Dan Ridley-Ellis
Dan Ridley Ellis

Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis BEng MRes PhD FIMMM

Associate Professor

 0131 455 2449

  D.Ridley-Ellis@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

Dan Ridley-Ellis is head of the Centre Wood Science and Technology at Edinburgh Napier University. He is one of the UK’s technical experts on guessing the strength of wood and can talk for hours on the topic – which he frequently does if nobody stops him.

His main area of research is understanding the properties of wood, and how they are influenced by tree growth, forest management, and climate. He represents the UK at European Standards Committees for grading of construction timber, and the majority of structural sawn timber produced in the UK is now graded with settings he developed. He was named “woodland hero” for 2016 by Grown in Britain, and is also active in online learning, public engagement and science communication. He was the lead organiser of Bright Club Edinburgh from 2011 to 2023.

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Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Expert witness (materials)
  • Timber in Construction Working Group (DEFRA etc)
  • Invited speaker at All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Forestry and Tree Planting
  • CSIC Innovation Champion
  • Judge, Structural Timber Awards 2019
  • Judge, Structural Timber Awards 2018
  • Leader, CEN TC124 (Timber Structures) WG 2 TG1 (Task Group for grading and strength properties)
  • Member - Scottish Forestry and Timber Technologies Skills Group
  • Advisory Board Member of TRADA
  • Secretary, CEN TC124 (Timber Structures) WG 2 TG1 (Task Group for grading and strength properties)
  • Member, CEN TC124 (Timber Structures) WG 2 TG1 (Task Group for grading and strength properties)
  • Member, CEN TC124 (Timber Structures) WG 2 (Solid Timber)
  • Member, British Standards Committee B/518
  • Member of the Board of the Wood Technology Society (IOM3)
  • Member, CEN TC124 (Timber Structures) WG 1 (Test methods)
  • Northern UK representative for the Northern European Network for Wood Science & Engineering
  • Member, UK Timber Grading Committee

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Local organising committee member for 2DCOS-11
  • COST Actions

 

Editorial Activity

  • Editorial board member of the European Journal of Wood and Wood Products
  • Editorial board member of the International Wood Products Journal

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External validator for London Metropolitan University
  • External validator for Technological University Dublin

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Scottish Forestry, Sir George Campbell Memorial Trophy
  • Edinburgh Beltane Public Engagement Fellow
  • FIMMM
  • Grown in Britain Woodland Hero
  • Queens Anniversary Prize 2015

 

Invited Speaker

  • Invited speaker at ICF Innovation for Change Webinar
  • Scottish Association for Metals
  • Guest lecturing at Hooke Park
  • Guest lecturing at Ecole Supérieure du Bois (France)
  • Royal Forestry Society's Lawrence Pilling Memorial Lecture

 

Media Activity

  • Quoted in Chemistry World news article
  • Interviewed on 2ser radio (Sydney, Australia) about Ethiopian tree planting
  • Quoted in news articles worldwide about Ethiopian tree planting
  • Guest on rialtalk podcast
  • Quoted in Chemistry World news article
  • Contributor on BBC World Service programme “The Forum” broadcast on 19 January 2015.
  • have discussed Bright Club live on BBC Radio Scotland’s Comedy Café (29 July 2011) and in pre-recorded interview on BBC Radio Scotland's "Good Morning Scotland" (14 November 2012). Performed live on BBC Radio Scotland's MacAulay and Co (25 May 2012).
  • BBC Bang Goes The Theory “Ask Yan” expert 2009/10

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Invited speaker at Lantra VirtRural careers event
  • Engineering Showoff Performer
  • STEM ambassador
  • Main organiser/trainer of Bright Club Edinburgh and Bright Club Scotland (in which academics do stand-up comedy).

 

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171 results

TG1/0211/10rev: Derivation of ViSCAN Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce

Working Paper
Ridley-Ellis, D., & Moore, J. R. (2011)
TG1/0211/10rev: Derivation of ViSCAN Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce
Confidential report for CEN TC124 WG2 TG1 Grading machine: ViSCAN Manufacturer: MiCROTEC GmbH Growth area: United Kingdom and Ireland Species: Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) ...

TG1/0211/13rev: Derivation of GoldenEye-702 Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce

Working Paper
Ridley-Ellis, D., & Moore, J. R. (2011)
TG1/0211/13rev: Derivation of GoldenEye-702 Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce
Confidential report for CEN TC124 WG2 TG1 Grading machine: GoldenEye-702 Manufacturer: MiCROTEC GmbH Growth area: United Kingdom and Ireland Species: Sitka spruce (Picea sitch...

TG1/0211/12rev: Derivation of ViSCAN-PLUS Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce

Working Paper
Ridley-Ellis, D., & Moore, J. R. (2011)
TG1/0211/12rev: Derivation of ViSCAN-PLUS Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce
Confidential report for CEN TC124 WG2 TG1 Grading machine: ViSCAN-PLUS Manufacturer: MiCROTEC GmbH Growth area: United Kingdom and Ireland Species: Sitka spruce (Picea sitchen...

TG1/0211/11rev: Derivation of ViSCAN-COMPACT Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce

Working Paper
Ridley-Ellis, D., & Moore, J. R. (2011)
TG1/0211/11rev: Derivation of ViSCAN-COMPACT Grading Machine Settings for British Spruce
Confidential report for CEN TC124 WG2 TG1 Grading machine: ViSCAN-COMPACT Manufacturer: MiCROTEC GmbH Growth area: United Kingdom and Ireland Species: Sitka spruce (Picea sitc...

Computational issues regarding lattice models for wood

Conference Proceeding
Reichert, T., & Ridley-Ellis, D. (2010)
Computational issues regarding lattice models for wood. In A. Ceccotti (Ed.), 11th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2010 (WCTE 2010) (2127-2132
This paper describes means to overcome some of the computational issues related to lattice models. The first is the use of a solution technique, different from a Newton-Raphso...

The shear strength and failure modes of timber joists obtained from the torsion test method.

Conference Proceeding
Khokhar, A. M., Zhang, H., & Ridley-Ellis, D. (2010)
The shear strength and failure modes of timber joists obtained from the torsion test method. In A. Ceccotti (Ed.), 11th World Conference on Timber Engineering 2010 (WTCTE 2010) (3509-3516
This paper presents details of the experimental method and test results from a series of torsion tests undertaken to evaluate the shear strength of timber joists. The failure...

Wood structure & biomechanics - an overview.

Presentation / Conference
Ridley-Ellis, D. (2010, October)
Wood structure & biomechanics - an overview
National Telford Institute Workshop

Effects of genetics on the wood properties of Sitka spruce growing in the UK: bending strength and stiffness of structural timber.

Journal Article
Moore, J. R., Mochan, S. J., Brüchert, F., Hapca, A. I., Ridley-Ellis, D., Gardiner, B. A., & Lee, S. . J. (2009)
Effects of genetics on the wood properties of Sitka spruce growing in the UK: bending strength and stiffness of structural timber. Forestry, 82, 491-501. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpp018
Mechanical tests were conducted on structural timber from a 37-year-old Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr), progeny trial located in Kershope Forest, Cumbria, UK. Va...

The use of acoustic-based NDT to predict the wood properties of UK-grown Sitka spruce at different stages in the wood supply chain.

Conference Proceeding
Moore, J., Lyon, A. J., Searles, G. J., & Ridley-Ellis, D. (2009)
The use of acoustic-based NDT to predict the wood properties of UK-grown Sitka spruce at different stages in the wood supply chain. In H. Zhang, & X. Wang (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation of Wood Symposium, Beijing, China
This paper is concerned with the extent to which portable stress-wave-based instruments can be used to segregate Sitka spruce trees and logs; in particular the relationship be...

Addressing gender Issues in Forestry.

Presentation / Conference
Ridley-Ellis, D., & Tizard, J. (2009, June)
Addressing gender Issues in Forestry

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