Professor Goodwin has been involved in engineering research and development work for more than a decade. He is the co-author of 3 books and is currently writing a further 2 books. He has also written almost 200 technical reports and papers.

He has been instrumental in introducing advanced control ideas into Australian Industry, including a novel technique for thickness control in rolling mills.

He has also provided specific assistance to DSTO with advanced estimation and filtering techniques applicable to aircraft flight data, the design of manoeuvre autopilots and techniques for fault diagnosis for aircraft engines. He has recently established links with an Australian Company (Megadata) to develop the first Australian Commercial adaptive controller.