Rate My Professor Mark Whiting

Professor Mark J. Whiting serves as Professor of Materials Ageing and William Penney Fellow in Materials Ageing in the School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences at the University of Surrey. He holds a BEng (Hons), MA, and PhD, along with professional qualifications as a Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM), and Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society (FRMS). His research specializations encompass materials ageing and performance, particularly for applications in energy, defence, aerospace, and transport sectors. Additional interests include additive manufacture of materials and systems, physical and chemical processes at metal/metal and metal/ceramic interfaces, the role of interfaces in phase transformations, and the application of electron microscopy and diffraction techniques to study microstructure.

In his career at the University of Surrey, Whiting has taken on significant leadership roles, including Director of the Centre of Excellence in Materials Ageing, Lead University Academic Liaison with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and Interim University Lead for Defence. He has contributed to various committees, serving on the Materials Section Committee of the Royal Microscopical Society from 2001 to 2014 and the Structure of Materials Committee of the Institute of Materials from 1998 to 2007. His research collaborations involve partners such as AWE Nuclear Security Technologies, EPSRC, Lockheed Martin UK, National Composites Centre, NPL, Rolls-Royce, and the University of Strathclyde. Key publications include "Assessing residual stress and high-temperature mechanical performance of laser-welded P91 steel for fusion power plant components" (2025, Journal of Materials Research and Technology), "Machine learning powered predictive modelling of complex residual stress for nuclear fusion reactor design" (2024, Materials & Design), "A comparative study of the wear performance of hard coatings for nuclear applications" (2022, Wear), "Fabrication of a Glass-Ceramic-to-Metal Seal between Ti-6Al-4V and a Strontium Boroaluminate Glass" (2016, International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology), and "An Investigation into the Nature of the Oxide Layer Formed on Kovar (Fe-29Ni-17Co) Wires Following Oxidation in Air at 700 °C and 800 °C" (2017, Oxidation of Metals).