Dr Gianmario Rinaldi (he/him)

Dr Gianmario Rinaldi is a Lecturer in Control Engineering and Energy Systems (Education and Research) in the Department of Engineering at the University of Exeter, based at the Streatham Campus. At Exeter, he is a member of the Autonomy, Decision and Control Research Group.

His research focuses on modelling, controlling and monitoring engineering systems to improve their performance, efficiency and safety. He applies these methods to power systems, clean energy technologies, clean vessels and zero-emission vehicles. In these areas, he welcomes opportunities to collaborate with industry to address practical engineering challenges.

In parallel, his interests in control theory include sliding mode control, state estimation and optimisation. He develops theoretical advances in these areas, including methods for relative degree identification and sliding mode observers, and investigates the effects of quantisation and sampled implementation on controller performance.

In education, he is the Developer and Lead for the BEng/MEng Robotics and Artificial Intelligence programmes. He is also the Academic Lead for the Formula Student project and leads modules focused on zero-emission vehicles, control and autonomy.

Dr Rinaldi received a BEng in Energy Engineering with first-class honours in 2014, an MSc in Electrical Engineering with distinction in 2016, and a PhD in Control Systems Engineering in 2020, all from the University of Pavia, Italy.

Grants:

• Royal Society Research Grant, Multi-Energy Clean Maritime Powertrains: Advanced Estimation, Monitoring and Safety, Principal Investigator,  2026-2027.
• IEEE Control Systems Society (IEEE-CSS) Outreach Fund, PhD Summer School: Sliding Mode Towards a Changing World, Principal Investigator, 2026. 
• GW4 Generator Fund Maritime Advancements through Research and Innovation in Powertrains and Power Systems (MARINPOWER), Principal Investigator, 2025-2026.

• Innovate UK Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 (CMDC2), ZERO - Zero Emission Research and Offshore Service Vessel, (Co-Investigator). 2023
• Innovate UK Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 (CMDC2) 2023, Demonstrator for scalable 1MW+ Zero Emission battery-hydrogen hybrid propulsion system, (Co-Investigator). 2023.
• EMPS Global Partnerships Development Funding Scheme with University of Pavia (Italy), (Principal Investigator). 2022.
• Innovate UK Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 1 (CMDC1), Twin motor, zero emission powertrain for commercial workboats, (Co-Investigator). 2021.
• Innovate UK Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), Phase 2: with Ecomar-Electric Outboards, (Co-Investigator), 2021.
• UKRI-Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): Combining Autonomous Observations and Models for Predicting and Understanding Shelf Seas, (Postdoctoral Research Fellow). 2019-2021.

PhD Students

• Jichao Ran- Advanced Control of Wave-Propelled Platforms

Websites:

• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-sWPtrsAAAAJ&hl
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gianmario-Rinaldi
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianmario-rinaldi-5aaaa0b6/