Upon completing his PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen Mary College, Jonathan Cooper spent 3 years at the Royal Aerospace Establishment Farnborough working on system identification methods for Ground Vibration Testing and Flight Flutter Testing applications. He then moved to the University of Manchester as a “young-blood” lecturer, staying there for 18 years, including a spell as the Head of School. Prof Cooper then spent some time at the University of Liverpool as Professor of Aeroelasticity and Aerostructures, before becoming the Sir George White Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol.  

Over the past 30 years he has worked closely with industry in the UK, Europe and worldwide to develop solutions that enable aircraft designs to be more fuel efficient and envionmentally friendly through exploitation of the interactions between the airflow and aircraft structures. His Airbus / Royal Academy of Engineering sponsored chair is one of only 7 in the UK.  Prof Cooper has acted as Principal Investigator on over 50 projects sponsored by the UK Govt, EU and industry. He has supervised 55 PhD students and 28 Research Associates, and given 14 invited keynote presentations to top international conferences. He was / is a member of UK REF Engineering assessment panels in 2014 and 2021.

Jonathan is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is currently the Immediate Past-President of the Royal Aeronautical Society.