÜ (UoP), Dr Boksun Kim has obtained over £3 million in research grants from Horizon Europe, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), UKRI, the Academy of Medical Sciences since 2021. She created a to invite global experts to tackle global challenges in construction materials, as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers Champion project on Recycled Aggregate Concrete in Southeast Asia in 2020. Since then, she has been working on projects involving steel and concrete structures, graphene oxide concrete and recycled aggregates in concrete, which have led to over 55 research publications.

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Dr Kim’s current research is focused on developing Net-zero/low-carbon construction materials using innovations. This includes develpoing eco-binders from wastes (PHOENIX, €325°ì), improving the quality of receyled aggregates using carbonation (CIRCLE, €1.5M) and developing an innovative technique to remove contaminants from marine dredged wastes: a game-changing new source of construction materials (KTP, £270k).

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Dr Kim established the in 2018 to pair Civil Engineering students with °µÍø½âÃÜ graduates who are working in the Civil Engineering Industry and has been successfully implementing the mentoring scheme since. This mentoring scheme has extended to Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on training and mentoring women graduates in STEM in the region, funded by the RAEng to empower women in STEM in Africa.

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As a Fellow of the Institutions of Civil and Structural Engineers, a Chartered Structural Engineer, the Past Chair (2018-20) of the IStructE Devon and Cornwall Regional Group, and a member of the Engineering Professors’ Council, she has actively been promoting civil and structural engineering.

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Research Grants

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2026-09 to 2029-02: PHOENIX (Waste-derived Phosphate-based Eco-binders for Net-zero and Circular Infrastructure), funded by Horizon-MSCA-2025-PF €325°ì), Boksun Kim (PI) and Harish Panghal (the Fellow).

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2026-01 to 2028-06: °µÍø½âÃÜ and Recycle it Global Ltd KTP, 25-26 R2, funded by Innovate UK, (£270k), Mark Fitzsimons, Lee Durndell and Boksun Kim. ÌýThis project aims to develop a filtering system to remove contamination from marine dredged wastes to produce a safe construction material.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2025-10 to 2029-09: CIRCLE (Concrete Innovation for Recycled Content and Low Environmental Impact), funded by Horizon-MSCA-2024-SE (€1.5 million), PI for UoP. The project consists of 11 partners from 10 countries. Its consortium was built up from Dr Kim’s previous pilot projects funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medical Sciences. This CIRCLE project aims to transition recycled aggregate concrete from the lab to industry and involves 342 intercontinental secondments. It will enable joint research, training and networking, which will benefit the partners’ staff at all levels, as well as PhD students.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2025-09 to 2027-08: FAMCON (Fatigue failure mechanism of marine concrete structures using multi-scale numerical modelling), funded by Horizon-MSCA-2024-PF (€276k), Shanshan Cheng, Long-Yuan Li, Boksun Kim and Can Cui (The Fellow).

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2024-10 to 2028-04: Developing Development of NetZero carbonated recycled aggregates and recycled aggregate concrete, PhD Studentship by the UoP (Director of Studies).

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2024-04 to 2025-03: Saving sand to save the planet, funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences (£25°ì), UK Applicant and leading the project with research partners from 6 developed countries.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2024-05 to 2025-09: Inspiring the researchers of tomorrow in sustainable concrete construction, funded by the UKIERI, British Council (£50°ì, UK PI). The Indian partner is Prof. Chaudhary at IIT Indore.ÌýÌý

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2023-02 to 2024-02: Training mentors for women graduates in STEM in Africa, funded by the RAEng Frontiers Champion Funding, (£10k, PI).

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2022-12 to 2023-12: Mentoring future women graduates in STEM in Africa, funded by the RAEng Frontiers Seed Funding, (£20k, PI), working with 7 collaborators.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2022-10 to present: Developing high performance, durable graphene oxide concrete for structural applications in the coastal environment, PhD Studentship (part-time) by the UoP (Director of Studies).

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2021-06 to 2023-06: Capacity and capability building to develop recycled aggregate concrete in Southeast Asia, Global Challenges Research Fund Networking Grants funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences (£25k, UK Applicant) and leading the project with research partners from 6 Southeast Asian counties.)

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2020-11 to 2022-02: Recycled Aggregate Concrete in South East Asia, awarded an RAEng Frontiers Champion (£13.75k, PI). Created a and hosted 10 webinars on the use of recycled aggregates in concrete in 2021.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2018-07 to 2024-04: , funded by H2020 MSCA-RISE-2017 (€450k), Shanshan Cheng, Long-yuan Li and Boksun Kim.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2017-01 to 2020-01: Buckling behaviour of cold-formed steel channels with holes on the web, PhD Studentship by the Chinese Scholarship Council and the UoP (Director of Studies).

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2018-04 to 2021-06: Structural performance optimisation of wave energy device arrays, PhD Studentship by the UoP (Second Supervisor)

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2016-12 to 2017-12: Development of a mirror-supported system for concentrating solar power plants, funded by the RAEng Frontiers of Engineering Seed Funding (£20k, PI) in collaboration with the eNtsa research team at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2016-12 to 2017-12 Developing local capacity for building affordable, self-sufficient homes, funded by the RAEng Frontiers of Engineering Seed Funding (£20k, Co-I), in collaboration with researchers at De Montfort University and Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria.

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2016-06 to 2022-05: , funded by H2020-MSCA RISE-2015 (€517.5k). Long-yuan Li, Huirong Li and Boksun Kim.

Supervised Research Degrees

Current PhD students:

  • Henrique Comba Gomes on ‘Development of NetZero carbonated recycled aggregates and recycled aggregate concrete’ as Director of Studies since 01/10/2024.
  • Carol Primmer on ‘Developing high performance, durable graphene oxide concrete for structural applications in the coastal environment’ as Director of Studies since 01/10/2022, part-time. ÌýÌý
  • Xin Jia on ‘Effect of the Q345DNH weathering steel on the behaviour of bridges’ as Second Supervisor since 15/01/2026.

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Completed PhD students:

  • 2023: Dr Nirvan Razaghi-Kashani on ‘An analysis of Iranian post-earthquake management and structural assessment system’ as Director of Studies.
  • 2023: Dr Lixuan Mao on ‘Modelling behaviour of chloride transport in concrete’ as Second Supervisor.
  • 2023: Dr Qi Ye Ìýon ‘Structural analysis and design of semi-submersible platform for floating offshore wind turbines’ as Second Supervisor.
  • 2022: Dr Nanting Yu on ‘Buckling behaviour of perforated cold-form steel channel-section beams with circular holes in the web’ as Director of Studies.
  • 2019: Dr Sahar Elaiwi on ‘Analysis and design of castellated beams’ as Second Supervisor.
  • 2018: Dr Ganlin Feng on ‘Micro-scale study of multi-component ionic transport in concrete’ as Second Supervisor.
  • 2015: Dr Shanshan Cheng on ‘Fire performance of cold-formed steel sections’ as Second Supervisor.

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Ph.D theses that I examined:Ìý

  • 2025: Dr Gaurav Chand on ‘Waste Glass in Concrete: A Move Towards High Percentage of Cement Replacement by Quantifying and Improving the Strength Contribution of C-S-H’, University of Manchester, UK.
  • 2022: Dr K. K. Gaayathri on ‘Performance assessment of expanded clay based structural lightweight concrete beams incorporating polypropylene fibres’, Annamalai University, India.
  • 2022: Dr Jie Ji on ‘Bond behaviour between carbon fibre strand and concrete under marine environment’, °µÍø½âÃÜ, UK.
  • 2021: Dr John Henry Cawood on ‘Enhancement of domestic solar photovoltaic unit productivity through the use of a cost effective tracking system’, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.
  • 2019: Dr Aissa Bouaiss on ‘Synthesis and manufacture of high performance FA-GGBS-HMNS based geoploymer concrete’, °µÍø½âÃÜ, UK.Ìý
  • 2016: Dr Raymond Sieh on ‘Self-lubricating non-cyanide Ag-PTFE composite coating for threaded compression fittings’, °µÍø½âÃÜ, UK.
  • 2014: Dr Qing-feng Liu on ‘Muli-phase modelling of multi-species ionic migration in concrete’, °µÍø½âÃÜ, UK.Ìý
  • 2004: Dr Eng Han TEE on ‘Geometric optimisation of yield line patterns using generic algorithms’, University of Portsmouth, UK.

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Teaching

I teach the following structural analysis and design modules:

  • STAD200 Structural Analysis and Design 1- This module extends the theoretical base established by the Stage 1 Mechanics and Structures module. It is intended to combine the basic principles of analysis with design to develop an integrated approach to solving problems in Structural Engineering. The module is supported by the use of computer software (MasterSeries) and laboratory work.
  • STAD300 Structural Analysis and Design 2- This module focuses on the analyses and design of whole structures, i.e. multi-storey buildings. It includes computer modelling and analysis using LUSAS FEA, and methods of the validation of the obtained results using approximate analysis.

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Contact Boksun

Room 021, Reynolds, Drake Circus, °µÍø½âÃÜ, PL4 8AA
+44 1752 586135