Dr. Raj Ladani
Details
Department: School of Engineering
Campus: Bundoora East Australia
raj.ladani@rmit.edu.au
ORCID: 0000-0002-8180-1015
Open to
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
About
Dr Raj Ladani, is a Senior Lecturer and Program Manager of Aerospace Engineering in the School of Engineering at RMIT. Dr Ladani holds a Bachelor of Engineering and PhD in Aerospace Engineering. Dr Ladani coordinates and delivers undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and had supervised 20 PhD students, with 9 completions to date. In addition to course coordination and teaching, Dr Ladani is involved in the research of aerospace materials and structures. He is an integral member of the Composite Research Cluster in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. His research interests include among other things: nano-reinforced composites, multi-scale and multi-functional composites, fracture and fatigue, additive manufacturing, and finite element modelling of structures. Dr Ladani has broad knowledge and research expertise in the field of composite materials having previously held research positions in this area of research. Dr Ladani has published over 80 scientific articles, including book chapters, journal papers and peer-reviewed conference papers
Awards and recognition:
- 2025, STEM College Learning and Teaching Award for Excellence
- 2025, STEM College ADVC LTQ Citation - Top Course with >1000 Enrolments (OENG1250)
- 2024, STEM College ADVC LTQ Citation - Top Course with >1000 Enrolments (OENG1250)
- 2024, STEM College ADVC LTQ Citation - Top 5 Course (AERO2562) Highest mGTS
- 2023, Royal Aeronautical Society - Excellence in Research Award for Publication
- 2021, Victoria Fellowship, Physical Sciences, Victorian Government.
- 2021, STEM College Early Career Researcher Research Excellence Award, RMIT University.
- 2020, School of Engineering Early Career Researcher Award, RMIT University.
- 2019, RMIT Award for Impact and Collaboration Team Award, The Multifunctional Composites Research Group, RMIT University.
- 2019, Executive Dean’s Research Excellence Award, RMIT University.
- 2017, School of Engineering Award for Best PhD Thesis in Aerospace Engineering, RMIT University.
Industry Experience and Research Collaboration-
- Advanced Composite Structures Australia (ACS-A)
- Boeing Aerostructures Australia
- Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG)
- QinetiQ
- National Composites Centre (NCC)
Professional interests:
Technical Committee, International Conference on Composite Materials
Technical Committee, International Conference on Mechanical Behaviour of Materials
Academic positions
- Senior Lecturer
- School of Engineering, RMIT University
- Australia
- 1 Jan 2022 – Present
- Lecturer
- RMIT University
- School of Engineering
- Melbourne, Australia
- 2019 – 31 Dec 2021
- Research Fellow
- RMIT University
- School of Engineering
- Melbourne, Australia
- 2016 – 2019
Degrees
- Bachelor Degree (Honours) Level, Aerospace Engineering and Technology
- RMIT University
- Australia
- 2012
- Doctorate Research, Aerospace Engineering and Technology
- RMIT University
- Australia
- 2017
Supervisor projects
- Development of Engineered Bio-nanocomposites for Packaging Application: An Indo-Australian Study
- 23 Mar 2026
- Selective Interleaving of CF/PEKK Laminates for Damage Suppression in Aircraft Structures
- 9 Jan 2026
- Novel Technologies for Composite Aircraft Structures
- 25 Mar 2025
- Damage Tolerant 3D Printed Composite Materials for Engineering Applications
- 7 Jan 2025
- 3D Reinforced Multifunctional Fibre Polymer Composites
- 2 May 2024
- 3D Reinforced Multifunctional Fibre Polymer Composites
- 1 Feb 2024
- Nano-reinforced Multifunctional Composites
- 27 Mar 2023
- Floating Catalyst Chemical Vapor Deposition Derived Carbon Nanotube Sheets: Optimization and Applications
- 22 Mar 2023
- Development and Studies of Isotropic Coal tar Pitch-based Carbon Fibers
- 10 Feb 2023
- Bio-inspired hybrid joints for aerospace applications
- 27 Apr 2022
- SMA-Tufted CFRP Composites with Enhanced Interlaminar Toughness and Damage Detection Capabilities
- 25 May 2021
- 3D printed continuous fibre reinforced polymer composites
- 19 Mar 2021
- Adhesively bonded complex 3D-printed CFRP composite joints.
- 15 Mar 2021
- Performance Enhancement of Titanium-Composite Joints through 3D-Printed Micro-Pin Reinforcements
- 9 Mar 2021
- Residual Strength of Composites Subject to Environmental and Fatigue Loading
- 17 Mar 2020
- Bioinspired Suture Structures: Design and Optimization
- 6 Aug 2019
- Graphene Reinforced Aerospace Polymer Composites with Improved Toughness and Damage Tolerance
- 4 Apr 2019
- 3D Printed FDM Composites: Fabrication, Microstructure and Properties
- 30 Aug 2018
- Multi-Scale Interlaminar Toughening of Fibre-Polymer Composites
- 12 May 2017
- Three-Dimensional Multifunctional Woven Composites Containing Through-Thickness Metal Filaments
- 11 Jan 2017
Teaching interests
Course Coordination and Delivery:
- AERO2252 Aerospace Design and Manufacture
- AERO2562 Aircraft and Air Transportation
- OENG1250 Introduction to Engineering Design
HDR Supervision and Training:
- Supervised 20 PhD candidates, including 11 as Senior Supervisor and 9 as Associate Supervisor.
- Achieved 9 PhD completions in total, including 4 as Senior Supervisor.
Research interests
Aerospace Engineering; Materials Engineering; Nanotechnology; Nanocomposite; Composite materials and structures; Fatigue and fracture mechanics; Finite element analysis
Funded research projects:
- QuickStep "Sovereign UAS Development and Characterisation"
- NATO "Advanced Digital Engineering Methods to Design MXene-based Nanocomposites for Electro-Magnetic Interference Shielding in Space"
- Department of Education "Next-generation stress imaging for rapid structural prototyping, testing and evaluation"
- DSTG “Defence structures and materials experimentation collaborative program”
- QinetiQ “Multi-Functional Shape Memory Alloy Tufted Composite Joints (MuST) Modelling Framework”
- DSTG “Additively Manufactured Pinning Technology For Metal-to-Composite Hybrid Joints (APin-Joint)"
- US DoD ONR "Explosive Blast Response of Naval Composites in Arctic Conditions"
- ARKEUS "Application of Composite Materials in Sensor Gimbal Design"
Previous projects have included:
- DSTG “Bio-inspired toughening of transparent adhesives”
- DSTG “Molecular Velcro Adhesives”
- DSTG “Exploring the Interplay between composite degradation mechanisms in-service“
- Freespace Solutions “Development of Giant Racing Drones”
