Aerospace Centre of ExcellencePeople

The centre is defined by the researchers who work within it, from professors directing long-term strategy to post-docs and PhDs driving forward the development of promising new methods, to visiting scholars and short-term researchers brought in to address specific projects and expand our knowledge base.

Prof Massimiliano Vasile

Director, Aerospace Centre of Excellence
Director of Research, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Main research interests include space systems engineering, space traffic management & space situtational awareness, computational optimisation, robust design and optimisation under uncertainty exploring the limits of computer science at solving highly complex problems in science and engineering.

Prof Matthew Cartmell

Professor in Nonlinear Dynamics

Research interests in modelling of nonlinear dynamical systems, methods of approximate analytical solution to ODE based models, application of the principles of nonlinear dynamics to problems in structural vibration, energy harvesting, flexible rotors, momentum exchange space tethers and novel propulsion concepts for spacecraft

Dr Marcello Lappa

Reader in fluid mechanics and heat transfer
Director of MSc in Mechanical Engineering

Research interests in fluid motion and stability behavior, incompressible and compressible fluid-dynamics, organic and inorganic materials sciences and crystal growth, multiphase flows, solidification, high-temperature gas-dynamics, particle dynamics, biotechnology and biomechanics, methods of numerical analysis in computational fluid dynamics and heat/mass transfer.

 

Dr Marco Fossati

Senior Lecturer and Chancellor's Fellow in Computational Aerodynamics
Director, Future Air-Space Transportation Technologies Laboratory

Research interests in computational aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, Reduced Basis Methods for unsteady transonic aerodynamics, high-Mach and nonequilibrium aerodynamics, PH mesh adaptivity and (re)generation

 

Dr Edmondo Minisci

Senior Lecturer in Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation
Director, Intelligent Computational Engineering Laboratory

Research interests in computational intelligence, global optimisation methods, robust multidisciplinary design optimisation, uncertainty treatment, machine learning. 

 
 
 

Dr Christie Maddock

Lecturer in Aerospace Transport Systems
Co-Director, Future Air-Space Transportation Technologies Laboratory

Research interests in dynamics and control, trajectory optimisation and system design optimisation for aerospace transport systems including space access systems, spaceplanes and long range airliners 

Dr Annalisa Riccardi

Lecturer and Chancellor's Fellow in Computational Intelligence
Associate Director, Intelligent Computational Engineering Laboratory

Research interests in data driven modeling and decision making for engineering design, multi objective multidisciplinary design optimisation, ....

Dr Mohammed Afsar

Lecturer and Chancellor's Fellow in Aeroscience

Research interests in multiphysics computational aerodynamics, aircraft and rotorcraft aerodynamics, high-speed and non-equilibrium flows, modal-based Reduced Order Modeling for fluid dynamics and aeroicing, mesh optimisation and generation

Dr Jinglang Feng

Lecturer and Chancellor’s Fellow 

Research interests in modelling of in nonlinear dynamical system, specifically in solving spacecraft orbital motion around small solar system bodies with analytical and numerical methods and the corresponding stability analysis, resonant dynamics, propagation and analysis of model uncertainties in space mission design, applications of AI algorithms to astrodynamics and space mission design.

Dr Jie Yuan

Lecturer and Chancellor’s Fellow 

Research interests address four main themes: (1) the development of advanced numerical tools to predict vibrational level and stability of the aerospace/space system with various types of nonlinearities, e.g., contact friction; (2) the design of novel friction based or new material based damping concepts for vibration suppression or reduction; (3) uncertainty quantification and optimization of nonlinear aerospace systems; (4) the data driven techniques to improve the design and identification of nonlinear dynamical system.

PhD researchers

Deep Bandivadekar (Supervisor: Dr Edmondo Minisci)
Design of transpiration cooling based systems

Luis Sanchez Fernandez-Mellado (Supervisor: Prof Massimiliano Vasile)
Artificial Intelligence for Space Traffic Management

Olga Ganilova (Supervisor: Prof Matthew Cartmell)
The stability of thermo-elastically controlled structures

Ana Catarina Garbacz Gomes (Supervisor: Dr Marco Fossati)
Modelling of thermal nonequilibrium for high-Mach aerodynamics

Robert Garner (Supervisor: Dr Christie Maddock)
Analysis and impact of emissions from future aerospace transport systems

Giuseppe Fortunato (Supervisor: Dr Marco Fossati)
Adaptive Reduced Basis Methods for aerodynamic studies of next-generation aircraft

Francesco Marchetti (Supervisor: Dr Edmondo Minisci)
Intelligent control for access to space

Fabio Morgado (Supervisor: Dr Marco Fossati)
Multi-disciplinary modelling of the aerothermodynamically-induced fragmentation of re-entering bodies

Carlos Ortega (Supervisor: Prof Massimiliano Vasile)
Optimisation of complex systems with time-evolving uncertainty models

Francesco Torre (Supervisor: Prof Massimiliano Vasile)
Navigation and Control in the Proximity of Binary Asteroid Systems

Federico Toso (Supervisor: Dr Christie Maddock)
Design, modelling and optimisation for future space access vehicles

Callum Wilson (Supervisor: Dr Annalisa Riccardi)
On-board intelligent control

 
 

10 academics supervising 26 researchers with 34 graduate alumni since 2010