Professor Lee Ford

PhD, BEng

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Professor in Electromagnetic Structure Design

Communications Research Group

Director of Learning and Teaching (Strategy)

Headshot of Lee Ford
Profile picture of Headshot of Lee Ford
l.ford@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5904

Full contact details

Professor Lee Ford
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Profile

I received my BEng degree and PhD degrees in electronic engineering from the University of Sheffield in 1998 and 2003 respectively. Following a research position at BAE SYSTEMS (Stealth materials), between 2001 and 2005, I became a lecturer in communications.  I was appointed Professor in 2019.

I am also a senior member of the IEEE. My research interests focus on antennas and metamaterials for a range of applications.

Antennas are used in a multitude of applications and my current interests are in the fundamental aspects of reconfigurable antennas for cellular applications such as 5G and beyond 5G (B5G).

This includes frequency agile antennas for both handsets and basestation transceiver stations (BTS). I am also carrying out research into direct antenna modulation which has applications in 5G, B5G and the internet of things (IoT).

Metamaterials are of interest globally for their unique properties that are often not found in nature. My research group are currently applying these structures for applications such as medical resonance imaging (MRI) to improve image quality for clinical diagnosis, and antenna beam reconfigurability for cellular and wireless communications.

I also have interests in general electromagnetic material characterisation which cover basic material properties, full field design, manufacture, and measurement of scattering.

I have a range of measurement capabilities, including waveguide, freespace reflection/transmission, and a 3D radar cross section (RCS) facility.

Qualifications
  • PhD (Electronic Engineering, University of Sheffield), 2003
  • BEng (Electronic Engineering - Communications, University of Sheffield), 1998
Research interests
  • Direct antenna modulation
  • Metasurfaces for magnetic resonance imaging applications
  • Reconfigurable antennas, metamaterials and metasurfaces
  • Electrically small antennas, metamaterials and metasurfaces
  • Novel radar absorbing material (RAM) design
  • Radar cross-section management
  • Electromagnetic material characterisation
Publications

Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

Datasets

Research group

Previous PhD students

  • Holtby DG
  • Lee H
  • Liu H
  • Roberts J
Professional activities and memberships
  • Professor in Electromagnetic Structure Design
  • Teaching Strategy Director
Research students
Student Degree  Status Primary/Secondary
Holtby D G PhD Graduated Primary
Lee H PhD Graduated Primary
Liu H PhD Graduated Primary
Roberts J PhD  Graduated Primary