Laurent Dala

Professor Laurent Dala joined Northumbria University, UK in 2016 as a Full Professor of Aerospace Engineering, having previously held positions as Chief Scientist in Aerospace Engineering for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa, and chair of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He was also the president of the Aeronautical Society of South Africa (AeSSA). He is a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS), a Chartered Engineer, and a Eur-Ing. He has more than 25 years of research experience in aerospace engineering. He has led various research projects around the world, particularly in flow control and multidisciplinary optimisation methods. He has been awarded as a Principal Investigator more than ZAR 3.0M and £250,000 since 2014. He has published more than 160 peer-reviewed papers/conferences. He has four patents with three in flow control. He has been invited more than sixty times as a guest speaker and is a winner of multiple awards. He is a member of the Specialist Committee for Aerodynamics at the Association Aeronautique et Astronautique de France and a visiting professor in France, South Africa, Russia, and China. He is a member of the EPSRC’s College of Peer Reviewers, the European Research Council’s College of Peer Reviewers, and the National Research Foundation’s College of Peer Reviewers, South Africa. Dr. Dala is currently the head of the Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering, Northumbria University.