Dame Ann Dowling

Dame Ann Dowling first became interested in noise pollution as a student, at the time of the development of Concorde when the noise issue of this airline’s supersonic passenger jet became a major concern threatening its operation.  Today, she is a leading international authority in the fields of combustion, acoustics and vibration. Her research is aimed, in particular, at low-emission combustion and quiet vehicles.

Dowling is a professor of mechanical engineering and head of the division in aeronautics and energy at the University of Cambridge.  She is also director of the University Gas Turbine Partnership with Rolls-Royce, and the UK lead of the Silent Aircraft Initiative, a collaboration between researchers at Cambridge and MIT, which has released the conceptual design of an ultra-low noise and fuel-efficient aircraft.

A fellow of the Royal Society of London, a foreign associate member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a foreign associate member of the French Academy of Sciences, Dowling also serves on a number of industry and government advisory committees.

She was awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to mechanical engineering in 2002, and was knighted Dame Commander for services to science in 2007.