Invited lecturers

Dr. Spakovszky is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the director of the Gas Turbine Laboratory. He obtained his Dipl. Ing. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich and his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. Dr. Spakovszky’s principal fields of interest include propulsion and energy conversion, internal flows in fluid machinery, compressor aerodynamics and stability, micro-fluidics and rotordynamics, aero-acoustics, aircraft design for environment, and electrified aviation. He currently directs analytical and experimental research in these areas and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in thermodynamics, propulsion and fluid mechanics, and aero-acoustics. He has authored a large number of technical papers in refereed journals and has been awarded several ASME International Gas Turbine Institute best paper awards, the ASME Melville Medal, the ASME Gas Turbine Award, the ASME John P. Davis Award, a NASA Honor Award, several Aero-Astro Undergraduate Advising / Teaching Awards, and the Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Spakovszky is a technical consultant to industry and government agencies, a Fellow of the ASME, an Associate Fellow of the AIAA, and served as the chair of the turbomachinery committee and review chair of the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute, and as an associate editor for the ASME Journal of Turbomachinery.

Stéphane Hiernaux graduated in 1996 in Mechanical Engineering (aerospace) at University of Liège (Belgium).
He started his career as a Research assistant at the aerodynamic group of the University of Liège – Applied sciences Faculty, working on aerodynamic optimization.
In 2000, he joined Techspace Aero S.A. (now Safran Aero Boosters S.A.) as a mechanical engineer.  He joined the newly formed aerodynamic group in 2004, which he managed between 2005 and 2010.
Since 2010, he works as senior aerodynamic engineer, with a focus on R&T projects and CFD.  He has been appointed Senior Expert in compressor aerodynamics by Safran Group in 2015.

Raul Vazquez is Senior Aerothermal Specialist Fellow at Rolls-Royce, where he is accountable of the global Aerothermal Research,Technology and Methods Strategy. Prior to his current role at Rolls-Royce, he was Chief of Aerodynamics and Functional Engineering and Fellow in Aerodynamics at ITP Aero (Spain) from 2002 until 2014. Over more than 10 years, I was also Associated Professor in Fluid Mechanics and Turbomachinery at Technical University of Madrid (UPM- Aerospace Engineering). Raul has been invited Lecturer in Aerodynamics and Fluid Dynamics of Gas Turbines in several Universities and Research Institutions.
Since 1995, he has been working in the field of fluid dynamics and aerodynamics for Industry and University. His main goal has always been reducing emissions and improving efficiency of turbomachinery for multiple applications, such as: aero-engines, gas turbines, wind-turbines, wells turbines, thermos-solar plants, and combine cycle plants with CO2 capture. Over the past 22 years, Raul has participated in research, design and development of the propulsion systems for significant international aircraft programmes (including among others: Eurofighter, A400M, JSF119, A380, A350, A340, A330, B787, B777 etc.). During this time, he had got a wide experience as leader, mentor and coach of large high-performance engineering teams.
He has authored many technical papers in refereed journals and presented lectures and keynotes in multiple conferences and events on the related subjects of unsteady aerodynamics of turbomachinery, high lift aerofoils, high stage loading turbomachinery, end-wall flows in turbomachinery, high and low speed measurement techniques for turbomachinery and CFD.
He is member of the Executive Board of EUROTURBO (European Turbomachinery Association), Spanish Delegate of Aeroacoustics Specialists’ Committee of CEAS-ASC (Council of European Aerospace Societies) and Editorial Board member of the International Journal of Turbomachinery, Propulsion and Power and regular reviewer of Journal of Turbomachinery, Journal of Power and Energy, Journal of Mechanics / B Fluids, IMechE and Experiments in Fluids.

Pascal Ferrand is researcher in the Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics Laboratory (LMFA) at Ecole Centrale de Lyon since 1981.
He is a graduate of ETACA. He holds a Master from Orléans University, a PhD of Mathematics from Aix-Marseille University, a Science State PhD from Lyon I University.

The scope of his theoretical and numerical research is unsteady and unstable flows in turbomachines, including aeroelasticity, flutter, surge, rotating stall, rotor-stator interaction. In addition, he works with Stéphane Aubert on design and optimization by developing high order derivation methods (Turb’Opty).

Pascal Ferrand was an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame (working with Professor Atassi) and an affiliated professor at the KTH (working with Professor Fransson). He has also collaborated with Professor Bölcs and Dr. Ött at EPFL, Professors Laurendeau and Pelletier of the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal.

He was head of the LMFA Turbomachinery team, scientific manager of several national and European projects, co-founder and consultant of the spin-off FLUOREM. He has strong links with many major organizations and companies active in aeronautics and aerospace such as CNES, SAFRAN, AIRBUS, in energy production such as Framatome, EDF and CEA, in automotive such as VALEO, Plastic Omnium, FERRARI.

Over 33 years of professional experience in the field of gas turbines and over 28 years in the field of power generation, power plant technology and its key components

• after 5 years turbine research work for MTU Aero Engines in Munich, Germany, started in 1990 with ABB in the gas turbine development in Baden, Switzerland
• moved in 1993 to Moscow as General Manager and Head of R&D of ABB Uniturbo, a joint venture with the Russian aero engine company SATURN
• with the successful integration of ABB Uniturbo into ABB, returned 1995 to Switzerland, leading the development of the GT26 gas turbine
• in 2000 promoted to General Manager responsible for the gas turbine component engineering for all ABB heavy-duty gas turbines

• after 12 years in gas turbine development, changed 2002 to Marketing & Sales as “Director Business Development” to lead the worldwide re-launch activities of the upgraded GT24/GT26 gas turbines in what was in the meantime Alstom
• following various successful build-ups of marketing & strategy functions for Alstom’s turbomachines, gas & steam power plants as ”Director Marketing & Strategy”, moved 2012 into the Chief Technology Office of Alstom’s Thermal Power Sector, responsible for the technology cooperations with external research institutions globally, as well as the relationships with standardization bodies and scientific associations; a key element of this role was the collaboration with external funding agencies
• with the integration of Alstom Power into General Electric in November 2015, continued in this role overlooking the scientific collaborations of GE Power as member of the Chief Engineer office

Doctor of Engineering from the Aerospace Engineering Faculty at the Universität der Bundeswehr Munich, and an Engineering Diploma from the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of the University Stuttgart, Germany; research work focused on the aerodynamics of turbine stator-rotor interactions

Member of the Association of German Engineers (VDI), member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and past chair of the Electrical Power Committee of the International Gas Turbine Institute of the ASME 

Representing GE Power at the board of EUTurbines, the European association of gas and steam turbine manufacturers; elected President of EUTurbines beginning of 2016 

In December 2016, elected to chair the Working Group “Flexible Generation” of ETIP-SNET, the European Technology & Innovation Platform – Smart Networks for Energy Transition to help defining the research and innovation program of the European Commission for 2017-2026

Director of the Administrative Board of innovAARE, the innovation park of the canton Aargau.

Elected by the participating industry to the board of the Swiss Competence Centre for Energy Research – “Supply of Energy”, led by the ETH Zurich.

Torsten Fransson is Senior Educational Strategy advisor to EIT InnoEnergy (European Institute of Innovation and Technology, http://www.innoenergy.com/). He was formerly Professor in Heat and Power Technology at KTH, Stockholm, Sweden, with a Ph D in numerical modelling of unsteady flow in turbomachines from EPF-Lausanne in 1986. He has been a Post-Doctoral researcher at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, USA.

He is former Head of Department of Energy Technology, the Energy Center as well as the School of Energy and Environmental Technology at KTH and  former Educational Director of the “InnoEnergy Knowledge and Innovation Center” (KIC-InnoEnergy) of the “European Institute of Innovation and Technology” (EIT).

Dr Fransson has been a Guest Professor at EPFL, Visiting Professor at Duke University and Florida State University, and a Guest Researcher at GE Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, USA.

He has hold numerous international positions in science and engineering, among these the Board of Directors of the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute, the Swedish TURBOPOWER Research Center, the Chair of the Supervisory Board of ECATA (“European Consortium of Advanced Training in Aeronautics”), the European Technical Program Chair for the yearly “ASME Turbo Cogen-Conferences” for 8 conferences.

Prof Fransson has received the “Chevalier de L’Ordre National du Mérite” in France, and the ASME Dedicated Service Award in the US. He is a Fellow of ASME, member of the Royal Physiographic Society and the Swedish Royal Engineering Academy.

Dr Fransson’s research interests spans mainly over aerodynamics and aeroelasticity in turbomachines He has authored and co-authored more than 300 scientific papers, and is a four-time Best Paper of The Year recipient in the ASME International Gas Turbine.

Dr Fransson has over the years worked tirelessly towards introducing modern digital technology into energy education. He has started several international collaboration projects in the area. As part of these efforts he has been awarded an International Engineering Educator Honoris Causa by the International Society for Engineering Education, and a Dr Honoris Causa by the Open University in Sri Lanka​