Dr Tom Shire is a Research Associate in the Geotechnics section at Imperial College London. His current research is focusing on laboratory testing of an unsaturated clayey silt from the UK. This research is funded by an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Grant. Dr Shire obtained a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from Imperial College in 2014. The subject of the PhD research was discrete element modelling (DEM) analysis of granular filters for embankment dams. The PhD was awarded the Unwin Prize for the best thesis in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2014. Dr Shire graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2005 with an MEng in Civil Engineering with German. Following this he spent four years working for Scott Wilson Ltd. (now part of Aecom) as an assistant geotechnical engineer. In 2009 he joined Imperial College to study for an MSc in Soil Mechanics, followed by a PhD. After submission of his PhD thesis, Dr. Shire spent just over one year as a geotechnical engineer at Atkins Ltd. Dr Shire was a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering between January 2015 and August 2016.