I am a Reader (Associate Professor) and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at Imperial College London. I am a member of the Department Panel, Department Research Committee, and Open Research Champion. I am the Admission Officer of MSc Advanced Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure, and an academic staff in the Imperial Centre for Infrastructure Materials.  I am also a steering committee member of The Composites Centre at Imperial.

I am dedicated to transformative research in composite materials and technologies, aiming to enable the new generation of energy infrastructure to achieve Net Zero. Conventional infrastructure for fossil fuel falls short of meeting the sustainable demands of future generations. It is imperative to develop new generation of infrastructure to embrace renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, nuclear, and hydrogen. Materials with exceptional performance metrics are the key for such a green transition. My Lab of Composites for Energy Infrastructure (FRP4EI) at Imperial aims at becoming a world leading research centre, driving forward innovative solutions for the next generation energy infrastructure through interdisciplinary research on material science, chemistry, mechanics, AI & modelling.

About Me

I received bachelor and master degrees in Civil Engineering from Tongji University. My PhD in Civil Engineering was awarded by Monash University. I worked as a postdoc fellow with Prof. Xiao-Ling Zhao (Fellow of ATSE) at Monash University. I was a postdoc fellow in the group of Prof. Victor C. Li at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Then I moved to EPFL and worked as a postdoc fellow with Prof. Thomas Keller. I received the JSPS fellowship with Prof. Tamon Ueda (Fellow of JAE), and  an Assistant Professor offer from KU Leuven. I worked for a short period of time as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University in 2016. Then I was appointed as a Full Professor at Beihang University.

I am currently teaching undergraduate and MSc modules including Polymers and Polymer Composites, Assessment Monitoring and Repair of Structures, Mechanics of Materials, and Structural Design. More details about teaching can be found from the Teaching tab. I have supervised over 17 PhDs (9 completion) and 27 MSc research projects (18 completion). I have published around 150 journal and conference papers with a H-index of 31. Please find more details from Research tab. 

Education

  • 2013     PhD, Civil Engineering, Monash University, Australia
  • 2009     MS, Bridge Engineering, Tongji University, China
  • 2006     BS, Civil Engineering, Tongji University, China

Admission Appointments

  • 2024     CEE Departmental Panel, Imperial College London, UK
  • 2024     CEE Department Open Research Champion, Imperial College London, UK
  • 2023     CEE Departmental Research Committee, Imperial College London, UK
  • 2023     Admission Officer, MSc Advanced Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure, Imperial College London, UK

Selected Awards

  • 2024     UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, UK
  • 2023     RINENG Young Investigator (YI) Award
  • 2023     Top 2% highly cited scientist in the year
  • 2022     Top 2% highly cited scientist in the year
  • 2021      Innovation Award in Simulation Technology, China Simulation Technology Industry Alliance
  • 2021      Best Paper Award, Journal of China Building Materials Science and Technology
  • 2016     JSPS-Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Japan
  • 2015     Swiss Government Excellence Fellow, Switzerland
  • 2015     Endeavour Research Fellowship, Department of Education, Australia
  • 2013     Certificate of Appreciation at APFIS2013 by IIFC
  • 2012     Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad

Research Grants (~£3.5MN)

  • UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship, 2024-2028, Principal Investigator.
  • UKRI Impact Acceleration Award, 2022-2023, Principal Investigator.
  • Imperial College London European Partners Fund, Feb-Jul 2023, Principal Investigator.
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2020-2023, Principal Investigator
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2019-2021, Principal Investigator
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2017-2019, Principal Investigator
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science-JSPS, Japanese Government, 2016-2018, Principal Investigator
  • Endeavour Research Fellowship, Department of Education, Australian Government, 2015-2016, Principal Investigator
  • Swiss Government Excellence Fellowship, 2015-2016, Principal Investigator
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2015-2017, Co-Investigator

Professional Membership

  • Member, British Plastics Federation, since 2024
  • Member, RILEM-International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials,
  • Systems and Structures, since 2023
  • Member, Composites UK, since 2023
  • Member, IIFC-International Institute for FRP in Construction, 2010
  • Council member, Solid Waste and Eco-material Group, the Chinese Ceramic Society, since 2021
  • Council member, Fiber Glass Polymer Composite Group, the Chinese Ceramic Society, since 2021
  • Committee member, Pultruded Fiber Polymer Composite Committee, China FRP Industrial Association, since 2021
  • Senior Member, Chinese Society for Composite Materials, 2017-2021

Journal Editing 

  • Associate Editor, ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering (SCI index), since 2022
  • Editorial Board Member, Current Chinese Science (Structural Engineering), since 2020
  • Editorial Board Member, Transportation Safety and Environment (EI index), since 2019
  • International Editorial Board Member, ASCE Journal of Composites for Construction (SCI index), since 2018
  • Editorial Board Member, Acta Material Composite Sinica (IE index), since 2018

Proposal Reviewer 

  • Member, UKRI Talent Peer Review College, since 2022
  • Member, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Peer Review College, since 2021
  • Evaluator, Horizon Europe, since 2023
  • International Reviewer, Catalyst Seeding Fund, Royal Society Te Apārangi, New Zealand, since 2022
  • Member, ESF College of Expert Reviewers, European Science Foundation, since 2020
  • Review Panel Member, Key Projects of Intergovernmental International Cooperation on Scientific and Technological Innovation, Ministry of Science and Technology, China.
  • Reviewer, Beijing Science and Technology Award, in 2023
  • Reviewer, National Key R&D Program of China, in 2021
  • Reviewer, National Natural Science Foundation of China, in 2021

Organisation of Conferences

  • Scientific Committee, CICE2025-12th International Conference on Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites in Civil Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, 14 to 16 July 2025.
  • Chair, FPCC2024-Fibre Polymer Composites in Construction, 5 September 2024, Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes (alongside ICS)
  • Local Organising Committee and Scientific Committee, 42nd Annual Cement & Concrete Science Conference, 11–12 September 2023 Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Imperial College London
  • Technical Committee, Structural Engineering Session, 2024 World Transportation Convention-WTC2024
  • Technical Committee, Structural Engineering Session, 2019 World Transportation Convention-WTC2019
  • Committee, ICAMMT 2019-5th International Conference on Applied Materials and Manufacturing Technology, June 21-23, 2019 in Singapore.
  • Scientific Committee, ISSCI 2019-Forth International Summer School on Composites in Infrastructure, 5-6 Aug 2019, Wuhan, China
  • Technical Committee, Structural Engineering Session, 2018 World Transportation Convention-WTC2018
  • Mini Symposia Chair, ICDM3: 3r International Conference on Damage Mechanics, 4-6 July 2018, Shanghai, China
  • Symposium Leader, CCCM-3: 3r China International Congress on Composite Materials, 21-23 October 2017, Hangzhou, China
  • Local Organising Committee, APFIS 2013: The Fourth Asia-Pacific Conference on FRP in Structures, Dec 11-13 2013, Melbourne, Australia
  • Local Organising Committee, ACUN 6: Composites & Nanocomposites in Civil, Offshore and Mining Infrastructure, Dec 14-16 2012, Melbourne, Australia
  • Session Chair, 5th and 6th VACPS Workshop, 2012, Melbourne, Australia

Journal Reviewer (selected)

  • Best Reviewer Award, Acta Material Composite Sinica
  • Best Reviewer Award, China Association for Science and Technology
  • Best Reviewer Award, ASCE for Journal of Composites for Construction
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, Engineering Structures
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, Composites Part B: Engineering
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of CO2 Utilization
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, Construction and Building Materials
  • Outstanding Reviewer Award, Thin-Walled Structures

Lab of

Composites for Energy Infrastructure

Composites for Energy Infrastructure Group