Chair of the Conference

Professor Ignazio Maria Viola, Chair in Fluid Mechanics and Bioinspired Engineering at the Institute for Energy Systems, School of Engineering of the University of Edinburgh, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University.

Viola’s research group, the Vortex Interaction Laboratory (VOILAb, https://voilab.eng.ed.ac.uk), focuses on those conditions where the forces on a body immersed in a fluid are due to the formation of vortical flow structures. This often occurs in nature, where natural evolution has led to optimal solutions for complex problems. Hence, they seek inspiration from the fluid mechanics of plants and animals to develop new technology. Vortices, for instance, are exploited by natural flyers to fly stably and efficiently in the turbulent wind. Similarly, the forces on very thin surfaces, such as the wings of small drones and the sails of a yacht, are dominated by vortex flow. Their research aims to understand and, when possible, control, the formation, stability and interaction of these vortices in order to improve performance, efficiency and survivability of different engineering systems.