The work described represents the candidate’s research in the area of engineering component representation, particularly in the context of constrained optimisation. Early papers describe a general approach to detail design that has since become commonplace, however, the advances that were hoped for in some downstream applications are proving more elusive. Whilst the early work describes constraint generation later work looks at different approaches to the shape and topology optimisation problems. The latest papers also include part of the candidate’s work in considering specific applications of parameterised manufacturing features.