From UCL to Monash University: New Dean of Engineering

Following an extensive international search process, the Monash University Provost, Professor Susan Elliott AM, and Vice-Chancellor and President, Margaret Gardner are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Yiannis Ventikos as Monash University’s next Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, commencing in February 2023.

Professor Ventikos joins Monash from University College London (UCL), where he is currently the Head of Department and Kennedy Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering – which, established in 1847, is among the world’s oldest mechanical engineering departments.

An accomplished scholar, entrepreneur and senior university leader, Professor Ventikos brings an impressive breadth of research, teaching and enterprise experience across a broad range of engineering fields. He has made multidisciplinary contributions at the cross-sections of medicine, life-sciences, physics and applied mathematics with engineering, and has developed leadership expertise in elite tertiary settings.

Throughout his academic career, Professor Ventikos has pursued diverse research interests, driven by his genuine multidisciplinary approach. A fluid mechanician and naval architect by training, he is an internationally recognised researcher in the fields of cerebral biomechanics, shock-bubble interaction problems, vascular and endothelial microscale biomechanics, and minimally invasive device design. He is widely published on core engineering, applied physics and applied mathematics themes, and on diverse subjects such as plasma physics, plant biology, neurology and molecular biophysics. His professional and academic experience spans three continents, six countries and seven universities.

As Head of UCL Mechanical Engineering for the past nine years, Professor Ventikos has applied his wide-ranging teaching, research and entrepreneurial expertise to successfully deliver vision, strategy and notable growth across multiple strands, including significant increases in national and international rankings, staff numbers and budgets, prizes in national and international student competitions, Fellowships and Chairs in learned societies, HM Government honours, and incorporation of major industrial partners in the research-education nexus of the Department.

His academic qualifications include a Master of Engineering, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (1989) and a Doctor of Philosophy (1996), both from the National Technical University of Athens. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Professor Ventikos articulates an authentic passion and ability for making significant contributions to Monash University’s ambitions towards advancing the greater public good. His wealth of experience, combined with a real aspiration to drive innovation and excellence, and to work closely with government and industry in pursuing such goals of common good, will be pivotal to the continued advancement of research and educational excellence in the Faculty of Engineering.