Professor Michel Destrade is the Chair of Applied Mathematics at the University of Galway; Adjunct Professor at Zhejiang University and at University College Dublin; Directeur de Recherche at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (on leave) and a member of the International Brain Mechanics and Trauma Lab at Oxford University.

His research interests are in the fields of nonlinear elasticity, the mechanics of elastomers, soft dielectrics and biological soft tissues, and in linear, linearised, and non-linear waves and wrinkles in soft matter. He has authored 6 invited book chapters and more than 160 articles in refereed international journals. He has held several Editorial Board appointments, including for the Proceedings of the Royal Society A. He has served as Guest Editor for several special issues, including two for the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.

He has mentored 13 PhD students and 9 Postdoctoral Fellows to date. His research has been supported by grants awarded, among others, by the European Commission; the Royal Society; the British Council; the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche; the CNRS; the British Science Association, Science Foundation Ireland; Enterprise Ireland; and the Irish Research Council.

Keywords: nonlinear elasticity, elastic waves, acousto-elasticity, biomechanics of skin and brain matter, instability of soft matter.

I am mostly interested in applying the principles of Continuum Mechanics to the modelling of soft matter, including biological tissues and gels. The equations of motion can be written down to take into account all characteristics of these materials, including coupling with other fields such as electromagnetism or fluid dynamics, but great care must be taken when large deformations are considered.

Keywords: Stability of soft solids and tissues; Acousto-elasticity; Modelling of Skin and Brain; Electro- and Magneto-sensitive soft solids.

Applied Mathematics