Position:

  • Professor
  • Director of Polar Engineering Research Group
  • Director: Computational Continuum Mechanics Research Group
  • Director: Social Responsiveness: Department of Civil Engineering

Email:

Office:

Qualifications:

  • PhD Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide (2007)
  • Diplom Bau-Ingenieur (TH), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (2003)

Professional Affiliations:

  • South African Association for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (SAAM)

  • Scientific Council of the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences (CISM)

  • International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ISCCBE)

  • Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research - Instabilities & Thresholds in Antarctica (SCAR INSTANT)

Undergraduate Teaching:

  • CIV1007S (Engineering mechanics)
  • CIV2011F (Mechanics of materials)

Postgraduate Teaching: 

  • CIV5108Z (Advanced mechanics of materials)
  • CIV5142Z (Finite element modelling in structural analysis)

Research Affiliations: 

Publication Profile: 

Research Interests: 

  • Antarctic ice shelf dynamics
  • Antarctic sea ice dynamics
  • Cardiac mechanics with application to rheumatic heart disease
  • Multiscale methods

Biographical Summary:

Sebastian Skatulla is a Professor in Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town. He graduated with a Master's degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in 2003 and was awarded his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Adelaide in 2007.

He is the Director and founder of the Polar Engineering Research Group (PERG) at UCT. His research activities are centred on multiscale and multiphase continuum methods. In addition to cardiac mechanics, his current activities include studying Antarctic shelf-ice and sea-ice dynamics. He is the principal investigator of a research project studying the Antarctic ice shelves, funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP), where he has led a field campaign to the Fimbul Ice Shelf in Antarctica, collecting data to complement the modelling work of PERG.

He served as the President of the South African Association for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (SAAM) from 2016 to 2021. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ISCCBE) and a member of the Scientific Council of the International Centre for Mechanical Sciences (CISM). He also serves on the Editorial Boards of the Archive of Applied Mechanics and Mathematical and Computational Applications.