Ihtisham Babar is a PhD candidate in Aerospace Engineering at UNSW Canberra, working under the supervision of Associate Professor Sridhar Ravi in the Bio-Engineering Research Group.

Ihtisham completed his Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace) from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan, in 2019. During his undergraduate studies, he investigated the aeroelastic performance of high aspect ratio wings. He also completed internships at Turkish Aerospace Industries, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), gaining hands-on experience in aircraft manufacturing, maintenance, and structural inspection.

In 2020, he joined the National Aerospace Science and Technology Park (NASTP) as a Design Engineer, where he worked on aerodynamic design, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and experimental fluid mechanics. He commenced his PhD at UNSW Canberra in July 2024. His current research explores the flight performance of insects flying in unsteady flow conditions. His experimental work involves wind tunnel testing, insect flight tracking, and the development of bio-inspired flapping wing mechanisms.

His research interests include bio-inspired flight, fluid-structure interaction, computational and experimental aerodynamics.

Academic Appointment:

Casual Academics