Robin Cleveland PhD

Robin Cleveland became the Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in 2025. He is also a Professor of Engineering Science and Tutorial Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin where his doctoral research was on sonic boom propagation in the atmosphere. Upon completion of his PhD he was award the F.V. Hunt Fellowship of the Acoustical Society of America which he carried out at the University of Washington in Seattle studying shock wave lithotripsy – breaking of kidney stones by shock waves.

After two years in Seattle, Robin joined the faculty at Boston University where he remained for fourteen years rising to the rank of Professor of Mechanical Engineering. In 2011 he joined the University of Oxford, working in the BUBBL research group.

Robin carries out research in nonlinear acoustics with particular application to biomedical ultrasound.

Recent research areas include: low-intensity ultrasound for transcranial ultrasound neuro-stimulation (TUS), disrupting bacterial biofilms with shock waves, high-intensity ultrasound for thermal ablation, ultrasonic drug-delivery include delivery vehicles, and laser and shock wave lithotripsy for fragmenting kidney stones.

• Chair, 22nd International Symposium of Nonlinear Acoustics, Oxford (2022)
• International Scientific Chair, 20th Symposium of the International Society of Therapeutic ultrasound, Gyeongju, Korea (2021)
• Invited Speaker, British Association of Urological Surgeons Virtual Annual Meeting (2020)
• Invited Speaker, Frontier Acoustics Symposium, Shenhzen, China (2017)
• Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Guest Lecturer at World Congress of Endourology, London (2015)
• Plenary Speaker, International Symposium on Nonlinear Acoustics, Lyon, France (2015)
• Keynote Speaker, Joint 11th Congrès Français d'Acoustique and the Annual Institute of Acoustics Meeting (2012)
• Paper of the Year IEEE Trans. on UFFC (2006)
• Teacher of the Year, Mechanical Engineering, Boston University (2009)
• ASA Bruce Lindsey Award (2000)
• ASA Hunt Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Acoustics (1995-6)