Dr Kevin Briggs pictured above

Dr Kevin Briggs, Associate Professor of Geomechanics, has been awarded a two-year Royal Society APEX Fellowship to work with Professor Julian Murton, Professor of Permafrost Science at the University of Sussex. APEX awards are designed to support established independent researchers in pursuing interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research.

Dr Briggs and Professor Murton will examine how cold-climate periglacial conditions from the last Ice Age affect infrastructure construction in the 21st century. They will bring together the latest research into periglacial processes in contemporary cold climates such as Norway and Canada, led by Professor Murton, with Dr Briggs’ observations of past Ice Age features in excavations along the 150 km length of the HS2 railway between London and the West Midlands. The APEX award builds on Dr Briggs’ five-year RAEng/HS2 Ltd Senior Research Fellowship (2020–2025), which examined mudstone outcrops beneath the HS2 railway to improve understanding of their engineering properties.

Dr Briggs’ work with HS2 Ltd has also been recognised among the most-read work published in the Geological Society’s Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, with two articles ranking in the journal’s top five in July 2026.

Drawing on observations and in situ testing from deep excavations through geological deposits dating back approximately 247 million years, the articles were co-authored with industry partners. The publications will help reduce geological uncertainty, design risk and construction costs for water, transport and energy infrastructure projects across the Midlands and northern England. The work will also influence engineering practice through the industrial partners associated with the EPSRC-funded ACHILLES Programme (2018–2023), which Dr Briggs co-led during its recent closing phase.