Prof. Ashcroft has a chair in Mechanics of Solids at the University of Nottingham. He is a member of the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering and the Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Research Group.

Prof. Ashcroft has an interest in many aspects of solid mechanics including materials testing and characterization, multi-physics finite element analysis, design for manufacture and structural and multi-objective optimization. In addition to STAPP, current projects include the development, design and manufacture of novel armour systems, the effects of complex loading and environmental effects on adhesively bonded structures, the development of techniques for the design and optimization of multi-functional 3D printed components and the modelling of additive manufacturing processes.

Prof. Ashcroft's main interests in STAPP are in the characterization of PV module materials, the effect of the environment on the degradation of PV modules and the finite element simulation of the performance and degradation of PV modules in-service. The broad aims of the work are to understand the mechanisms of degradation and failure in PV modules and develop methods of predicting this to enable more environmentally robust modules to be designed.