Professor Alphose Zingoni’s research has focused on the development of analytical methods for shell structures in engineering, the innovative use of shells in civil engineering, studies of symmetry in structural engineering, and the development of group-theoretic formulations for various problems in structural mechanics. After completing his MSc and PhD degrees at Imperial College London, he started his academic career at the University of Zimbabwe, where he became Dean of the Faculty of Engineering in 1997. He moved to UCT in 1999, was promoted to Full Professor of Structural Engineering and Mechanics in 2003, and served as Head of Department from 2008 to 2012. Prof Zingoni has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles and four engineering books, including the award-winning “Shell Structures in Civil and Mechanical Engineering“, now widely used in many countries around the world. 

He is the founder of the SEMC series of international conferences, held in Cape Town every three years since 2001. He has served on the editorial boards of several leading international journals in engineering. Among his honours are Fellowships of the Institution of Structural Engineers (London), the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (Zurich), and the South African Academy of Engineering. For 3 years in a row (since 2020), he has been included in Stanford University’s list of top two percent scientists in the world.