Dr. Alex Sixie Cao (currently Postdoc at Empa and ETH Zurich) will join as an Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore - from July 2026. We are currently recruiting multiple PhD students & Postdocs. NTU CEE ↗
Research
We study how structures and infrastructure systems behave, adapt, and fail under uncertainties, rare events, and climate change. Our work integrates structural mechanics, system reliability, dynamic modelling, and decision-theory to understand how individual preferences and interactions scale to collective decisions and emergent system behaviour.
By connecting behaviour across spatial and temporal scales with human decisions and policy mechanisms, we aim to support rational, ethical, and robust approaches to designing and managing infrastructure systems across generations. This will support the development of intergenerational infrastructure management policies that responsibly allocates limited resources to stay within our planetary boundaries.
Reliability and robustness
From components to systems: reliability and robustness across spatial scales.
Risk acceptance and safety
From society to safety: how socioeconomic and demographic changes shape risk acceptance.
Risk-informed decision-making
From individual decisions to policy: modelling interactions and emergent system behaviour.