Dr Rachael Hazael

Background

Rachael is a reader in Applied Materials where her research to-date has been investigating the effects of extreme conditions on material behaviour specialising in novel materials, chemistries and biological systems. Specifically, high pressure and variable temperature explosive and ballistic events have led to the majority of my recent work on armour systems and personal protective equipment- investigating applying advanced functional materials for this purpose and characterising their behaviour experimentally and computationally. I am experienced in the derivation of material behaviour under dynamic shock compression as well as blast pressure and often consult with both military and security personnel on the effects of pressure on structures and materials. I lecture extensively on several M-Level courses on topics focused on material response from explosive/ballistic events, specifically focused on PPE, vehicle armour and structures. I also teach and manage core modules on the Forensics Explosive and Explosion Investigation MSc and Forensic Ballistic MSc.

Rachael was shortlisted for the Women In Defence Awards 2022 in the Research and Innovation category

She was also selected as a Finalist, Top 50 Women in Engineering 2023: Safety and Security.

She is the head of the AMPEG (Advanced Materials for Protective Engineering Group) at Cranfield Defence and Security: 

https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/centres/cranfield-forensic-institute/research-areas/advanced-materials-for-protective-engineering-blast-and-ballistics

Current activities

I currently lecture on the response of materials to impact events such as armour materials for vehicle and body armour to several courses on site. I also have an interest in the response of bio materials to impact events such as: tissue analogues, microbes and organic molecules.

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers
• Books