Contact Professor Craig Lawson

Areas of expertise

  • Aeronautical Systems
  • Aerospace Manufacturing
  • Aircraft Design
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Computing, Simulation & Modelling
  • Systems Engineering

Background

Summary

Craig Lawson is Professor of Aircraft Design at ÃÀ¼§¸ó, UK, and head of the Aircraft Design Group, a team of 20+ academics and postdocs with multidisplinary capabilities in all aspects of aircraft design.

He teaches Airframe Systems Design, and Aircraft Performance. He also supervises design and research projects in the field of Aircraft Systems at Masters and PhD levels.

Craig manages research in these fields including for Innovate UK, EPSRC and EU funded projects. He has been Principal Investigator on grants totalling more than GBP£2m, with a focus on aircraft level impact of novel systems with emissions and noise assessment. He has published more than 70 research papers, including 30+ peer-reviewed journal papers. CEng, FRAeS, FHEA, Hon. Sec. ÃÀ¼§¸ó Branch RAeS.

Prof Lawson is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and serves as Honorary Secretary of the ÃÀ¼§¸ó Branch. He is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.

Background

Following the completion of a BEng (Hons.) in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, Prof Lawson came to ÃÀ¼§¸ó in 1999 to research a PhD in Gas Turbine Instrumentation. Craig has been involved in teaching aircraft design at ÃÀ¼§¸ó since 2003, and was awarded 'ÃÀ¼§¸ó Students' Association Best Lecturer (School of Engineering) 2013-14'.

Craig served as Chief Systems Engineer and Flight Trials Commander for the Demon UAV (FLAVIIR project 2007-2011 £5m). The Demon turbojet UAV was funded by BAE Systems and the UK EPSRC, and achieved a world-first by demonstrating controlled flight without the use of moving control surfaces. This was accomplished by using fluidic control devices utilizing the Coanda effect. Prof Lawson was given the BAE Systems Chairman's Bronze Award 2010 for supporting Total Performance Culture by transferring best practice to apprentices in the assembly of the Demon UAV. Craig was given the BAE Systems Chairman's Silver Award 2011 in Innovation for the Demon UAV Project.

Craig was Programme Manager (acting as co-PI) for ÃÀ¼§¸ó's participation in the Clean Sky: Systems for Green Operation, Integrated Technology Demonstrator (2008-2015 work-share £1.2m). The research was centred on the development of the GATAC (Green Aircraft Trajectories with ATM Constraints) simulation environment. Deployment of this tool has included investigating the aircraft energy and trajectory implications of 'more electric' airframe systems, compared to conventional systems. Some results of this activity are included in a paper which was awarded the 2014 SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award.

Prof Lawson was a Co-Investigator on the Airbus and UK ATI funded Future of Aircraft Factory Project (2015-2017). This research advanced aircraft wing systems design for manufacturability, which is a key enabler to increase A320 production rates.

Craig was the Principal Investigator (£300k) on the EU Horizon2020 project on Future Aircraft Cabins for the Asian Market, led by Airbus (FUCAM 2016-2019 £1.8m).

Prof Lawson was the Principal Investigator (£450k) on the UK ATI funded project UHBR Thermals, led by Meggitt (2017-2021 £3.8m). This research developed new schemes and modelling tools for integrated aircraft-engine thermal management for transport aircraft.

In 2021, Craig was an investigator on the ATI FlyZero project looking at both sustainable cabins and novel high lift devices.

Prof Lawson was a Co-Investigator on the EPSRC funded project Decarbonising Transport through Electrification, a Whole System Approach (£916k EP/S032053/1 2019-2023). This research takes a high-level approach to look at integrated infrastructure for energy networks, land, sea and air transportation including electric and hybrid-electric aircraft.

Craig was a Co-Investigator and WP2 leader for the SENECA project (£5m 2021-2025), which is investigating noise in supersonic transport aircraft.

Research opportunities

Current research topics:

Aircraft integration of advanced systems technologies, including more electric systems and novel flight controls

Airframe systems modelling for aircraft level operational optimisation

Airframe systems modelling to improve preliminary aircraft design processes

Airframe systems technologies for uninhabited air vehicles

Aircraft level thermal management and aircraft performance impact

Aircraft cabin systems

Supersonic transport aircraft design with noise assessment

Design of wing systems for assembly

Current activities

Prof Lawson a Principle Investigator on the Airbus-led LANDOne project, leading the work on aircraft systems arcitectures and energy synergies. (£400k 2023-26).

Craig is a Co-Investigator on the Horizon Europe EXAELIA project (£14m 2025-28) leading the design of a large sub-scale demonstrator for a future belened wing body long range airliner.

Clients

ATI

Airbus

BAE Systems

Boeing

BiologIC

EPSRC

GKN

InnovateUK

Meggitt

Rolls-Royce

Thales

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

Books