Niels Lohse

Professor Niels Lohse holds the position of Professor of Manufacturing Automation and Robotics at the University of Birmingham's Department of Mechanical Engineering (School of Engineering). His research focuses on improving manufacturing productivity through intelligent automation, robotics, and AI, emphasizing human-robot collaboration, sustainability, and Industry 4.0 principles. He has led major projects funded by EPSRC, InnovateUK, and industrial partners across sectors like aerospace, automotive, and energy.

Education: PhD in Manufacturing Engineering (University of Nottingham, 2006), MSc Technology Management (University of Portsmouth, 2001), Dipl.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering (Hamburg, 2000). Early career included a shipyard apprenticeship (1995) and academic roles at Nottingham (Lecturer, 2006), Loughborough University (Senior Lecturer, Reader, 2018), where he led the Intelligent Automation Centre (2017–2024).

Research interests span human-robot collaboration, adaptive manufacturing systems, and ethical implications of automation. Awards include best paper prizes at IEEE IECON2013, ICMR2021, and TAROS2023. Active in policy roles such as EPSRC's Manufacturing & Circular Economy advisory panel and the Manufacturing Technology Centre's Programme Board.

Current projects include the EPSRC Manufacturing Research Hub in Robotics, Automation & Smart Manufacturing (RESCu-M2). Supervises PhD students in areas like robot swarms, real-time perception, and non-rigid object manipulation.