Associate Professor Nicholas John Lawson, BEng PhD CEng FRAeS FHEA, serves as Director of the Aeronautical Stream in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering within the University of Sydney's Faculty of Engineering. He joined the University of Sydney in October 2021 following a distinguished 22-year career at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, where he held a Chair in Aerodynamics and Airborne Measurement and served as Head of the National Flying Laboratory Centre (NFLC) during his final five years. Prior to Cranfield, Lawson was a Research Fellow in Experimental Fluid Mechanics at the University of Melbourne's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from 1995 to 1999. He earned his PhD from Loughborough University (1991-1995), sponsored by Rolls-Royce plc, focusing on aerodynamics and particle image velocimetry (PIV) applied to high-speed flows, and holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering.

Lawson's research specializes in experimental aerodynamics, sensor development, PIV, laser Doppler anemometry, airborne sensors and testing, and aircraft design. He has over 20 years of teaching experience in aerodynamics, propulsion, aircraft performance, applied computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and thermofluids, emphasizing experimental techniques, and currently supervises six PhD students. Notable publications include 'Pathway to non-intrusive in-flight flow diagnostics with Filtered Rayleigh Scattering (FRS)' (2024), 'Wake-Tailplane Interaction of a Slingsby Firefly Aircraft' (2022), 'Dynamic Measurement of Strain and Shape on a Rotating Helicopter Rotor Blade: The Measurement Challenge' (2023), 'Investigation of Fluid–Structure Interactions of an Uncontrolled Flexible Hemisphere Utilising Non-Simultaneous Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry and Digital Image Correlation' (2025), and an earlier highly cited paper 'Three-dimensional particle image velocimetry measurement of a supersonic jet' with J. Wu (Measurement Science and Technology, 1997). As a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and member of the Society of Flight Test Engineers, he has delivered public lectures such as the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society webinar on the NFLC. His work advances in-flight measurement techniques and aero-engine intake flow distortion analysis, contributing significantly to aerospace engineering methodologies.

Professional Email: nicholas.lawson@sydney.edu.au