DrGeorgios Rigas

I am an Associate Professor (Reader) in the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London. I received my PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial in 2015 and rejoined the department in 2019 following postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge.

My research develops Physical AI for fluid mechanics, combining machine and reinforcement learning to model and control complex flow systems governed by intractable dynamics. My group combines simulations, sparse sensing, and experiments in the National Wind Tunnel Facilities to develop robust, data-efficient methods for applications in aerospace, transport, renewable energy, and net zero technologies. At Imperial, I lead the AI for Net Zero programme in Energy and Transport (UKRI, £2.5m), developing AI-enabled digital twins and real-time optimisation for complex engineering systems.

I contribute to scientific leadership and evidence-based policymaking as a member of the AI for Decarbonisation's Virtual Centre of Excellence (ADViCE), supporting the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, as a Member of the Hellenic Institute of Advanced Studies (HIAS) and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS). I serve on the Editorial Board of Physical Review Fluids (American Physical Society) and as Associate Editor for Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics (Springer Nature).

Funded projects:

• AI for Net Zero in Energy and Transport (UKRI EP/Y005619/1; Lead PI)
• Stability and Control of High-Speed Flows (US Air Force, UK–France MoD, QinetiQ)
• Model Design and Reduction Using Machine Learning (Imperial–CNRS & ONERA; Lead PI)