7th Aircraft Structural Design Conference

PhD student at Queen Mary University of London researching multidisciplinary Level Set Method topology optimisation with a focus on application to aerospace components.

Previously studied Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London, with prior research projects on the topology optimisation on novel aerospace components – such as a multi-element wingtip and box-wing.

Yan Cheng Angelo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering (2017) and a Master’s degree in Space Engineering (2019). Currently he is a Temporary Research Fellow at the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology of Politecnico di Milano. Hisresearch activity is aimed at developing surrogate models for the structural analysis and design optimization of thin-walled composite panels and aeronautical structures.

Jonathan Cooper is the Sir George White Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol. He has researched in the areas of aeroelasticity, loads and structural dynamics for over 30 years, working closely with the world-wide aerospace industry. He is currently the President of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Giuseppe Corrado is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Early stage researcher, currently working at Airbus Defence and Space, and a PhD candidate at FEUP (Porto). His main research topic is about the development of extended and advanced failure models and design criteria for aerospace composites. His work is part of the OptiMACS H2020 Project, whose general objective is to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the Multidisciplinary Design Optimization platform employed by AIRBUS. 

He holds a M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering (2018) and a Bachelor degree in Industrial Engineering (2015), both from University of Salento (Lecce, IT). Alongside his studies, he worked as a trainee at GKN Fokker Aerostructures (Hoogeveen, NL) in 2017, gaining relevant experience about impact and compression testing on advanced thermoplastic aircraft structures.

Clint has a Degree in Mechanical Engineering  from Nottingham Trent University. Clint has been using Finite Element codes since 1984, including PAFEC, ANSYS, Nastran, Dyna and Abaqus. Clint was a self-employed consultant to the automotive and aerospace industries for 15 years with Matrix Stress Analysis Ltd and joined Abaqus in 2003 as a Services Specialist providing solutions and methodologies for our large customers.

In 2012 he took  on the role of Academic liaison and sales looking after Universities in UK, Ireland and Northern Europe.

Obtained his PhD from Delft University of Technology in 2009 and a Master degree at the Department of Aerospace Engineering in 2004. Joined NLR in 2009 and is currently working as an R&D engineer at the Aerospace Vehicles – Collaborative Engineering Systems department. Research areas include multi-disciplinary design optimization, computational mechanics, electromagnetic and thermal structural analysis and composite manufacturing simulations.

Robert has over 20-years of engineering experience in aerospace engineering, predominantly in computational analysis and has worked on all of Rolls-Royce’s large civil engine products currently in service. Robert was appointed to the Rolls-Royce engineering fellowship in 2015 due to his continuing activities to develop mechanical analysis capabilities within the company.

His main interest lies in the mechanical analysis of extreme failure cases. He is the global theme lead for Rolls-Royce’s Mechanical University Technology Partnership [Cornerstone] and other research in this arena.

Jazib Hassan has a bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Institute of Space Technology (IST), Pakistan (2012), and a masters degree in Simulation Sciences from RWTH Aachen University (2016). In 2017, he took a PhD position in UL and is currently working on the optimisation of energy absorption in mechanically-fastened composite joints. His project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721256.

Carrie Martin holds a first class masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from Queens University Belfast. She is currently completing her PhD research at Queens University Belfast. Her research focuses on the modelling and analysis of turbofan engines. 

Joaquim Martins is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. From 2002 to 2009, he was a faculty member in the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, where he held a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College, London, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Aircraft and for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization. 

Malcolm gained both his degree and PhD at Imperial College. He joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in 1979 and worked for RAE and its subsequent reincarnations DRA, DERA and QinetiQ for a period of thirty years. During this time he carried out research on topics including ground vibration testing and data analysis, finite element model reconciliation, flat-panel loudspeakers, active noise control, active vibration reduction, probabilistic methods for statics, dynamics and fatigue, rapid design tools for aircraft structure and MDO.  He is joint holder of patents on hybrid speaker designs and active vibration control devices.

Malcolm has been chairman of the Structures and Materials Specialist Group for every Aircraft Structural Design Conference.

Mr. Emre Ongut is a research engineer at the Aerospace Competence Center of Siemens Digital Industries Software. His main field of expertise is low- and high-fidelity aeroelasticity as well as structural and fluid dynamics. He is currently working on research projects regarding the executable digital twins in the aircraft industry, development of simulation tools for aeroelasticity and the demonstration of Siemens software capabilities on novel aerospace projects.

Daniël Peeters obtained his PhD in January 2017 from Delft University of Technology, faculty of Aerospace Engineering, in the Aerospace Structures and Computational Mechanics department working on the optimisation of manufacturable variable stiffness laminates. Afterwards he did a post-doc in the University of Limerick, working on the design, manufacturing and testing of a thermoplastic in-situ consolidated variable stiffness wingbox. Since November 2018, he works as a senior researcher in the Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies department at Delft University of Technology focusing on the combination of design/optimisation and manufacturing of advanced composite structures made using automated manufacturing methods

Sergio Pellegrino is currently the Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, JPL Senior Research Scientist and Co-Director of the Space Solar Power Project. He was previously on the faculty of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. In 2019 he was the Michael M. Byram Distinguished Visiting Professor, Ann & H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder.

Pellegrino’s general area of research is the mechanics of lightweight structures, focusing on packaging, deployment, shape control and stability. He has authored over 300 technical publications on these topics. Pellegrino is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of AIAA and a Chartered Structural Engineer. He is currently President of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures and Chairman of the Aerospace Historical Society.

Muhammed Sadique is currently a Research Associate in the Aerospace Engineering department at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi. Prior to joining Khalifa University, he worked as a Research Assistant in Mechanical Engineering Department at United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain. His research mainly focused on morphing wings. He completed his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Khalifa University and Bachelor of Engineering in Aeronautical Engineering from Anna University, India.

University of Stuttgart (Diploma in Aerospace Engineering)

German Aerospace Center / Center of Lightweight Production Technologies in Augsburg/Germany (since 2011)

Massimo Sferza is an engineer passionate about numerical simulation and design optimization.    He holds a M.Sc. in Computational Mechanics from the Technical University of Munich, Germany (2017) and a Bachelor degree in Industrial engineering from the University of Trieste, Italy (2015).    Currently, he is a PhD student at the University of Nottingham and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Early Stage Researcher in the OptiMACS project, working at Airbus Defence and Space.

Jurij Sodja earned his bachelor degree in Physics from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics , University of Ljubljana. He continued his post-graduate studies at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana where he earned his PhD degree. Since then he works as a research associate at Delft Technical University. His primary interest is experimental aeroelasticity, low-fidelity modelling of fluid-structure interaction phenomena and smart structures.

Constantinos Soutis PhD(Cantab), FREng is Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Head of the Aerospace Research Institute at the University of Manchester (UK). His research focuses on damage mechanics of composite materials and structural health monitoring. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 ISI listed papers and successfully supervised over 40 PhD students.

He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, distinguished for his major contributions to the science and technology of the mechanics and mechanisms of failure of fibre-composite materials based upon polymeric matrices. The Academy's Fellows represents the nation’s best engineering researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, business and industry leaders. Election to the Academy is by invitation only.

PhD Student, Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Structures, TU Braunschweig

Neoklis Traiforos possesses a Diploma (M.Eng) in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. Specialized in the sector of air and ground transport vehicles he also received technical training in Spain, Italy and Germany. Working on various projects he has gained experience in composite structures, in CAD and CAE software, as well as in programming languages. He has contributed to a scientific publication but at the same time developed business plans for a NGO and a start-up company. Passionate about technology he considers quality as the most important thing in his work.

Wouter has been working for 12 years at NLR, currently as Sr. scientist. Has been involved in many international projects on computational mechanics.

Sophie studied Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Southampton, graduating in 2012. Upon graduation she joined the Leonardo helicopters graduate scheme and having gained various experience across the company, settled in the Materials Laboratory. She has predominantly worked on Military rotorcraft such as the AW101 and Wildcat, alongside specific projects to support the AW189 and AW609 civil rotorcraft. She is currently responsible for the qualification of surface treatments and composite materials, is the REACH focal point for the UK business and is the non-metallic additive manufacturing specialist.

Paul Weaver has held the position of Bernal Chair of Composite Materials and their Structures at the University of Limerick since 2016 and has been Professor of Lightweight Structures at the University of Bristol since 2009. Paul’s expertise lies in developing new design concepts and methods with lightweight composite structures. He has worked closely with Airbus, Leonardo Helicopters, Vestas Wind Systems and has been a consultant to NASA for 12 years, and a principal or co-principal investigator of grants totalling >50MEuro. He holds a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Professorship (€6.4M) entitled Varicomp which brings together his interests in both shape changing and lightweight composite structures.

He currently holds a Royal Society Wolfson Merit award and was previously an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow. He has been Director for the Centre of Doctoral Training in Composites since 2008 where he has overseen the graduation of more than 100 PhD students.  His research team have won eight best paper awards in recent years and Paul has successfully supervised 36 PhD students to completion and has published in excess of 400 refereed journal and conference articles.

Tom graduated from Imperial College London with a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 2000 and joined the Loads and Aeroelastics department in Airbus. Today Tom is a Loads and Aeroelastics expert, and leads the Semi Aeroelastic Hinge project including AlbatrossONE. Tom has worked on most Airbus aircraft, including A320 family hard landing detection, A330 static aeroelastics and flight loads, A350 aeroelastic tailoring, A380 flutter, A400M T-tail and propeller whirl flutter, and Beluga XL as the designated technical expert for Loads and Aeroelastics.