Professor Malcolm Macdonald

Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Personal statement

Supporting science and engineering communication to make it more easily accessible, especially to under-represented groups, I provide comment to national & international, specialist & mainstream media, across written word, audio, & visual. I have also worked as a consultant for radio and TV dramas, as well as novels.

Distinguished through my role in shaping the future of the space sector, both nationally and internationally, with experience of working in industry, government, and academia, as well as the interface to each, I have been recognised in the media as “Scotland's leading space expert". My research was applied in development of UK’s first commercial CubeSat, and Scotland 1st spacecraft, launched in 2014, and I've delivered capacity building, and aided development of satellite technology and satellite applications around the world.

I am the Director of the Centre for Signal and Image Processing (CeSIP), and also the Director of the Applied Space Technology Laboratory (ApSTL) within CeSIP, which I founded and where I lead a team of staff and PGR students.

I am a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Space Research (C-Space), University College Dublin, Vice-Chair of the Space Technology Advisory Committee of the UK Space Agency, and an Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics. I am also a member a Non-Executive Director of Weather Stream Inc., and a Council Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Previously I was the Founding Director of the Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications, SoXSA (2014 - 2020), and a Non-Executive Board Member of UK Space Agency (2017 - 2020).

Expertise

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Area of Expertise

Space Mission Analysis & Design
Space Technology
Astrodynamics
Swarm Engineering
Network Systems
Systems Engineering
Technology Roadmapping and Analysis
Technical Foresight & Horizon Scanning
Advanced Concepts
CubeSats
Modelling & Simulation

Prize And Awards

CompleNet Best poster award: Recipient; 23/4/2024
Galileo Masters EUSPA Space for FUN Challenge (2nd place): Recipient; 8/11/2021
2nd place in Copernicus Masters 2020: BMVI Transport Challenge: Recipient; 8/12/2020
Finalist in E&T Innovation Awards 2020: Recipient; 19/11/2020

More prizes and awards

Publications

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Publications

Motor organisation of social play in children with autism: Clark Ruaridh, Lu Szu-Ching, Anzulewicz Anna, Sobota Krzysiek, Thompson Lucy, Hagberg Bibi, Thorsson Max, Tachtatzis Christos, Andonovic Ivan, McConnachie Alex, Minnis Helen, Wilson Philip, Rowe Philip, Gillberg Christopher, Macdonald Malcolm, Delafield-Butt Jonathan; Journal of the Royal Society Interface Vol 22 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0302
Shared time across the Moon: Bouis Agathe, Steinmann Emma, Gribben Joshua, Clark Ruaridh, Reiss Philipp, Macdonald Malcolm; Doctoral School Multidisciplinary Symposium (DSMS) 2025 (2025)
A review of distributed ledger technologies for satellite operations: Probert Beth, Clark Ruaridh A, Blasch Erik, Macdonald Malcolm; IEEE Access Vol 13, pp. 123230-123258 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3588688
Decentralised asynchronous resilient time synchronisation for satellite networks: Bouis Agathe, Steinmann Emma, Gribben Joshua, Clark Ruaridh, Reiss Philipp, Macdonald Malcolm; AIAA Aviation Forum and Ascend 2025 ASCEND 2025 (2025); https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2025-4091
CubeSat flight software : insights and a case study: Eshaq Mohammed, Zitouni M Sami, Atalla Shadi, Al-Mansoori Saeed, Macdonald Malcolm; Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets Vol 62, pp. 1328-1345 (2025); https://doi.org/10.2514/1.A35882
Optical orbit determination for asteroid approach with vision-based range information: Zhou Xingyu, Qiao Dong, Macdonald Malcolm, Li Xiangyu; Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics Vol 48, pp. 1492-1510 (2025); https://doi.org/10.2514/1.G008522

More publications

Research

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Research Interests

The Applied Space Technology Laboratory is addressing global challenges by working at the boundaries between disciplines to deliver a step-change in the democratisation, exploration, and exploitation of space.

Developing new space and adjacent sector technologies in response to global challenges and anticipated demands, accelerating the democratisation of the use of space, and the data and services it provides.
Developing technologies and algorithms to process the exponentially increasing data available from space to help us better understand our Earth, and to make this knowledge available to all.
Developing insights to network systems across the natural sciences to engineer vastly more connected, efficient, and sustainable space systems.

Our work has an end-to-end focus on the development and application of systems by ensuring an understanding of the end application. Challenging conventional ideas and working at the interface between disciplines we seek to advance new concepts in the exploration and exploitation of space. Specifically, our research applies systems engineering concepts in, and applications of space technology by developing research into astrodynamics, networked systems, swarming, and de-centralised and collaborative systems.

Professional Activities

Catch up on Border Life: Contributor; 11/4/2025
BBC Click Video - Robots and Radar: Contributor; 16/11/2024
Path detection and tidal channel mapping using NNR graphs: Speaker; 23/4/2024
Remote Sensing of the Ocean, Sea Ice, Coastal Waters, and Large Water Regions 2023: Participant; 4/9/2023
Climate Finance Innovation: Connecting Financial Technology, Space Data and Resilient Timing: Organiser; 9/5/2023
Space Meets FinTech (Joint FinTech Scotland / Space Scotland Event): Invited speaker; 11/1/2023

More professional activities

Projects

Precision Inter-satellite Coupling of orbits and Time-Synchronisation for Alternative Navigation: Macdonald, Malcolm (Principal Investigator) Clark, Ruaridh (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2027
eXtended Satellite Production And Constellation Operations xSPANCION | Fergus-Allen, Cameron: Werkmeister, Astrid (Principal Investigator) Macdonald, Malcolm (Co-investigator) Fergus-Allen, Cameron (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2025 - 01-Jan-2029
UDLA 2527 University of Strathclyde | Fergus-Allen, Cameron: Werkmeister, Astrid (Principal Investigator) Macdonald, Malcolm (Co-investigator) Fergus-Allen, Cameron (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2025 - 01-Jan-2029
UKRI2005: DA EPSRC IDLA - University of Strathclyde 2025 / S251622-111: Clark, Ruaridh (Co-investigator) Macdonald, Malcolm (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2030
Reaching New Heights: Strengthening the Scotland Ireland Partnership with Satellite Data (Strathclyde UCD research feasibility study): Owens, Steven Robert (Principal Investigator) Bowden, James (Co-investigator) Cummins, Mark (Co-investigator) Macdonald, Malcolm (Co-investigator) McKee, David (Co-investigator) White, Chris (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2025
Magnetostatic Simulations: Yuan, Weijia (Principal Investigator) Macdonald, Malcolm (Co-investigator) Zhang, Min (Co-investigator); 06-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2024