DrAngela Casarella

Dr Angela Casarella is an Assistant Professor in Geotechnical Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. After completing both her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino in Italy, she earned an MSc in Geomechanics from Université Grenoble Alpes in France. In 2022, she completed her PhD at the same institution, where her research focused on the thermomechanical behaviour of non-active clays. Her work combined experimental, numerical, and analytical approaches to investigate the particle-scale mechanisms controlling the thermomechanical response of kaolin clay.

In 2023, Angela joined Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden as a postdoctoral researcher, where she spent two years deepening her expertise in experimental clay micromechanics. During this time, she led experimental campaigns on clay particle morphology and sensitivity, integrating synchrotron-based nano-tomography, Small- and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS), and advanced image analysis techniques to investigate the fundamental mechanisms governing the behaviour of quick clays. Her work contributed to a deeper understanding of microstructural controls on clay fabric evolution and mechanical response.

Angela’s research sits at the interface of geotechnical engineering and materials science, with a focus on the characterization and design of engineered geomaterials for both civil and non-civil engineering applications.