Jennifer Palmer

Professor Jennifer Palmer has an interest in research on autonomous-system teaming and swarming as well as high-speed flight and propulsion, learning and teaching in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, and industry collaboration.

In mid-2022, Jennifer Palmer was appointed Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Associate Dean of Aerospace Engineering and Aviation at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She is currently Head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering. Previously, she was the Director – Technology Program at the Trusted Autonomous Systems (TAS) Defence Cooperative Research Centre, where she oversaw industry-led R&D projects supporting the Australia Defence Force in the land domain that were conducted in collaboration with academic institutions and government partners at the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG). Prior to that, she spent 13 years (2007–2020) working in the field of aerial autonomy and related technologies at DSTG.

Prof Palmer’s research focused on, amongst other things, hybrid power for small, unmanned aircraft, flapping flight, and autonomous systems for operations in complex, congested, and contested urban environments. She collaborated with a wide variety of national and international experts in autonomous-systems technologies and published in journals ranked in the top quartile (Q1, representing the 75th percentile and above) of all journals covering the fields of Aerospace, Mechanical, Energy, and Safety Engineering, as well as Computer Science. In her most recent role at DSTG (2020–2021), Jennifer oversaw its innovation programs and promoted innovation culture and collaboration across the Department of Defence.