Our research

Expertly advancing Australia’s engineering future.

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The School of Engineering & Technology at UNSW Canberra is at the forefront of engineering and technology research and further advances our understanding of the world. As a forward-thinking school with a respected voice, our research helps shape our society and our region’s defence and security future. In a wide range of fields, our dedicated researchers are engaged in cutting-edge exploration across areas important to creating a sustainable future.

Join our collaborative community to have a real-world impact and contribute to Australia’s technological edge.

Whether you’re interested in space engineering, robotics, civil engineering, electromagnetics or hypersonics, see how we are creating solutions to the biggest issues facing our planet.

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Our research areas

Hypersonics

Our researchers investigate the gas dynamics of chemically reacting and real-gas flows. These inform the design of the hypersonic propulsion systems and planetary entry systems required to achieve practical hypersonic flight for high-speed aircraft. systems engineering areas.  

Exploring the human-machine relationship

Our research group has expertise in traditional machine learning, the navigation and control of autonomous vehicles, developmental robotics, computational motivation, computational red teaming, cyber security and bio-inspired artificial intelligence.

Impact dynamics

The impact dynamics group develops innovative solutions to protect humans and expensive assets from the damage caused through impact. We have worked on a range of structures on behalf of several research organisations, private industry and defence organisations to understand how structures can be developed and improved upon to provide protection.

Sustainable infrastructure

Sustainable infrastructure is about creating infrastructure that’s not only functional and efficient but also environmentally responsible, economically viable and socially equitable. It involves planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and end-of-life disposal or recycling of infrastructure.

Advanced electromagnetics

Advanced electromagnetc research combines nanophotonics, metamaterials and quantum optics. We examine acoustic and electromagnetic wave propagation, manipulation and application to drive future innovations across energy and the environment, health and medicine, communications, computing and security. 

Developing better designs

We design cutting-edge algorithms for multidisciplinary problems, leading to improved design performance and robustness, reduced costs and faster development time for optimisation problems. This includes design of energy management schemes, spacecraft, underwater vehicles, hybrid vehicle controllers, robotic shepherding and portfolio optimisation.

Flame Dynamics and ignition modelling

Providing accurate predictions of the spread of wildland fires has long been a goal of the fire research community. Our research supports the need to better understand the interactions between fire, fuel, weather and topography. Factors include rate of spread, flame height, intensity and spotting for wildfire.

Ethics, society and technology

Our projects include engineering ethics education, as well as developing ethical frameworks that encourage ethically and socially sound systems design. We scrape online digital content to better understand societal preferences and values regarding innovations, and how these may change over time, and the moral aspects of AI systems.  

Systems & control

Our research group delivers world-class research in the areas of control theory, quantum control engineering, applied mathematics, quantum optics, machine learning and control systems engineering. We develop fundamental theories and novel principles and methodologies to create new opportunities in a range of control.

Network-controlled physical-layer security

Physical-layer security (PLS), has been widely recognised as a complementary approach to encryption. PLS limits the amount of information that can be intercepted by assuring the signal contains so much noise at the electromagnetic level, that it’s impossible for eavesdroppers to decode any data.

Resillient infrastructure

With exposure to an ever-increasing range of hazards, risks, and threats — from cyber and physical attacks to the impacts of climate change — the ability of infrastructure systems to absorb disturbance and retain basic function and structural capacity is vital.

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Postgraduate coursework

Have your ideas, innovations and passions come to life with one of our postgraduate coursework degrees.

Taught by leading academic staff and industry experts in a supportive and close-knit environment, these courses are designed to equip you with the research skills, knowledge and experience to really make an impact in your research area.

Postgraduate research

Our research degrees place you alongside leading researchers who are dedicated to solving real-world problems.

With our world-class facilities, high-quality partnerships and research-focused community, you can make your innovative ideas a reality.