Distinguished Professor Saeid Nahavandi is currently Swinburne University of Technology’s inaugural Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Chief of Defence Innovation. He previously served as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Defence Technologies) and Founding Director of the Institute for Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation, Deakin University.

Saeid Nahavandi received a Ph.D. from Durham University, U.K. in 1991. His research interests include autonomous systems, modeling of complex systems, robotics and haptics. He has published over 1000 scientific papers in various international journals and conferences. Saeid was the recipient of the Clunies Ross Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2022 from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, Researcher of the Year for Australian Space Awards 2021, Australian Defence Industry Awards - Winner of Innovator of the year, The Essington Lewis Awards, and Australian Engineering Excellence Awards - Professional Engineer of the Year.