Mr Christopher Bouch B.Sc., M.Sc.,

• M.Sc. in Rail Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, 2003
• Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1991 (resigned 2021)
• B.Sc. (Hons) in Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, 1981

Chris Bouch graduated in Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds in 1981.  He has 22 years of experience of UK and overseas design and construction gained as a contractor, consultant and an asset manager.  During that time he worked on the construction of steelwork for power stations, a cable-stayed bridge, a major highway viaduct in Egypt and some local hospitals in Nigeria.  Design work included temporary works for a bridge construction, design of a replacement bridge deck, and design of railway infrastructure repairs.  Additionally he acted as project manager for a number of multi-disciplinary railway projects, including a package of bridge deck replacements and a portfolio of station enhancements.  In 1991 he became a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (resigned in 2021), and in 2003 he was awarded an M.Sc. in Rail Systems Engineering.

Since the end of 2003, Chris worked as a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, initially at the Centre for Railway Research and Education, where he studied a systems approach to the improvement of track capacity; track maintenance; railway innovation processes, and; modelling the resilience of the rail network in the face of climate change. From 2013 Chris has studied at the Centre for Resilience and Education, researching the application of systems engineering techniques and systems thinking to the development of future cities and the business models needed to support investment in their infrastructure.  During that time he has had extensive experience in the use of CORE, a powerful systems modelling tool produced by Vitech Corporation in the USA.

In 2022 Chis retired from the University of Birmingham and now holds the post for Honorary Research Fellow.

Chris Bouch has supported Masters students and students undertaking their 4th year undergraduate projects within the School of Engineering.

Curent research

• Pipebots project, EPSRC-funded: Development of business models for the use on autonomous robotic systems in the asset management of the UK’s buried water pipe network
• The Lost World, EPSRC-funded: Development of business models to support on-going maintenance of public green infrastructure
• The Green Community, EPSRC-funded: Development of business models to support sustainable student accommodation
• SevernNet: Development of business models to support growth of the circular economy at the Port of Bristol

Previous research

• iBUILD project, EPSRC-funded: Investigating infrastructure dependencies as a source of opportunities to improve infrastructure business model value capture. Exploring application of the Future Cities Method to the assessment of business model resilience for the case of decentralised energy provision in Birmingham. Investigating the feasibility of a decentralised approach to the provision of city infrastructure based on the Digbeth area of Birmingham. A study into the development of alternative business models for solid waste management based on the Smithfield area of Birmingham
• Urban Living Birmingham, EPSRC-funded: Studying the application of systems thinking to support end-user innovation of local authority services in Birmingham, UK
• Liveable Cities, EPSRC-funded: Studying the application of systems engineering techniques to the modelling of existing systems in cities, providing a basis for mapping urban metabolism and for the design of the new engineering strategies necessary to support the liveable cities of the future.
• Hi-Tech Rail, ERDF-funded, project manager: Helping SMEs in the West Midlands to bring innovative technologies to the rail market.
• Transport resilience, EPSRC-funded, research fellow: Exploring the lessons that critical local transport and utility infrastructure can learn about resilience from ecological, economic, physical infrastructure, community/social, and government systems.
• RRUK project, EPSRC-funded, research fellow: Project studying the dynamic re-scheduling of trains in a perturbed timetable situation.
• Innotrack, EC-funded, Research fellow: Studying the development of innovative track maintenance technologies and processes aimed at reducing the cost of maintenance by 30%.  Responsible for research among European infrastructure managers to: identify and prioritise underlying causes of track problems, and; investigate track maintenance logistics.
• RRUK project, EPSRC-funded, research fellow: Developing a methodology for assessing the impact of innovative new technologies on the railway.  Responsible for the development of a novel methodology for creating system models of complex technical environments
• FUTURENET, EPSRC-funded, research fellow: Studying the resilience to climate change of the UK transport system.  Responsibility for developing the modelling methodology linking transport planning processes, various data sources and asset degradation prediction tools.