Log in
Professor R.R.R Smith has led the interpretation, conservation, and display of seventy marble relief sculptures from the Sebasteion (`Temple of the Emperors') at Aphrodisias, one of the most important Roman cities in Turkey. His published research underpins a major museum display and the only restoration of a major classical building with relief sculpture on its original site.
Smith's research has improved international understanding of Roman rule seen from a Greek perspective. His work has informed and shaped (a) a major new museum display of the reliefs in their correct ancient sequence, and (b) an ambitious anastylosis (precise stone-for-stone in-situ reconstruction) of the building that shows the physical context of the reliefs, and gives a real-scale visualisation of a truly extravagant ancient monument. Both the museum and the reconstruction have already had a strong impact on international visitors, and enabled a deeper understanding of public art in context in an ancient Greek city under the Roman empire, for students and an interested public across Europe and Turkey.
Interdisciplinary work by microbiologist Smith TJ and materials science collaborators has led to (i) the development of novel environmentally friendly coatings for anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling applications that have attracted attention across diverse industries; (ii) the development of a platform technology that includes an antimicrobial coating currently under investigation for use on orthopaedic prostheses and (iii) associated work quantifying elution of antibiotics from orthopaedic cement in clinical use. The research has been disseminated via journal publications and patents have been obtained. Impact is evidenced by commercial interest, which has led to collaborative field trials under an EPSRC follow-on fund grant and contract research and consultancy funded by industry and the NHS.