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.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

News

Events

Esteem

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)
  • Northern UK representative for the Northern European Network for Wood Science & Engineering
  • 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)
  • Member, CEN TC124 (Timber Structures) WG 2 (Solid Timber)
  • 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 Technological University Dublin
  • External validator for London Metropolitan University

 

Fellowships and Awards

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

 

Invited Speaker

  • Scottish Association for Metals
  • Invited speaker at ICF Innovation for Change Webinar
  • 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
  • Quoted in news articles worldwide about Ethiopian tree planting
  • Interviewed on 2ser radio (Sydney, Australia) 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).

 

Filter by

Date


171 results

TG1/201703/23rev Derivation of Viscan Compact and Viscan portable with balance grading machine settings for British Spruce

Report
Ridley-Ellis, D. (2017)
TG1/201703/23rev Derivation of Viscan Compact and Viscan portable with balance grading machine settings for British Spruce. CEN TC124 WG2 TG1: MiCROTEC
Viscan Compact Viscan portable WITH balance MiCROTEC GmbH Julius Durst Str. 98 IT-39042 Brixen (BZ) www.microtec.eu United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland + Re...

TG1/201703/27rev Derivation of MTG 960 grading machine settings for British Spruce

Report
Ridley-Ellis, D. (2017)
TG1/201703/27rev Derivation of MTG 960 grading machine settings for British Spruce. Dan Ridley-Ellis
MTG 960 Brookhuis Micro Electronics bv Institutenweg 15 7521 PH Enschede The Netherlands United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland + Republic of Ireland Sitka ...

TG1/201703/22rev Derivation of Goldeneye 706 grading machine settings for British Spruce

Report
Ridley-Ellis, D. (2017)
TG1/201703/22rev Derivation of Goldeneye 706 grading machine settings for British Spruce. CEN TC124 WG2 TG1: MiCROTEC
Goldeneye 706 MiCROTEC GmbH Julius Durst Str. 98 IT-39042 Brixen (BZ) www.microtec.eu United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland + Republic of Ireland Sitka spruc...

An update on grading timber for structural use

Book
Mansfield-Williams, H. & Ridley-Ellis, D. (2017)
An update on grading timber for structural use. In TRADA Timber Industry Yearbook 2017, 148-155. ISBN 978-1-909594-60-9
The quality of timber varies and, while we have little control over tree growth compared to industrial manufacturing processes, we do know many of the factors that influence w...

Timber properties of noble fir, Norway spruce, western red cedar and western hemlock grown in Great Britain

Report
Gil-Moreno, D., Ridley-Ellis, D. & McLean, P. (2016)
Timber properties of noble fir, Norway spruce, western red cedar and western hemlock grown in Great Britain. Great Britain: Forest Research
The softwood processing sector in Great Britain has been built around the use of a very small number of timber producing species – predominantly Sitka spruce. The recent incre...

Timber material properties.

Presentation / Conference
Ridley-Ellis, D. (2016, September)
Timber material properties. Presented at CPD Seminar Structural Timber Engineering
Timber material properties, grading techniques and ways of optimising selection.

Grading structural timber.

Presentation / Conference
Ridley-Ellis, D. (2016, September)
Grading structural timber. Presented at CPD Seminar Structural Timber Engineering, Stirling, Scotland
Grading structural timber.

Thinking beyond the usual strength grades – with examples of British spruce and larch

Conference Proceeding
Ridley-Ellis, D., Adams, S., & Lehneke, S. (2016)
Thinking beyond the usual strength grades – with examples of British spruce and larch. In Proceedings of the World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2016), August 22-25, 2016, Vienna, Austria, Eds.: J. Eberhardsteiner, W. Winter, A. Fadai, M. Pöll, Publisher: Vienna University of Technology
This paper summarises the processes and normative requirements involved in grading of structural timber, and outlines a number of areas in which matters may be improved, so as...

Using the right Modulus of Elasticity to get the best grades out of softwood timber species in Great Britain

Conference Proceeding
Gil-Moreno, D., Ridley-Ellis, D., & McLean, P. (2016)
Using the right Modulus of Elasticity to get the best grades out of softwood timber species in Great Britain. In WCTE 2016 World Conference on Timber Engineering e-book Full Papers
The correct characterisation of modulus of elasticity in bending is fundamental for timber grading, especially when that property limits the allocation to a strength class. Th...

Combining of results from visual inspection, non-destructive testing and semi-destructive testing to predict the mechanical properties of Western Hemlock

Presentation / Conference
Bather, M., Ridley-Ellis, D. & Gil-Moreno, D. (2016, August)
Combining of results from visual inspection, non-destructive testing and semi-destructive testing to predict the mechanical properties of Western Hemlock. Paper presented at World Conference on Timber Engineering, Vienna, Austria
Current methods of assessing the mechanical properties of in-situ timber are limited, particularly with regard to estimating bending strength and stiffness. The aim of this re...

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects