Dr Mark Taylor

BSc (Hons) PhD (Leeds)

Research Fellow

t: +44 (0)113 34 33727

f: +44 (0)113 34 33704

e: texmt@leeds.ac.uk

 

Biography

Mark is a Research Fellow in Performance Clothing Research. Before starting a late career in academia Mark worked in the field of IT.  In 1996 Mark started a new career path when he came to Leeds to read Sports Science (Outdoor Activities). After graduating with honours in 1999 he continued in this vein with a PhD which focused on the impact absorbing mechanisms of climbing helmets.

Upon completion of his PhD Mark was employed as a Research Fellow on an EPSRC-funded project to investigate, among other things, novel ways to improve the measurement of air permeability and moisture vapour transmission.

Since the end of this project Mark has worked in many  areas related to comfort in extreme environments and protection from falls from a height, whilst becoming more involved in teaching, principally in the Faculty of Engineering. Mark is also involved in consultancy and was retained as an expert witness in 2007. He has been invited to join the judging team for Colab 08, the ALPKIT.COM national Innovation Award.

Research Interests

Mark’s research interests cover the comfort and protection of clothing systems for extreme and hostile environments and the role of textiles in protection in falls from height or from falling objects. This encompasses areas as diverse as the design of waterproof zip fasteners, improving the impact absorption of properties of sports protectors, measuring comfort in outdoor footwear and preventing scalding through firefighter clothing systems.

Mark is also active in the field of biomimetic textiles, and is currently jointly supervising a project on superadhesion using the gecko foot as inspiration.

He has been closely involved in the development of miniature data logging sensors that are unobtrusive enough to allow the measurement of the microclimate in a shoe. Work is ongoing to further develop these to remove wires from the system. Mark has also developed a novel new system for quick measurements of moisture vapour transmission under realistic conditions which is currently being extensively tested by a PhD student.

Conferences and Symposia

• Taylor, M. & Thompson, G. Are boots with waterproof linings hot and sweaty? , Innovation for Extremes, 26th September 2007, Lancaster University, UK
• Taylor, M. Belay drop test on 280kg, 3 person load, UK Mountain Rescue conference, 22nd – 24th September 2006, Lancaster University, UK
• Taylor, M. Condensation scalding, Survival 2006, 11th April 2006, University of Leeds, UK
• Taylor, M. Energy absorption over edges, Lyon Equipment symposium, 26th September 2005, Penrith, UK.
• Taylor, M. Loads at the anchor after main line failure, Lyon Equipment symposium, 22nd September 2005, Penrith, UK.
• Taylor, M. The history and development of head protective devices and their hidden textile content, Ars Textrina, 21st July 2005, University of Leeds, UK
• Taylor, M. Helmets – standards and design including prEN 14052 “High performance industrial helmets.”, M. Taylor, Lyon Equipment Technical day, 27th September 2002. Dent, UK.
• Taylor, M. & Brook, D.B. Climbing helmets – Performance Testing, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Science & Technology of climbing and mountaineering, 3rd to 5th April 2002. Leeds, UK.
• Taylor, M. Head Injury Survey, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Science & Technology of climbing and mountaineering, 3rd to 5th April 2002. Leeds, UK.
• McCartney, A.J., Brook, D.B. & Taylor, M. The effect of abseiling on Nylon climbing ropes, UIAA Technical conference on Nylon and ropes for mountaineering and caving. 8th to 9th March 2002. Turin, Italy.
• Taylor, M. Helmets for rock climbing and mountaineering, Mountain Rescue Council of Scotland Technical Seminar, December 2001. Glenmore Lodge, UK.
• Taylor, M. Helmets for rope access workers, Lyon Equipment Technical day, 23rd November 2001. Dent, UK.
• Taylor, M. The BMC helmet survey, British Mountaineering Council Technical Conference, November 2001. Plas-y-brenin, UK.
• Brook, D.B. & Taylor, M. Threshold effects in textiles and composites used for energy absorption in protective helmets, Proceedings of Technitex 2001 the 1st Autex Conference, 26th to 29th June 2001. Povoa de Varzim, Portugal.
• Taylor, M. & Brook, D.B. Climbing helmets – The latest performance data, Survival 2001, 16th April 2001. Leeds, UK.
• Taylor, M. & Brook, D.B. Climbing helmet testing, Mountain Rescue 2000, British Mountain Rescue Council Conference, 9th to 10th September 2000. Lancaster, UK.
• Taylor, M. The performance of undergarments in the wet, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Science & Technology of climbing and mountaineering, 7th to 9th April 1999. Leeds, UK.

Publications

• Taylor, M. Loft Conversion, Summit (Journal of the British Mountaineering Council) 36 (2004) 30-31.
• Taylor, M. Helmets – Off centre impacts, Summit (Journal of the British Mountaineering Council) 26 (2002) 50.
• Taylor, M. & Brook, D.B. Climbing helmets – Current research findings, World Sports Activewear 7(4) (2001) 34-37.
• Taylor, M. Heads Up, Summit 20 (Journal of the British Mountaineering Council) (2000) 30-36.
• MacNae, A. & Taylor, M. Head Games, Summit (Journal of the British Mountaineering Council) 19 (2000) 30-32.

Awards, Fellowships & Grants

• EPSRC Research Bursary 1999-2002
• Clothworkers Innovation Award “Development of an aerogel impregnated nonwoven structure for use in glove linings"”
• Clothworkers Innovation Award "Development of a biomimetic fabric for managing human comfort during work and exercise"
• Clothworkers Innovation Award “Wireless datalogging system”
• Outdoor Industry and Trade Magazine grant towards production of footwear samples for ongoing research into heat and mass transfer through footwear.
• In 2006 the final year project of Barnaby Caven, the first to be supervised by Mark, won the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers prize for the best final year project; a poster produced from the project also won 2nd prize in the 2007 Industrial Trust awards.