Professor Rafael Palacios has accepted appointment as Head of the Department of Aeronautics with effect from 1 October 2025, for a term of five years.
Professor Palacios joined Imperial in 2007 as Lecturer in the Department of Aeronautics and was promoted to Professor of Computational Aeroelasticity in 2018. He has held several senior roles in the department, including his current position as Deputy Head of the Department. Professor Palacios is also the Director of the Brahmal Vasudevan Institute for Sustainable Aviation, Imperial’s flagship multidisciplinary research centre in net-zero aviation technologies.
Professor Palacios’ research focuses in investigating computational methods for dynamic analysis, control and optimization of flexible air vehicles and offshore wind turbines.