Ravindra Kumar Dhir OBE is an honorary professor of concrete engineering, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom; adjunct professor at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and emeritus professor of concrete technology, University of Dundee, United Kingdom, where he held the position of founding director of the Concrete Technology Unit (1988-2008) and developed it into an internationally acknowledged Centre of Excellence. His approach to research is visionary and creative, and by working closely with industry, he ensured a meaningful dissemination of his research into practice. He won many awards and honours,including the Order of the British Empire for services to concrete technology from the Queen (1998), Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for innovative partnership withindustry (1989 and 1990 consecutively) and honorary fellowships from the Institute of Concrete Technology, United Kingdom; Indian Concrete Institute. He served on numerous technical committees, including as president of the Concrete Society (2009-2010) and on the editorial board of the Magazine of Concrete Research.