On Wednesday 11th March 2026, our MEng and MSc students presented their research projects at the Industrial Liaison Forum, engaging with industry professionals, external visitors and academics.

MEng Projects

All fourth-year MEng students undertake team projects, working in groups of four to six. With their projects nearing completion, they showcased a mix of prototypes, samples, and posters.

A standout team won a prize for their excellent presentation on optmising wind turbine blades. Congratulations to Arrin Fernandes, Dahir Moallim, Kishore Ram Rajagopalan, Umair Bhayat and Vithuursh Ponniah for their exceptional work.

Their project investigates and optimises the aerodynamic performance of a section of a wind-turbine blade
using vortex generators through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The students presented their validated CFD model, receiving positive feedback from industry professionals and poster judges. Supervised by Dr Nikos Bempedelis, Dr Nick Zang and Dr Hulya Biler, their objectives included:

• Use ANSYS Fluent to develop a validated CFD model of a clean S809 aerofoil
• Compare baseline and modified vortex generator (VG) designs under the same flow conditions
• Analyse the simulation data to create an optimal design solution Perform data-driven analysis using machine learning postprocessing
• Compare numerical results against existing experimental and computational literature to evaluate accuracy and performance

MSc Projects

MSc projects run from the first semester through to August, meaning students are currently midway through their research. Despite this, they delivered impressive presentations on their progress and future plans.

Three MSc students were awarded prizes for their exceptional presentations:

• Yichin Huang (supervised by Dr Xuekun Liu)
• Kabisan Thayaparan (supervised by Dr Claire Vilette)
• Mohammad Rahman (supervised by Dr Amin Paykani)

Acknowledgements

A heartfelt thank you to our poster judges - Dr Yunpeng Zhu, Dr Sathiskumar Anusuya Ponnusam, Dr Shaheer Ullah Saeed and Dr Nikos Bempedlis - for their time, insightful evaluations, and valuable feedback, which contributed to the success of the event.