Tiago Vaz Gândara

Tiago Vaz Gândara holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Aveiro and is currently pursuing a PhD in the same field since October 2024. His research is centered on thermal management in liquid propellant rocket engines, with a particular focus on regenerative cooling. His master’s thesis, “Development of a Liquid Propellant Rocket Engine”, was awarded the highest possible grade and involved the design and development of a complete propulsion system. In parallel, he held leadership roles as Propulsion Team Director and Technical Director in a student rocket team, leading the design, analysis, and integration of propulsion systems.

His current doctoral research is focused on the development of advanced numerical models and simulation tools for liquid propellant rocket engine regenerative cooling, aiming to provide computationally efficient and flexible alternatives to conventional high-cost and time-demanding CFD simulation approaches, while maintaining strong physical fidelity. The developed models are validated against both established simulation tools and experimental data available in the literature. His research resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in a leading journal in the field, as well as an accepted conference paper at Space Propulsion Conference 2026, the major European propulsion conference. He has also successfully applied for the European Space Agency (ESA) Space Systems Engineering training program in Belgium, a highly competitive international course. Additionally, he has served as a reviewer for leading journals in the field of space propulsion, including Aerospace Science and Technology, with four completed reviews.

In parallel, since February 2024, he has been working as a Research Fellow in the AM2R research project, which is focused on advanced electric mobility systems. His work spans the development of embedded control algorithms, microcontroller-based control systems, and the design of battery architectures with integrated thermal management.

His contributions resulted in significant scientific output, including co-authorship of two journal articles, four peer-reviewed conference papers, and three additional conference papers currently under revision, as well as four conference abstracts, one of which received a Best Oral Presentation award. In addition to results’ dissemination, he has actively contributed to the demonstration and transfer of the developed technologies, participating in major international industry exhibitions in Germany and Belgium, where his prototype systems were showcased to industrial stakeholders. He is the main inventor of proprietary technology related to modular cooled battery systems for electric vehicles with embedded control algorithms, currently under development and in preparation for IP protection.

His research interests include Space Propulsion, Engineering Thermodynamics, Energy Systems, Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer, Automation and Intelligent Systems, and Embedded Algorithms.