Stuart Robson

Professor Robson is the Royal Academy / Airbus Chair in Large Volume Metrology where his research is focussed on developing, testing and demonstrating imaging systems for the optical metrology of engineering, medical and heritage structures.. He leads the 3DImpact Research Group at UCL where his reputation is founded on low cost photogrammetric systems and their use in both image networks and sequences. A current focus is on developing and demonstrating ubiquitous large volume optical metrology as a key enabler in the factories of the future..

Stuart is based at UCL's HereEast facility on Olympic Park, working in its interdisciplinary large volume robotics laboratory which is shared between Engineering, Computing Sciences and the Bartlett School of Architecture. He has successfully supervised 20 PhD students and contributed to over 150 publications spanning disciplines from geomatics, digital humanities, heritage recording, medical reconstruction, fisheries, aerospace, space structures and land form measurement. He is co author of several key textbooks on photogrammetry, one of which won the inaugural ISPRS Kraus Medal in 2010

Stuart Robson has designed, delivered and assessed taught programmes since the commencement of his appointment at UCL in 1998 when he took on directorship of the MSc Photogrammetry programme and subsequently the inter-collegiate MSc Remote Sensing with Imperial College. He was one of four undergraduate programme directors who merged departmental undergraduate degree programmes following the merger between Civil & Environmental Engineering and Geomatic Engineering Departments. At undergraduate level he took a key role in redesigning the Geoinformatics degree course to incorporate a common first year and half of a second year with the existing Civil and Environmental undergraduate degree programmes and led a one week taught scenario on wind farm design. Whilst Head of Department he worked with the Bartlett School of Architecture and the Institute of Environmental Design Engineering to design and deliver a new 4 year MEng programme in Architectural Technologies. Spanning engineering, architecture and building physics with delivery founded on problem based learning, the programme is proving highly successful and will soon graduate its first students. With his new emphasis on research Stuart remains responsible for an MSc module in "Reality Capture" and supporting MSc project students from the Computing Science led Computational Robotics programme working at the HereEast large volume robot laboratory.

Education

• 1987 BSc.(1st Class) Photographic Sciences, Polytechnic of Central London
• 1991 PhD in Photogrammetry (Civil Engineering), City University, London

Professional History

• 1991 Research Fellow, City University, London
• 1992-94 Leverhulme Research Fellow, City University, London
• 1993 Research Assistant, University of Newcastle, Australia
• 1993-98 EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow, City University / UCL (1996)
  
• 1995-98 Visiting Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia
• 1996-98 Senior Research Fellow, UCL
• 1999-03 Lecturer, UCL
• 2003-08 Senior Lecturer, UCL
• 2008- Professor, UCL
• 2014-18 Head of Department, Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
• 2020- RAEng / Airbus Chair in Large Volume Metrology, UCL

Appointments and Affiliations

• Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
• Member of the Aerospace Technologies Institute Structures Advisory Group since its formation contributing to their responsibility to developing and maintaining the UK's prominence in the aerospace sector.
• Chair and co-chair roles on the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Working Group in optical metrology renewed every four years since 1998.
• Member of BSI CPW/172 Optics and Photonics BSI Committee specialising in Geomatics and was an EPSRC Panel and College member from 2010-2016.
  
• Visiting Professor at the Central Research Institute of Building and Construction (CRIBC) in China (2015-2020).
• Programme committee member for International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Commission V conferences since 2006, SPIE Videometrics conferences 2007 - 2017; 3DIM 2007 to 2009; Optical 3D Metrology since 2016; 3DMC since 2017.
• Institute of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES): Photogrammetric and Remote Sensing Panel Member from 2000-06

Prizes and Awards

• 2016 EU FP7 “Luminar – Large Volume Metrology for Industry” winner of best EMRP project 2016
• 2010 Inaugural International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Luhmann, T., Robson, S., Kyle, S., Harley, I. (2010)., Karl Kraus-Medal, Vienna.
• 2006 EU FP6 OPTAG Airport passenger efficiency, best EUFP6 Strep project 2006
• 2001 Best Paper, International Society of Endovascular Specialists, Phoenix, Arizona.
• 1997 Finalist in 1997 UK National Physical Laboratory Metrology for World Class Manufacturing Awards
• 1992 UK nominee for the Otto von Grüber Award
• 1992 Field Survey Association Civilian Prize
• 1991 Photogrammetric Society President's Prize