Ed Galea

Galea was born in Melbourne, Australia, and developed an early interest in science and engineering. He pursued a bachelor's degree in Science, majoring in Physics and Mathematics at Monash University (1976–1980), followed by a Diploma in Education Monash University (1980–1981) and a Ph.D. in astrophysics, with a focus on magnetohydrodynamics from the University of Newcastle (1981–1984).{{Cite web |title=Ed Galea - University of Greenwich LinkedIn |url=https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ed-galea-evacguy |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=uk.linkedin.com |language=en}}

Upon graduating Galea secured a position as an industrial mathematician at the Melbourne research laboratory for BHP (1984 – 1985). In 1985 Galea was offered a one-year post-doctoral position at St.Andrews University in Scotland to work on the mathematical modelling of magnetic flux tubes in the solar atmosphere. Galea moved to the UK in October 1985, took up the position at St. Andrews but remained there for only a few months (1985 – 1986).{{Cite web |date=2009-10-11 |title=Podcast: Episode 41 – Ed Galea, His career, part 1: How astrophysics leads to steel casting and fire modelling |url=https://aperiodical.com/2009/10/podcast-episode-41-ed-galea-his-career-part-1-how-astrophysics-leads-to-steel-casting-and-fire-modelling/ |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=The Aperiodical |language=en}}

Galea's academic career in fire safety research began at Thames Polytechnic in London (1986) with a three-year post-doctoral position focused on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling of fire. His project was concerned with utilising the ‘new’ technique of CFD fire modelling to explore the fire dynamics of the fatal Manchester Airport B737 fire of 1985 that claimed the lives of 55 people. As such, it was one of the first applications of CFD fire modelling to the study of fatal post-crash aircraft fire. Thames Polytechnic became the University of Greenwich in 1992, and Galea was appointed as Senior Lecturer in 1988, Reader (Associate Professor) in 1991 and full Professor in 1992. He established the Fire Safety Engineering Group (FSEG) at the University of Greenwich in 1992. Today, FSEG in a world-leading research group in fire safety engineering.{{Cite web |title=Ed Galea |url=https://www.5x15.com/speakers/ed-galea |access-date=2024-06-08 |website=5x15}}

Ed Galea's research has advanced the field of fire safety engineering. He has developed several computational tools for fire and evacuation modeling, SMARTFIRE for CFD fire modelling, and the EXODUS suite of agent-based evacuation models including.{{Cite web |title=SMARTFIRE (An advanced CFD fire simulation environment) INTRODUCTION |url=https://fseg.gre.ac.uk/smartfire/ |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=fseg.gre.ac.uk}}{{Cite web |title=Exodus Introduction |url=https://fseg.gre.ac.uk/exodus/ |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=fseg.gre.ac.uk}}

Galea's work encompasses various aspects of fire safety, from the detailed simulation of fire spread to the analysis of human behaviour during evacuations. Galea has conducted studies on the evacuation of high-rise buildings, ships, aircraft and urban environments, contributing to improved safety standards and practices in these environments.

Ed Galea has received awards and honours for his contributions to fire safety engineering. These include:{{Cite news |last1=Hall |first1=Rachel |last2=Bayer |first2=Lili |date=2024-01-02 |title=Japan: plane collision at Tokyo airport leaves five dead on coastguard aircraft but Japan Airlines passengers evacuate – as it happened |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jan/02/japan-earthquake-search-people-trapped-rubble-death-toll-latest-updates |access-date=2024-06-10 |work=the Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

2001 British Computer Society Gold Medal for IT;{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

2002 Queen's Anniversary Prize;{{Cite web |date=2005-11-12 |title=The lessons of 9/11 |url=https://timesofmalta.com/article/the-lessons-of-9-11.72269 |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=Times of Malta |language=en-gb}}

2006 and 2017 Royal Aeronautical Society's Gold Award;{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

2013 Royal Institution of Naval Architecture Medal of Distinction;{{Cn|date=April 2025}}

Galea has been recognized by professional organisations such as the Institution of Fire Engineers and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.{{How|date=April 2025}}

Galea has authored or co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters primarily in fire safety engineering.{{Cite web |title=E. R.Galea |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TPh74vUAAAAJ&hl=en |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=scholar.google.com}}{{Cite web |title=Scopus preview - Galea, E. R. - Author details - Scopus |url=https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7005633900 |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=www.scopus.com}} Galea has been interviewed in news articles and six documentaries focusing on fire and evacuation disasters.{{Cite web |title=Ed Galea |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2406968/ |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - All in the Mind, Self-driving cars and the pedestrian, Risk tolerance in the brain, Awards nominee |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b1r3j1 |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |last=Sider |first=River Davis, Megumi Fujikawa and Alison |title=Inside a Flaming Jet, 367 Passengers Had Minutes to Flee. Here's How They Did It. |url=https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/inside-a-flaming-jet-367-passengers-had-minutes-to-flee-heres-how-they-did-it-f0e3c2dc |access-date=2024-06-10 |work=WSJ |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=How everyone on Jan flight 516 survived |url=https://api.theworld.org/segments/2024/04/04/how-everyone-on-jan-flight-516-survived |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=The World from PRX |date=3 January 2024 |language=en}}

Galea is involved in several professional organizations and committees related to fire safety and evacuation. He has servesdas a consultant to government agencies, regulatory bodies, and industry, providing expert advice on fire safety standards and policies. He is a charted fire safety engineer, a charted mathematician and a fellow of the IFE and IMA.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Galea resides in London and has supervised to completion 35 PhD students. He has been married since 1992. He enjoys photography, astronomy, driving performance cars and the cinema in his spare time.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://fseg.gre.ac.uk FSEG website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/FSEGresearch FSEG YouTube]

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Category:Living people

Category:British engineering academics

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Monash University alumni

Category:University of Newcastle (Australia) alumni