Prof William Parnell

Professor William Parnell is Professor of Applied Mathematics in the School of Mathematics at The University of Manchester and holds an EPSRC Research Fellowship. He is a member of the Manchester Conference Ambassador Programme, having chaired the prestigious international conference Phononics 2023 in Manchester.

Phononics 2023: 6th International Conference on Phononic Crystals/Metamaterials/Metasurfaces, Phonon Transport, Topological Phononics

Phononics 2023 is the sixth conference dedicated to analysis and manipulation of phonons (vibrations in solids), connecting researchers interested in phononic crystals, acoustic, elastic, nanophononic, and thermal metamaterials, metasurfaces, wave propagation in periodic structures, nano-scale phonon transport, optomechanics and phonon coupling.

The conference took place 12-16 June 2023 at The University of Manchester. Over 200 international experts in the field travelled to Manchester for a packed programme of conference activities, including plenary sessions, parallel talks and networking opportunities. Delegates experienced the new Manchester Engineering Campus Development, one of the largest ever developments in UK higher education.

Prof Parnell received a First Class degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Bristol (UK) in 1999, before moving to the University of Oxford (UK) to study for a Masters in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing, graduating with distinction in 2000. After a year travelling he began a PhD in 2001 at the University of Manchester under the supervision of I. David Abrahams (now Director of the Isaac Newton Institute at the University of Cambridge), completing this in 2004.

Prof Parnell’s research interests reside principally in the development of new mathematical techniques to understand the mechanical properties of inhomogeneous materials and the dynamic behaviour of particulate media. More recently his work has involved linking theory with experiments in order to develop new composites and metamaterials. He has a particular interest in understanding the constitutive behaviour of complex soft solids and tuning this via novel fillers. He leads the Mathematics of Waves and Materials (MWM) research group at Manchester, which consists of five Faculty and a thriving group of Postdocs, PhD students and Masters students.

William has held visiting positions at Universite Paris 6 and 12 (France), University of Trento (Italy), University of Oxford (UK) and Colorado School of Mines and Rutgers (USA). He has published more than 70 research papers and 2 book chapters. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (UK) and became Editor in Chief of the international journal Wave Motion in 2017. In 2019 he was awarded a Whitehead Prize by the London Mathematical Society “for highly novel and extensive research contributions in the fields of acoustic and elastodynamics metamaterials and theoretical solid mechanics, as well as excellence in the promotion of mathematics in industry”. In addition to chairing Phononics 2023, he has given numerous Keynote and Plenary lectures including at Kozwaves 2015, IMECE 2019 and at BAMC 2022.