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Dr. Xin Fu Tan is an ARC Early Career Industry Fellow. Their research interests encompass the areas of electronics manufacturing, hydrogen storage materials, synchrotron radiation techniques, and electron microscopy. Dr. Tan is currently employed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, working on an ARC Discovery Project titled "Intermetallic compounds for high-reliability electronic interconnections" (2020-2024). Additionally, Dr. Tan holds the position of a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) International Research Fellow at Kyushu University, contributing to the project "Improving Metal Hydrides to Diversify Energy Storage and Transportation" (2022-2024), as nominated by the Australian Academy of Science (AAS).

Dr. Tan completed their PhD thesis at The University of Queensland, focusing on the development of novel anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, from 2017 to 2020. Between 2010 and 2016, Dr. Tan worked as a Material Scientist at Hydrexia Pty. Ltd., a start-up company specialising in commercialising solid-state hydrogen storage systems based on lab-developed technology from The University of Queensland. They earned a Bachelor's degree (1st class honours) in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at The University of Melbourne and a Master's degree in Advanced Engineering Materials at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. These experiences have endowed Dr. Tan with unique research expertise across various Materials Engineering fields, encompassing both academic and industrial settings.

Dr Tebyetekerwa is an ARC DECRA Fellow and Sub-Group Leader at UQ Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation and ARC Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide(GETCO2), working with Professor Xiwang Zhang. His current main research interests at UQ School of Chemical Engineering rotate around water and electrochemical systems such as electrochemical CO2 capture and conversion to valuable chemicals and electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide and/or hydrogen. He is deeply interested in designing scalable and industry-relevant chemical cells and generators. He completed his PhD from The Australian National University (ANU), where his research focused on optical spectroscopy and advanced characterization of semiconducting materials and their devices (Supervised by Prof Dan Macdonald, A/Prof. Dr. Hieu T. Nguyen and Prof. Yuerui (Larry) Lu). Dr Tebyetekerwa also holds a Master's in Materials Processing Engineering from Donghua University, Shanghai, where his research focused on fibrous materials for flexible energy storage (Supervised by Academician Meifang Zhu and A/Prof Shengyuan Yang). Mike supervises projects for undergraduate, master's, and PhD students on topics related to the following research interests;

1. Scalable electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide and/or hydrogen from water*
2. Scalable electrochemical CO2 capture and reduction to valuable chemicals*
3. Reconstructed graphite for sodium-ion batteries
4. High surface area electrospun fibre materials for various applications
5. Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecules and their engineered applications
6. Light-matter understanding of 2D materials and other semiconductor materials for optoelectronics*

*Currently funded and active ongoing projects

Featured works

• 2022: His work on 2D materials (https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(21)00213-7) was selected in the Cell Reports Physical Science “Influential papers-2021” and "Editor's Choice-2021" collection.
• 2021: His works (https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2017/sc/c8ee02607f) and other co-authored works (https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abb8687), ( https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2017.11.012 ) are listed as "Highly Cited Papers" and "Hot Papers" in Web of Science.
• 2020:His work on nanofibers has continuously been listed as one of the highly cited articles for Advanced Fiber Materials (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-020-00049-5), since it was published to date.
• 2019:His work on nanofibers ( https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.7b00057 ) was listed as the most-read article for ACS Applied Energy Materials in 2018.

In addition to his research, Mike lectures Sustainable Energy Technologies and Supply Systems (ENGY7000) course as part of the Master of Sustainable Energy (MSE) program.

Luigi Vandi is the Co-Deputy Director for the Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM) and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. He conducts research in materials science, ranging from advanced manufacturing, in-life performance and end-of life conversion to higher value products. He obtained his PhD on hybrid materials from The University of Queensland, and his MSc from the National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine in France.

His translational research activities have a strong focus on industry relevant projects. His experience in high-performance composites manufacturing for automotive and aerospace applications, includes working at Ferrari F1 Team in Italy, where he was responsible for the manufacture of carbon fibre suspensions and gearbox of the F1 car. In Australia, he played a key role in developing a patented technology as part of a collaborative project with Airbus and CRC-ACS. He is currently responsible for AMPAM’s sustainability theme and leads research in ‘Biocomposites & Circular Economy’. He has secured over $9 million of funding in this field and delivered high impact sustainable solutions. He is the first author of 4 active patents, in the fields of advanced manufacturing, biocomposites and biopolymers, including the development of novel sustainable biocomposite materials that are marine biodegradable biopolymer.

Luigi is driven by solution-based research, and in particular bringing latest innovations in materials science to the benefits of a future circular economy. His goal is to provide an expertise at the crossover between materials science and sustainable development to address the challenges of today’s linear economy.

Luigi lectured 4th year Aerospace Composites (course AERO4300), and 2nd year Engineering Investigation & Statistical Analysis (course CHEE2010)

Dr Martin Veidt's research interests are in applied mechanics covering all aspects of through life support of materials and structures with a special focus on composites such as fibre-reinforced laminates, sandwich structures and hybrid metal fibre laminates. This includes quality assurance and quantitative non-destructive evaluation using conventional, guided wave and non-linear ultrasonics; stress analysis and damage mechanics; and experimental determination of mechanical characteristics of materials and interfaces.

He received his Dr sc techn from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich in 1991 and his Dipl Masch Ing ETH from there in 1986. His current research projects are in the fields of:

• Non-linear ultrasonics
• Ultrasonic manipulation of microbubbles for drug delivery
• Functional composites
• Hybrid composite laminates
• Light weighting

Dr Yuan Wang is interested in developing advanced manufacturing solutions and understanding the underlying mechanisms, particularly for functional devices.

Yuan has a strong passion for conducting industry-focused work to generate manufacturing innovations and practical benefits. He is now working with a multinational medical device manufacturer to explore intelligent manufacturing solutions for the medical device industry. As an early-career researcher, he has published 37 papers attracting >3200 peer citations. All his first/co-first or corresponding authored papers were published in top 2% journals by 2023 CiteScore, and 54.5% of his publications are the global top 10% most cited papers.

Yuan is an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow/Research Fellow in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. As the lead/solo CI, he has secured competitive grant funding totalling >$500,000. He has been awarded several research excellence and leadership awards. Yuan conducted his PhD at UniSQ working on thermoelectrics and graduated in 2020 with the UniSQ Research Excellence Award (supervisor: Prof Zhigang Chen). He obtained his bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Northeastern University (China) in 2016, with his third year at UQ where he received the Dean’s Commendation for Academic Excellence Award.

Yuan is a lecturer for one undergraduate course and one master's course at UQ, where he has received high SECaT scores for his teaching quality. He is also responsible for a variety of supervision and administration duties.

Biography:

Professor Lianzhou Wang FAA FTSE is Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Laureate Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering, Director of Nanomaterials Centre (Nanomac), and Senior Group Leader of Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland. He received his PhD degree from Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999. Before joining UQ in 2004, he has worked at two leading national research institutions (NIMS and AIST) of Japan as a research fellow for five years. Since joining UQ, he has worked as ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellow (2006), Senior Lecturer (2007), Associate Professor (2010), Professor (2012-now) and ARC Future Fellow (2012-16), and is now an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow at the Chemical Engineering School and AIBN.

Research:

Professor Wang's research focuses on the synthesis, characterisation and application of semiconductor nanomaterials for use in renewable energy conversion/storage systems including photocatalytsts for solar hydrogen and valuable chemical production, rechargeable batteries and low cost solar cells. In the past 20 years at UQ, as a Chief Investigator, he has attracted a large number of competitive research funds from ARC, CRC, CSIRO and industry. Prof. Wang has contributed 3 edited books, 14 edited book chapters, more than 600 journal publications (including top ranking journals such as Science, Nature Energy, Chem. Rev., Chem Soc. Rev., Nature Commmun, Angew. Chem., Adv. Mater., J. Am Chem. Soc., etc.), filed 20 patents and delivered over 130 plenary/keynote/invited presentations. His publications have received >55,000 citations with a H-index of 127 (Google Scholar). Prof. Wang is serving as Editor/Associate Editor/Editorial Board member of more than 10 international journals including Advanced Materials (Wiley Publishing group, Impact factor 32.09). He is named on the list of the Clarivate’ Highly Cited Researchers (Top 0.1% researcher in the world).

Prof. Wang has won a number of prestigious Fellowships/awards including STA Fellowship of Japan, ARC QEII Fellowship of 2006, UQ Research Excellence Award of 2008, Scopus Young Researcher Award of 2011, ARC Future Fellowship of 2012, UQ Research Supervision Award of 2018, ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship of 2019, Research Excellence Award in Chemcial Engieering of 2019, and ARC Industry Laureate Fellowship of 2024.

Prof. Wang is the elected fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (FTSE), Academia Europaea (MAE) and Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). On professional services, he serves as the chair of National Committee for Materials Science and Engineering, Australian Academy of Sciences, and the President of Australian Materials Research Society.

Teaching and RHD supervision activities

• Lecturer of second year undergraduate core course CHEE2003 Fluid & Particle Mechanics and fourth year engineering course CHEE4301 Nanomaterials and Their Characterisation
• Research Supervision: 45 RHDs awarded, current supervisor/co-supervisor of ~20 PhD students & 15 Postdoctoral Fellows/Research Fellows/Senior Research Fellows.

Dr Felix Wiesner is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia and an Honorary Fellow in the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland and works as part of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life. He was appointed at UQ as a Lecturer in Timber Engineering in 2019 to lead research projects focused on enhancing the fire performance of timber using treatments and modification techniques. His background is in structural fire engineering and the fire safety of timber structures, specifically engineered timber structures. His field of expertise are the critical evaluation of load bearing capacity of building elements in fire and the assessment of safety implications arising from the use of engineered timber as structural members in tall buildings or structures with extraordinary architectural features.

Dr Wiesner completed his Master of Engineering in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering at The University of Edinburgh from 2010 to 2015 before he successfully completed his doctoral studies on the structural behaviour of cross-laminated timber in fire between 2015 and 2019. During his undergraduate and postgraduate work, he closely worked with Arup on multiple projects regarding the fire safety of timber buildings and the effect of localised fires in large open spaces. He actively participated in the European COST Action FP 1404 for the Fire Safe Use of Bio-Based Building Products between 2016 and 2019, representing the UK as a Management Committee member. He significantly contributed to the success of the Fires in Tall Timber Structures: Large-scale Tests in Support of Tall Timber Construction project at the BRE in the UK and also worked as a member of the global Fire Safe Use of Wood research collaboration.

Dr. Zhe Yang currently is an ARC DECRA fellow (Mentor: Prof. Xiwang Zhang) in the School of Chemical Engineering/Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation at the University of Queensland since Dec 2023. He obtained his PhD degree in Environmental Engineering in 2018 at the University of Hong Kong (PhD supervisor: Prof. Chuyang Tang). He was appointed as Research Assistant/Post-doc Fellow/Research Assistant Professor at HKU from Nov 2018 to Dec 2023. Dr. Yang has more than 10 years of R&D experience in membrane technology in the context of resource recovery, desalination, water reuse, and water/wastewater treatment. To date, he has published over 80 refereed publications, with total citations of over 7,000 and an h-index of 44 based on Google Scholar. Most of these papers (90%) are published in Nature indexed/top-tier journals in the field of environmental engineering and membrane technology, including Nature Water, Nature Communications, Nano-Micro Letters, Nano Letters, Chemical Society Reviews, Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, Journal of Membrane Science, Desalination, etc. He currently serves as the Early Career Editorial Board member of the leading journals in his field (Environmental Science & Technology - IF 10.9, Link & Desalination - IF 8.3, Link).

Featured Honors and Awards:

• 2024 Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (1/1000, Link)
• 2024 Rising Star in Environmental Research (Link)
• The First Prize of the Water 2023 Young Investigator Award (Link and Interview)

Featured Grants (Sole or lead investigator):

• Lead Entrepreneur, Innovative, ultra-efficient device for sustainable electricity harvesting from CO2, (IG240100353), Department of Education, Australia's Economic Accelerator (AEA) – Ignite, AUD454,240). (Link)
• Sole Investigator, Novel interlayered membrane for highly efficient separation processes, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), (DE230100114), Australian Research Council (ARC), AUD429,554 (11/12/2023-10/12/2026). (Link)

I have a multidisciplinary background in chemical and civil engineering, chemistry and materials science. Currently, I am the UQ leader of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life, based at USC. I apply my expertise to understand the effects of fungal decay and moisture intrusion in timber connections, as well as the improvement of the fire performance of timber. I supervise 6 PhD students.

Dr. Xiangkang Zeng is an ARC DECRA Research Fellow at the UQ Dow Centre within the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Monash University, Australia, in 2017. Prior to that, he pursued his studies at Jiangnan University in China, attaining a Master's Degree in Fermentation Engineering in 2012 and a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Engineering in 2010.

Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Zeng conducted postdoctoral research training at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) from 2017 to 2018. Subsequently, he held the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University, Australia, from November 2018 to July 2022.

Dr. Zeng's current research endeavors center around the development of two-dimensional functional photocatalysts, such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and covalent-organic frameworks (COFs). His primary focus lies in exploring their applications in solar-to-chemical energy conversion, water treatment, and antibacterial purposes.

As a testament to his contributions, Dr. Zeng has authored over 35 papers in prestigious journals, including Advanced Functional Materials, ACS Catalysis, Angewandte Chemie, Applied Catalysis B, Water Research, Chemical Engineering Journal, and Green Chemistry, both as the first author and co-author.

Professor Mingxing Zhang’s research interests are in the additive manufactruring of metals and MAX phase mateirals, high entropy alloys, new alloy design through machine learning and application of crystallography to engineering materials, surface engineering of metals, and grain refinement for cast metals.

Prof Zhang is a world leader in the area of crystallography of phase transformations and its applications in engineering materials, and is recognised as one of the top researchers in the areas of phase transformations, grain refinement for cast metals, additive manufacturing of metals, and surface engineering.

Prof Zhang obtained his Bachelor of Engineering from the Inner Mongolian University of Science and Technology and Master of Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. In 1997 he was awarded his PhD degree by The University of Queensland. His research expertise and interests include crystallography of phase transformations, grain refinement and alloy development of aluminum and magnesium alloys, surface modification and coatings, bainitic transformation and bainitic steels.

Prof Zhang’s research hopes are to apply his fundamental research results to develop new generation metallic materials and to improve the current materials processing techniques. His research outcomes will also offer materials scientists a totally new way to undertake surface treatment for metallic materials, therefore to significantly improve the surface durability of this type of materials. For example, the recently developed new packed powder diffusion coating technique for titanium alloys will enable the replacement of the highly costive superalloys with Ti alloys. The research also hopes to enhance Australia’s competitive ability in international markets in light metals and contribute significantly to material science with the study of the mechanism of phase transformations in solids.

Jin Zou is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering (Materials Engineering) and an affiliated Professor in the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis at the University of Queensland, Australia. Professor Zou earned his Master’s degree from the University of Science and Technology, Beijing in 1985 and PhD from the University of Sydney in 1994. Through his postgraduate studies, Professor Zou was trained as a transmission electron microscopist. After his PhD, he worked in the Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis at the University of Sydney for 10 years with several Australian fellowships, including an Australian Postdoctoral fellowship and a Queen Elizabeth II fellowship. Professor Zou moved to UQ to take up a teaching-and-research position from July 2003. In 2009, Professor Zou won an inaugural ARC Future Fellowship (FT3 - Professor level). In 2021, Professor Zou became an Emeritus Professor.

Over the years, Professor Zou's research interest has been focused on the understanding of the evolution of advanced, smart and nano-scaled materials and the understanding of fundamental properties of these materials through detailed correlating their fabrication and demonstrated properties with their morphological, structural and chemical characteristics (determined by electron microscopy); and on the formation of high-performance functional nanomaterials and their advanced applications, particular in the fields of energy and environmental protection. So far, Professor Zou published over 750 SCI articles with most of them published in leading international journals, which have attracted over 41,000 citations and led to an H-index of 101.