ECDN Rep for the School of Engineering.
What is your academic background and your current research field? 
Dr Sha Luo received her PhD from the University of Bristol in 2018 in Earthquake and Geotechnical Engineering. Before that, she achieved the Bachelor of Science in Civil and Structural Engineering at Chong Qing University (China, 2010) and finished her Master of Science study in Dynamic and Earthquake Engineering at the University of Sheffield (UK, 2012). Her research activities/expertise include small and large-scale soil structural interaction physical model tests, micro-mechanics of soil particles, structural response analysis under dynamic loading, fibre optic sensing monitoring, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) – underground utility mapping, particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique, the Non-Destructive method (Acoustic Emission), the application of the gravity sensors. She is currently the Research Fellow at NBIF (National Buried Infrastructure Facility) at the University of Birmingham; there, she is the main researcher of the the Quantum Technology (QT) – Hub in Sensors and Timing in Civil Engineering and the research champion of the fibre optic sensing systems in NBIF.
What is your role as a ECDN Rep and how can postdocs in your school contact you?
As ECDN Rep, it is my duty to listen to our postdocs, check their requests and feedback not only in their career but the daily life, especially handling pressure, standing up for them to pass those messages to the relevant university sections and make sure all the voices have listened and the actions of improvement is undergoing. Please feel free to drop me an email or pop into my office (NBIF, Y19) if you need a talk. I am always here for you.
What do you feel are the benefits of the Early Career Development Network programme for postdocs and what do you feel have been the benefits to you from being a ECDN Rep?
The ECDN programme is more like an encyclopaedia, or even more than that. It is full of sources; in career development, you can find a huge number of workshops: how to prepare a CV, interviews (academic job and grant), write the proposal, seek research grants, building your own spin-out company. I would thoroughly encourage all the postdocs to have a look at the list of these workshops; it will be very helpful for your career planning. To me, being a postdoc rep is a really good practice to grow my leadership ability and improve my communication skills. It is also an experience of joy to meet and chat with someone who has a similar working experience but different background.