Maths professor presented with award by his former student

A MATHS expert from Henley has been presented with an award by one of his former students.

Simon Chandler-Wilde, 65, of St Andrew’s Road, is a professor of applied mathematics who works part-time at the University of Reading.

The R W B Stephens Medal of the Institute of Acoustics was awarded to him by Professor Kirill Horoshenkov, his ex-student, at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh.

The accolade is for his contributions to acoustics and research and education during his 37-year career.

The medal is named after Dr Ray Stephens, the first president of the institute.

Prof Chandler-Wilde was also elected a fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, which represents excellence across sciences, humanities, arts and other fields.

It has more than 700 elected fellows who champion research and promote learning.

Prof Chandler-Wilde’s acoustic research has provided the foundation for the development of new noise barrier designs, which have been used to control noise from road traffic and trains.

Since earning his PhD in environmental sound propagation from the University of Bradford in 1987, he has published 95 cited journal papers and led or co-led 25 research grants in acoustics. He said: “The accolades are a little bit unexpected because there are lots of really good people out there but it’s lovely to have the recognition.

“What made it particularly nice was that Prof Horoshenkov, who is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, read the citations.

“When I was a lecturer, he came to work with me and my former supervisor and he has had a fantastic career, becoming a professor and moving to Sheffield.

“It felt like a full circle moment because Kirill has been a really big part of my life professionally and as a friend.

“The Institute of Acoustics has also been a big part of my professional life and I have been a member since I was a PhD student, too.

“I’m really pleased that my contributions to research and teaching in acoustics over many years have been honoured by the award.”

Prof Chandler-Wilde specialises in developing computer models using maths to assist in designing noise barriers that help predict outdoor noise propagation, particularly from roads and trains.

He said: “I did a degree in mathematics at Imperial College London and even though I wasn’t a fantastic student, I did well enough to get a place on a master’s course in engineering mathematics at Newcastle University.

“After my doctorate, I got a job working as a research assistant at the University of Bradford with a fantastic supervisor.

“I was employed to work on making and developing new methods to make predictions of outdoor noise propagation, particularly from roads.

“I worked on noise barriers for another four years before I became a lecturer in mathematics at Coventry University for a couple of years before I went back to Bradford.”

In 1994, he moved to Henley and worked as a lecturer at Brunel University in London before becoming a professor at the University of Reading in 2003.

He said: “Working in research is very exciting but it’s difficult times in the world of academia at the moment as lots of places are struggling for funding.

“One of the things I’ve enjoyed most is working with and mentoring students. What stands out is how many of my research assistants, post-doctorates and PhD students have become professors themselves.

“My career didn’t start promising and I didn’t do very well in my first degree, so I would say to others not to be disheartened and push through the setbacks.”

Prof Chandler-Wilde is married to Rebecca, who chairs the town council’s climate emergency working group. They have two children, Helen, 30, an author and journalist at Bloomberg, and Rosie, 25, a research assistant at King’s College, London