Rate My Professor Aoife Hunt

Professor Aoife Hunt MBE is the Professor of Crowd Safety and Security Science in the Faculty of Engineering and Science at the University of Greenwich, affiliated with the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences. She holds a PhD from the University of Greenwich on simulating hospital evacuation (2016), a PGC(HE), and BSc (Hons), complemented by professional qualifications including FHEA, FIMA, and MSyI. With over 17 years of experience in simulating human behaviour and pedestrian dynamics, Aoife has led more than 80 high-profile projects globally, advising on people movement and behaviour in buildings, hospitals, stadia, events, public realms, and transport systems. These projects encompass capacity assessments, design reviews, event and concert planning, vertical circulation assessments, static and dynamic crowd modelling, flow and density analysis, and alternative use assessments. She serves as M34Impact Business Development and Partnerships Lead at Greenwich, is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, delivers lectures at several academic institutions, and was President of the British Science Association Mathematical Sciences Section in 2019. Aoife has been appointed to the Sports Ground Safety Authority board for 2025-2028.

Aoife's research specializations include safety and security of crowded places, crowd dynamics, emergency evacuation strategies, protective security measures such as pedestrian movement through hostile vehicle mitigation barriers and search checkpoints, and human behaviour in emergencies. She led the world’s largest CCTV study into virus transmission risk behaviours in crowded places during the COVID-19 pandemic and is co-authoring the chapter on evacuation modelling in the SFPE Fire Engineering handbook. Regularly consulted for national and international guidance like the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide), her key publications feature 'A glossary for research on human crowd dynamics' (Adrian et al., 2019), 'Simulating movement devices used in hospital evacuation' (Hunt et al., 2020), 'Human behaviour during a healthcare facility evacuation drills' (Rahouti et al., 2020), 'An analysis and numerical simulation of the performance of trained hospital staff using movement assist devices' (Hunt et al., 2015), and 'Agent-based models of social behaviour and communication in evacuations: A systematic review' (Templeton et al., 2024). Her awards include the MBE (2023) for services to the COVID-19 response, GHD Chairman’s Award for Technical Excellence (2020), European Healthcare Design Research Awards High Commendation (2017), and SFPE Student Scholar Award (2017). Aoife co-chairs the Security Institute’s Special Interest Group on Protecting People in Crowded Spaces, serves on the IAFSS Human Behaviour in Fire working group and SFPE Foundation Proulx Scholarship Committee, and has presented at over 100 conferences and events.