STEM Alumni Award Winners 2026

Giancarlo Buono

Giancarlo Buono graduated from City, University of London over twenty years ago and has built a distinguished international aviation career spanning more than three decades across military aviation, commercial airline operations, aviation safety, and regulatory leadership. He currently serves as Group Director for Safety and Airspace Regulation and Executive Board Member of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Widely recognised as a leader in aviation safety and regulation, Giancarlo has consistently delivered transformational change across complex international organisations. His work has helped advance aviation safety, operational performance, and regulatory effectiveness, while shaping policy and governance across Europe and globally. He has been a strong advocate for the transition from compliance-based oversight to modern, risk-based and performance-driven safety management approaches that are now embedded throughout the industry.

A significant part of his career was spent with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), where he served for more than a decade and ultimately became Director Safety and Flight Operations for Europe. In this role, he led regional safety strategy, identified emerging operational risks, and managed engagement with key international bodies including the European Commission, EASA, EUROCONTROL, and ICAO.

Giancarlo has also represented the aviation industry on major international governance bodies, including the EASA Management Board, EUROCONTROL Provisional Council, SESAR Joint Undertaking Governing Board, and the ICAO European Aviation System Planning Group. He additionally served as Chair of the EASA Stakeholder Advisory Body and Vice-Chair of the European Union Network Management Board, contributing directly to aviation policy, regulatory strategy, and operational coordination.

Prior to his regulatory career, he held senior executive positions within commercial airlines, leading airline start-ups, Air Operator Certificate approvals, fleet introductions, and the implementation of safety, quality, and compliance programmes.

Since January 2025, he has overseen one of the broadest regulatory portfolios in aviation, covering flight operations, airworthiness, licensing, airspace, aerodromes, drones, space activities, innovation, and emerging technologies.

A Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Giancarlo began his career as an Italian Air Force fighter pilot and later became an airline captain, accumulating more than 8000 flying hours. He has also served as a Visiting Lecturer since 2005, supporting the development of future aviation leaders through teaching, mentoring, and academic engagement.

Professor Robert Wood

Robert Wood is Professor of Surface Engineering and Tribology and has 30 years’ experience of tribology and surface engineering. He studied for a BSc in Mechanical Engineering at City University, London and a PhD funded by the Admiralty Research Establishment in Cavitation erosion-corrosion at the University of Southampton. After his PhD he was a Research Fellow in Electrochemistry in the department of Chemistry at Southampton. Following that he spent 4 years at BP Research before returning to Southampton to re-establish surface engineering/tribology research.

His group was awarded £10M from EPSRC in 2008 to create the National Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (nCATS) and was awarded a further £3M by EPSRC for a platform grant for research into Green Tribology.

He is Chairof UK Tribology (cross professional institution body) and is Co-Editor-in-chief of Elsevier Wear Journal and Chief Field Editor of the Frontiers journal on Coatings, Dyes and Interface Engineering.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2016. He was awarded the IMechE annual Donald Julius Groen Prize in 2011 and the Tribology Trust Silver medal in 2018 and the IoM3 Tom Bell Silver Medal in 2022 for his outstanding achievements in tribology and surface engineering respectively.

He has been Associate Dean Research for 8 years in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Southampton and is now funded by UKRI to seek to spin out a company called TriboAI.   He mentors two RAEng Research Chairs; one at City St Georges (Professor Ahmed Kovacevic) and one at Manchester (Prof Ping Xiao).

Dr Marco Edoardo Rosti

Marco Edoardo Rosti earned his PhD in Aeronautical Engineering in 2016 at the former City, University of London, and is currently a tenured Associate Professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), where he has led the Complex Fluids and Flows Unit since 2020. His research focuses on polymeric and multiphase turbulent flows, with particular emphasis on understanding how turbulence is modified in the presence of complex fluids by means of direct numerical simulations.

He has received the RYUMON Award of the Japanese Society of Fluid Mechanics (2020), the Andrea Prosperetti Award of the International Journal of Multiphase Flow (2025), and the François Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mechanics of the American Physical Society (2025).

He is currently serving as Associate Editor of the European Journal of Mechanics B/Fluids, and he has earned recognition for excellence in reviewing from J. Fluid Mech. (Outstanding Reviewers 2023) and Phys. Rev. Fluids (Reviewer Excellence Award 2025).

Rishi Preetam Thiruthani

Rishi Preetam Thirutani graduated from City St George’s University of London in 2022 with a Merit and has rapidly established himself as a cybersecurity leader, driving innovation, resilience and measurable improvement in a complex business environment.

He is the sole cybersecurity specialist at Craig International, Aberdeen with responsibility for the full security function, including governance, risk and compliance, security operations, penetration testing, incident response and security architecture. He combines deep technical expertise, strategic prioritisation and automation to deliver enterprise-grade security outcomes.

His leadership also extends beyond technology. Recognising that people are a critical part of any security strategy. He built a custom Cybersecurity Awareness Learning Management System and lead phishing simulations to strengthen human defences across the organisation to create a more security-conscious culture while giving employees practical and relevant guidance.

This year, he was awarded Computing Security Excellence Awards 2026, receiving both the “Security Rising Star of the Year” and the “Outstanding Security Researcher/Analyst Award.” His work has contributed directly to improving security standards within industry leading his organisation to achieve the Cyber Essentials Plus certification, a recognised benchmark for cybersecurity assurance in UK business and government supply chains.

His visibility and impact also extend into academia and outreach by helping to encourage more students into STEM and cybersecurity careers and demonstrating what can be achieved early in a professional career, demonstrating through continued engagement, mentoring and advocacy via the City St George’s Professional Mentoring Scheme.