Contact Dr Craig Lawson
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754686
- Email: c.p.lawson@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
- Google Scholar
- ResearchGate
Areas of expertise
- Aeronautical Systems
- Aerospace Manufacturing
- Aircraft Design
- Autonomous Systems
- Computing, Simulation & Modelling
- Systems Engineering
Background
Summary
Dr Craig Lawson is a Reader in Airframe Systems at Cranfield University, UK, and his teaching responsibilities include lecturing aspects of aircraft design and performance at postgraduate level.
He has a BEng (Hons.) in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, UK and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Cranfield University, UK.
He has been Principal Investigator on grants totalling more than GBP£2m, with a focus on aircraft level impact of novel systems with emissions and noise assessment.
Craig has published more than 70 research papers, including 30+ peer-reviewed journal papers. Craig has also published 2 book chapters and filed an EU/USA patent with Airbus.
Dr Lawson is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and serves as Honorary Secretary of the Cranfield Branch. He is also a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Background
Following the completion of a BEng (Hons.) in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Lawson came to Cranfield in 1999 to research a PhD in Gas Turbine Instrumentation. Craig has been involved in teaching aircraft design at Cranfield since 2003, and was awarded 'Cranfield Students' Association Best Lecturer (School of Engineering) 2013-14'.
Craig served as Chief Systems Engineer and Flight Trials Commander for the Demon UAV (FLAVIIR project 2007-2011 £5m). The Demon turbojet UAV was funded by BAE Systems and the UK EPSRC, and achieved a world-first by demonstrating controlled flight without the use of moving control surfaces. This was accomplished by using fluidic control devices utilizing the Coanda effect. Dr Lawson was given the BAE Systems Chairman's Bronze Award 2010 for supporting Total Performance Culture by transferring best practice to apprentices in the assembly of the Demon UAV. Craig was given the BAE Systems Chairman's Silver Award 2011 in Innovation for the Demon UAV Project.
Craig was Programme Manager (acting as co-PI) for Cranfield University's participation in the Clean Sky: Systems for Green Operation, Integrated Technology Demonstrator (2008-2015 work-share £1.2m). The research was centred on the development of the GATAC (Green Aircraft Trajectories with ATM Constraints) simulation environment. Deployment of this tool has included investigating the aircraft energy and trajectory implications of 'more electric' airframe systems, compared to conventional systems. Some results of this activity are included in a paper which was awarded the 2014 SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award.
Dr Lawson was a Co-Investigator on the Airbus and UK ATI funded Future of Aircraft Factory Project (2015-2017). This research advanced aircraft wing systems design for manufacturability, which is a key enabler to increase A320 production rates.
Craig was the Principal Investigator (£300k) on the EU Horizon2020 project on Future Aircraft Cabins for the Asian Market, led by Airbus (FUCAM 2016-2019 £1.8m).
Dr Lawson was the Principal Investigator (£450k) on the UK ATI funded project UHBR Thermals, led by Meggitt (2017-2021 £3.8m). This research developed new schemes and modelling tools for integrated aircraft-engine thermal management for transport aircraft.
In 2021, Craig was an investigator on the ATI FlyZero project looking at both sustainable cabins and novel high lift devices.
Dr Lawson was a Co-Investigator on the EPSRC funded project Decarbonising Transport through Electrification, a Whole System Approach (£916k EP/S032053/1 2019-2023). This research takes a high-level approach to look at integrated infrastructure for energy networks, land, sea and air transportation including electric and hybrid-electric aircraft.
Craig was a Co-Investigator and WP2 leader for the SENECA project (£5m 2021-2025), which is investigating noise in supersonic transport aircraft.
Research opportunities
Current research topics:
Aircraft integration of advanced systems technologies, including more electric systems and novel flight controls
Airframe systems modelling for aircraft level operational optimisation
Airframe systems modelling to improve preliminary aircraft design processes
Airframe systems technologies for uninhabited air vehicles
Aircraft level thermal management and aircraft performance impact
Aircraft cabin systems
Supersonic transport aircraft design with noise assessment
Design of wing systems for assembly
Current activities
Dr. Lawson a the Principle Investigator on the Airbus-led LANDOne project, leading the work on aircraft systems arcitectures and energy synergies. (£400k 2023-26).
Craig is a Co-Investigator on the Horizon Europe EXAELIA project (£14m 2025-28) leading the design of a large sub-scale demonstrator for a future belened wing body long range airliner.
Clients
ATI
Airbus
BAE Systems
Boeing
BiologIC
EPSRC
GKN
InnovateUK
Meggitt
Rolls-Royce
Thales
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Verhulst T, Judt D, Lawson C, Al-Tayawe O, Ward G, .... (2025). Pump Health Monitoring Test Environment for Diagnosing the Erosive Effects from Cavitation. International Journal of Prognostics and Health Management, 16(1)
- Bonavolontà G, Lawson C & Riaz A. (2023). Review of sonic boom prediction and reduction methods for next generation of supersonic aircraft. Aerospace, 10(11)
- Fu J, van Heerden ASJ, Judt D & Lawson C. (2022). A generic mission-level flight control surface EMA power consumption simulation tool. Aerospace, 9(6)
- Verhulst T, Judt D, Lawson C, Chung Y, Al-Tayawe O, .... (2022). Review for state-of-the-art health monitoring technologies on airframe fuel pumps. International Journal of Prognostics and Health Management, 13(1)
- van Heerden ASJ, Judt DM, Jafari S, Lawson CP, Nikolaidis T, .... (2021). Aircraft thermal management: Practices, technology, system architectures, future challenges, and opportunities. Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 128(January)
- Li T, Lockett HL & Lawson C. (2020). Using requirement-functional-logical-physical models to support early assembly process planning for complex aircraft systems integration. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 54
- Judt DM, Lawson C & van Heerden ASJ. (2020). Rapid design of aircraft fuel quantity indication systems via multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, 28(2)
- Luckring JM, Janhunen P, Toivanen P, Ruosteenoja K, Stockford JA, .... (2020). The RAeS 2019 Written Paper Prizes. The Aeronautical Journal, 124(1282)
- Judt DM, Lawson C & Lockett HL. (2019). Experimental investigation into aircraft system manual assembly performance under varying structural component orientations. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 234(4)
- Stockford JA, Lawson C & Liu Z. (2019). Benefit and performance impact analysis of using hydrogen fuel cell powered e-taxi system on A320 class airliner. The Aeronautical Journal, 123(1261)
- Seresinhe R, Lawson C & Madani I. (2018). Improving the operating efficiency of the more electric aircraft concept through optimised flight procedures. CEAS Aeronautical Journal, 10(2)
- Terada Y, Lawson CP & Shahneh AZ. (2017). Analytical investigation into the effects of nitrogen enriched air bubbles to improve aircraft fuel system water management. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 233(3)
- Cooper M, Lawson C & Zare Shahneh A. (2017). Simulating actuator energy consumption for trajectory optimisation. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 232(11)
- Judt DM, Forster K, Lockett HL, Lawson CP & Webb P. (2016). Aircraft wing build philosophy change through system pre-equipping of major components. SAE International Journal of Aerospace, 9(1)
- Agarwal NK & Lawson CP. (2016). A practical method to account for seal friction in aircraft hydraulic actuator preliminary design. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 231(5)
- Durango GJ, Lawson CP & Shahneh AZ. (2016). Formation flight investigation for highly efficient future civil transport aircraft. The Aeronautical Journal, 120(1229)
- Shetty J, Lawson C & Zare Shahneh A. (2015). Simulation for temperature control of a military aircraft cockpit to avoid pilot’s thermal stress. CEAS Aeronautical Journal, 6(2)
- Judt DM & Lawson CP. (2015). Development of an automated aircraft subsystem architecture generation and analysis tool. Engineering Computations, 33(5)
- Judt DM & Lawson CP. (2014). Application of an automated aircraft architecture generation and analysis tool to unmanned aerial vehicle subsystem design. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 229(9)
- Shinkafi A & Lawson C. (2014). Development of a tool to study aircraft trajectory optimisation in the presence of icing conditions. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 229(8)
- Seresinhe R & Lawson C. (2014). Electrical load-sizing methodology to aid conceptual and preliminary design of large commercial aircraft. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 229(3)
- Baena-Zambrana S, Repetto SL, Lawson CP & Lam JK-W. (2013). Behaviour of water in jet fuel—A literature review. Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 60
- Jemitola PO, Monterzino G, Fielding J & Lawson C. (2013). Tip fin inclination effect on structural design of a box-wing aircraft. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 227(1)
- Linares C, Lawson CP & Smith H. (2013). Multidisciplinary optimisation framework for minimum rotorcraft fuel and air pollutants at mission level. The Aeronautical Journal, 117(1193)
- Seresinhe R, Lawson C & Sabatini R. (2013). Environmental Impact Assessment, on the Operation of Conventional and More Electric Large Commercial Aircraft. SAE International Journal of Aerospace, 6(1)
- Lawson C & Al Monterzino G. (2013). Design manufacturing integration and flight testing of a health monitoring system for a prototype unmanned airborne vehicle. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 228(7)
- Xia X & Lawson CP. (2013). The development of a design methodology for dynamic power distribution management on a civil transport all electric aircraft. Aerospace Science and Technology, 25(1)
- Lawson CP, Longhurst PJ & Ivey PC. (2006). The application of a new research and development project selection model in SMEs. Technovation, 26(2)
- Lawson CP & Ivey PC. (2005). Tubomachinery blade vibration amplitude measurement through tip timing with capacitance tip clearance probes. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 118(1)
- LAWSON C & IVEY P. (2005). Tubomachinery blade vibration amplitude measurement through tip timing with capacitance tip clearance probes. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 118(1)
- Heaton A, Fan I-S, Lawson C & McFeat J. Integrated Vehicle Health Management and Unmanned Aviation. PHM Society European Conference, 1(1)
