Dr Paul Sargent is a Lecturer in Civil Engineering, who specialises in the fields of geotechnics, engineering geology and low carbon construction materials (e.g. alkali-activated cementitious materials, geopolymers).

He is both a Chartered Civil Engineer with the Institution of Civil Engineers (CEng, MICE) and a Chartered Geologist with The Geological Society of London (CGeol, FGS). Dr Sargent is also a Chartership Assessor for The Geological Society of London and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Dr Sargent has received numerous prestigious awards based on his research involving the use of alkali-activated cements in soil stabilisation, including:

• 2014 ICE Northern Geotechnical Group - Young Geotechnical Engineer Paper Competition (Winner).
• 2015 BGA (National) Young Geotechnical Engineer Paper Competition (Winner).
• 2022 ICE Northern Ireland - Professor Adrian Long Medal

His research interests include: 1) the application of low carbon circular-economy friendly geopolymers and alkali-activated cements for use in ground improvement and construction materials; 2) static, cyclic and dynamic geomechanical behaviour of soils, cemented soils and rocks, 3) finite element analysis of soil-structure interactions; 4) life cycle analysis; 5) application of data analytics for monitoring and maintaining geotechnical assets in civil engineering infrastructure. Dr Sargent's research has been published in high-impact international journals including Géotechnique, International Journal of Geomechanics, Engineering Geology, Géotechnique Letters, Soils and Foundations and Construction and Building Materials.

Prior to joining Ulster University in January 2022, Dr Sargent was a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at Teesside University for over 4 years (2017-22). Dr Sargent also has 3 years of industrial consultancy experience, whereby he worked as a Geotechnical Engineer for AECOM in Newcastle upon Tyne (2014-17). Examples of projects he worked on included A1 Leeming to Barton improvement (North Yorkshire), Morpeth Northern Bypass (Northumberland), High Speed 2, Farnley Haugh landslide remediation (Northumberland) and the Trafford Park Line extension of the Metrolink in Manchester.