Professor Paul Hazell
BEng (Hons)
EngD
Paul Hazell is a professor of impact dynamics in the School of Engineering and Technology (SET) at UNSW Canberra.Paul is also the Director of the Impact Dynamics Research Group (IDRG) and Lab at UNSW Canberra, and has published extensively in the field of impact dynamics (that is, the mechanics of what happens during a collision). He is also on the editorial board for the journals International Journal of Impact Engineering (Elsevier), Biomimetics (MDPI), and Shock Waves (Springer). He also served on the editorial board forScientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group)and wrote the reference book (CRC Press, 2/e, 2022,),and a popular science book on guns, entitled: '’ (Springer Praxis, 1/e, 2021).
His main research interests centre on the dynamic behaviour of materials and structures that have been subjected to impact / shock loading.
Paul's teaching experience includes courses on computational modelling techniques, shock wave theory, impact dynamics, and survivability. He has won several awards for his 'motivated' lecturing style. In addition, in 2023 he won theUNSW Students' Choice TeachingAward for his 'inspirational nurturing skills' with HDR students. See for a YouTube video onthe award details.
Paul has appeared in several documentaries as an expert commentator, usually around war machines. These have included:
- Secret Weapons of World War II, WildBear, Published: 2024.
- How Factories Changed the World, WildBear, Published: 2020. E.g., see a .
- Machinery of War, WildBear, Published: 2019. E.g., see a .
- Combat Countdown,Discovery Military Channel (US),US, Wag TV, Published: 2012. E.g., see a .
- Weapons of War, NationalGeographic / History Channel, Published 2005. E.g., see a .
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Teaching / presentation awards
- UNSW 2023 Students' Choice TeachingAward Winner, 23 November 2023. See for a YouTube video onthe award details.
- NUS Best Teacher Award for contributions to an MSc course at the National University of Singapore in recognition of “dedication and commitment”, 28 March 2006.
- Winner (1st prize) of the National Lecture Competition (UK) sponsored by the Institute of Materials, with a talk on the ‘High Velocity Attack of Ceramic Armour’, 24 April 1997.
- Winner (1st prize) of The Institute of Materials South East Region (UK) Final of the National Lecture Competition (Class II), 11 April 1997.
- Winner (1st prize) of the Oxford Metallurgical Society Lecture Competition, 18 March 1997.
Recent research / paper awards (won by Paul's students!)
- Shah S; Hazell PJ; Wang H; Escobedo JP,2025,'Shock wave mitigation using periodically discrete material layers of variable orientation: Experiments and simulations',Journal of Applied Physics,137, 11, a.115905,. Editors' Featured Paper Award for the Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 137, Issue 11, 2025.
- Bogahawaththa M; Mohotti D; Hazell PJ; Wang H; Wijesooriya K; Lee CK,2024,'Energy absorption and mechanical performance of 3D printed Menger fractal structures',Engineering Structures,305,. Editors' Featured Paper Awardfor Engineering Structures, Vol. 305, 2024.
- Serubibi A; Hazell PJ; Escobedo JP; Wang H; Oromiehie E; Prusty BG, Analysis of AFP manufactured fibre metal laminate structures under impact loading, ACAM10 – Best postgraduate student paper, 2021.
- Md Ashraf Islam, A Kader, A. Brown, P J Hazell, J P Escobedo-Diaz, X-ray and Microstructural Study of a Set of Cast Aluminum Alloys, TMS - EPD Materials Characterization Best Poster Award - 2018.
- Md Ashraf Islam, A. Brown, P J Hazell, J P Escobedo-Diaz, M Saadatfar, Deformation Mechanisms of Closed-Cell Aluminium Foams During Drop Weight Impact, TMS - EPD Materials Characterization Best Paper Award – 2017.
- Z Li, A Khennane, PJ Hazell, A Remennikov, Numerical modeling of a hybrid GFRP-concrete beam subjected to low-velocity impact loading, Best Paper Award at The 8th International Conference on Computational Methods (ICCM2017), Guilin, China – 2017.
Paul's work can be divided into five key themes:
- Shock compression of condensed matter. This includes phase changes and spall as well as examining new experimental techniques.
- Dynamic behaviour of porous materials and structures. This includes looking at ways to mitigateimpact energy.
- Bio behaviour and biomimicry. How can we learn from nature to inform the design of impact resilient materials and structures?
- Penetration mechanics. Understanding how projectile penetrate into a range of matter, from low velocity to hypervelocity. This includes cratering mechanisms.
- Constitutive model development. This includes developing new models to understand dynamic processes and feeding those models with experimental data.
Paul's Editorial Board contributions are as follows:
(2023 - present)
(2022 - present)
(2016 - present)
(2022 - 2025).
Paul was also the executive guest editor for the International Journal of Impact Engineering for the Special Issue on the.
My Research Supervision
| Altantsetseg,Burentogtokh | PhD | 1663 - Aerospace Engineering |
| Dong,Hang | PhD | 1661 - Mechanical Engineering |
| Ramadneh,Mohammad Raed Mohammad | PhD | 1661 - Mechanical Engineering |
| Ma,Hailing | PhD | 1661 - Mechanical Engineering |
| Kandasamy,Ilaventhan | Masters (Research) | 2227 - Aero, Civil & Mech Eng (MPhil) |
| Jalali,Kamran | PhD | 1871 - Chemistry |
| Pyla,Kaushik Raj | PhD | 1661 - Mechanical Engineering |
| Shah,Suman | PhD | 1631 - Civil Engineering |
| Bogahawaththa,Piladuwa Bogahawaththage Madhusha Ru | PhD | 1631 - Civil Engineering |
| Dura,Hari Bahadur | PhD | 1663 - Aerospace Engineering |
| Elbana,Abdalla | PhD | 1631 - Civil Engineering |
| Siddique,Shakib Hyder | PhD | 1661 - Mechanical Engineering |
My Teaching
ZEIT 4014 Impact Dynamics
ZINT 8301 Lethality and Survivability