Ben Parslew

Ben Parslew is a Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Manchester's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department within the Faculty of Science and Engineering. He has been with the university since completing his PhD, progressing from Research Associate to Honorary Lecturer (2013), Lecturer (2015), and Senior Lecturer (2018). In 2020, he also served as an Adjunct Professor at Chulalongkorn University.

His educational background includes an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering from UMIST (2003), a Master's in Fluid Dynamics from the University of Manchester (2005), and a PhD in animal flight biomechanics from the University of Manchester.

Dr. Parslew's research lies at the interface of engineering and biology, with particular interests in animal locomotion, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotics and computer animation. His work spans biomechanics, engineering design and optimization, flapping-wing flight, biomimetics, and physics-based animation. He has developed tools for analyzing flapping-wing flight that are publicly available.

His recent publications (2022-2025) demonstrate expertise in computational fluid dynamics, bio-inspired robotics, and aerospace engineering, with a focus on applications ranging from urban wind flow simulation to jumping robots and wingless rotorcraft. The research shows a clear trend toward practical applications of biomechanical principles in robotics and aerospace design.

• EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship (2012)
• Faculty of Science and Engineering Better World Award Winner (2018)
• Highly commended at University of Manchester Making a Difference Awards (2018)

Dr. Parslew has supervised multiple research students and projects, with a focus on bio-inspired robotics and aerospace applications. He has been involved in significant research grants including the Aerospace Engineering project (2010-2035) and the Space Systems Research Group. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals through the Aerospace Research Institute, Digital Futures, and the Manchester Environmental Research Institute.

He is actively involved in the Centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence and has contributed to projects related to bio-inspired robotic hopper locomotion for navigation in extreme space environments.