Marko Bacic MEng DPhil CEng FIET

Marko Bacic is an Engineering Fellow of Rolls-Royce plc. and also a Professor of Engineering science here at Oxford. He completed his degree in Engineering and Computing Science (2001) and his D. Phil in Model Predictive Control (2004) both from the University of Oxford. From 2003-2008, he was a fixed-term University Lecturer in Control Engineering and a Tutorial Fellow of Lincoln College during which time he developed research on the interface between control and aerodynamics for aerospace applications. During 2006-2007 he was also seconded to Renault F1 team with support from the Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Secondment Scheme.

He left academia in 2008 to work for Rolls-Royce plc, before coming back to the department part-time in 2012 to lead research in active control of flows within Rolls-Royce University technology Centre in Aerodynamics and Heat Transfer. Marko he has been designing mechatronic systems for over 20 years with his engineering innovations ensuring engine safety and reducing carbon footprint of Rolls-Royce modern aero engines.

Marko specialises in bridging the gap between low TRL research and product introduction accelerating early stage research to deliver tangible business benefits. Marko’s has been at the technical forefront of Rolls-Royce’s original eVTOL flight vehicle and propulsion demonstration programme, presented at Farnborough 2018 and subsequently led the development of MW class eVTOL flight propulsion ground demonstrator in collaboration with Cranfield Aerospace Solutions that completed in 2020. Since then he has provided technical leadership on hydrogen fuel and control systems on Rolls-Royce Hydrogen Gas Turbine Programme from its inception through to its completion in 2026. In 2020, Marko received the Royal Academy of Engineering Silver medal that recognises outstanding personal contribution to British engineering that has resulted in successful market exploitation.

Marko’s fundamental research interests lie on the intersection of control, fluid dynamics and heat transfer with his research group at Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre at Oxford investigating active flow control concepts for future aero gas turbine applications. He is happy to supervise DPhil students (subject to available funding) in general area of flow control with applications in both propulsion and aircraft aerodynamics, flight control for v/stol and hypersonics as well as design and control of novel thermodynamic cycles for nuclear space power and propulsion.

Please see examples of current research projects on the research page.

Marko's research interests include:

• Systems architecture, design and integration
• Active tip clearance control
• Active flow control for turbomachinery
• Control of thermo-mechanical and electro-mechanical systems
• Hardware-in-the-loop simulation
• Control of fluid structure interactions

• Aerospace applications of Control
• Active Tip Clearance Control
• Active Flow Control for Turbomachinary
• Control of Thermo-Mechanical Systems
• Hardware-in-the-loop simulations and control of fluid-structure interactions

• M Bacic, P Ireland, R Daniel, K Chana, G Priestman (Sheffield): 'Active Control of Fluid Flows in Gas Turbines' - £1.1M, EPSRC and Rolls-Royce, 2014 – 2017  
• M Bacic & P Ireland:, 'Advanced Transient Heat Transfer Facility' - £1.3M, Rolls-Royce and ATI, 2011-2015
• M Bacic & P Ireland: 'Real-time transient disc modelling for modulated air systems' - £72,000, Rolls-Royce, 2011-2014
• M Bacic: 'Hardware-in-the-loop simulation for unmanned air vehicles' - £114,000, EPSRC
• Peter Ireland and Marko Bacic: 'Investigation into root cause of non-return valve failure in cabin-bleed systems' - Rolls-Royce & EPSRC, £126,000
• Graham Taylor, Marko Bacic: 'Engineering applications of bird flight' - $300,000, AFOSR