Home - INVITED SPEAKERS
Dr. Sisi Zlatanova is a SHARP Professor at the University of New South Wales UNSW). Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture and Head of the Geospatial Research, Innovation and Development (GRID) lab. She obtained her PhD degree from the Graz University of Technology, Austria. Her research interests are in 3D modelling and more specifically, integration of BIM and GIS, 3D Indoor modelling, 3D representations and 3D data management and visualisation. Together with a team of excellent researchers, she advances the 3D capabilities of Spatial Information Systems. She is instrumental in advancing Spatial Digital Twins for monitoring and 3D analysis of urban environments. She is actively involved in the activities of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and leading the developments of the OGC standard IndoorGML. She is the President of Technical Commission IV ‘Spatial Information Science’ of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) for the period 2016-2022 and Treasurer of the Urban Data Management Society (UDMS). She is one of the founders and a regular participant of Gi4DM, 3DGeoinfo and Indoor3D conferences. She is associate editor of several high-ranked journals. She has more than 550 scientific publications and edited 23 books.
Ganesh received his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering/Computational Mechanics in 1996 from Louisiana State University. He is currently a Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Missouri Kansas City where he has been teaching and doing research since 2002. His primary areas of research are bridge engineering, behavior of structures subjected to blast and impact loading and bone biomechanics/mechanobiology. He has served as the Chair of ACI Committee 447 on Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures and is the current Chair of ACI Committee 370 on Blast and Impact Load Effects on Concrete Structures.
Tangwei Mi is a Lecturer in the School of Science and Engineering at University of Dundee. He was a Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at University College London (UCL). His primary areas of research are application of Raman spectroscopy in reinforcement concrete structures and production of low-carbon cementitious material. He is also interested in recycling municipal solid waste and construction demolition waste. He is a member of Institute of Concrete Technology and RELIM.
Hang Ziyan is a female doctoral student in the Class of 2021 from the School of Civil Engineering at Nanjing Tech University. Her research area is intelligent composite materials and structures, with a focus on studying the mechanical and thermal properties of functionally graded graphene reinforced cement composites. As the first author, she has published 2 SCI journal articles, and co-authored over 14 additional SCI publications. Ms. Hang is a recipient of the China Scholarship Council's sponsored study abroad program. Currently, she is a visiting student in Professor Cise Unluer research group at the University of Manchester in the UK.
Hossein is an Assistant Professor (UK Lecturer) and Programme Leader for Mechanical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Anglia Ruskin University (England, UK). He was an NSERC Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow at the University of British Columbia (Canada). Hossein received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at University of Manitoba (Canada). His primary research areas are design and development of sustainable composite materials and structures, structural dynamics of smart composite materials and structures, and structural health monitoring. As the first author, he has published 25 peer-reviewed journal articles and co-authored 4 additional publications as well as 21 international conference proceedings. He is also the recipient of 17 competitive scholarships, fellowships, and awards.
He joined Onoda Cement Co. Ltd. (then Taiheiyo Cement Corporation) in 1978 following post-doctorate research at the University of Illinois, USA. He had been responsible for participating in the Cement Sustainability Initiative of WBCSD (then Global Cement and Concrete Association) since 2000. He contributed to the IPCC WG III on the Assessment Report (2007, 2014 and 2021) as an expert reviewer and the IEA program on a development of cement technology roadmap (2009). In 2010, he transferred to Japan Cement Association and externally served to Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth as the Climate Technology Center & Network project manager under UNFCCC on low carbon technologies including an MCC&U; technology during 2017 and recently founded SDIs to support an implementation of the technology globally. He holds a Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois, USA
Dr Fangxin Zou obtained a bachelor’s degree with First Class Honours in Aeronautical (Space) Engineering at the University of Sydney in 2010. He then obtained a PhD in Aeronautics at Imperial College London in 2015. Before joining The Hong Kong Polytechnic University as an Assistant Professor in 2018, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Non-Destructive Evaluation Group at Imperial College London. Dr Zou’s current research interest lies in quantum tunneling and quantum tunneling-enabled strain sensing. He is a Chartered Engineer (UK) and a Member of the Institute of Physics (UK), the American Physical Society, and the Royal Aeronautical Society (UK).
As Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at Walailak University, Dr Thanongsak Imjai obtained his BEng from the join-programme between Thammasat University and Nottingham University (2001), MSc at Cardiff University (2002) and PhD at Sheffield University in 2007. His research is in the fields of structural concrete, FRP and fibre reinforcement, repair, construction innovation and earthquake engineering. Dr Imjai is a senior professional engineer in Thailand and has been working with several government agencies, engineering associations, such as the Engineering Institution of Thailand and many research and industrial partners in Thailand over 15 years in the asset and forensic engineering fields. In 2010, Dr Imjai was appointed as a Lecturer in Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-Ok (RMUTTO), Thailand. In 2017, he established the Construction Innovation Research Unit (CIRU) in RMUTTO where he served as the director of the CIRU, dealing with several research projects from industrial consultancy services and government sectors. He is a member of the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) and the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC). He joined Walailak University as an assistant professor in 2019 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. He has been principal or co-investigator on seven research projects worth approximately 500k USD. He has been involved in the supervision of 12 MSc and 3 PhD students and published over 50 research papers in refereed journals and conferences. Currently, he is the Director of the Research and Innovation Institute of Excellence at Walailak University.
Prof. Ir. Dr. Chee-Ming Chan is currently a Professor with the Department of Civil Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. She is also a Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Engineering & Technology, UK, and a Professional Engineer (Ir.) registered with BEM of Malaysia. Dr. Chan was previously a postdoctoral visiting scholar at the Port and Airport Research Institute in Japan from 2009-2011. Dr. Chan’s first degree (BSc. Civil Eng.) was awarded by KUiTHO-UTM, Malaysia in 2001. She then pursued her PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Sheffield (UK) on the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation, MOSTI’s scholarship, returning in 2006 to serve at the present university. Dr. Chan is member to several key societies relevant to her profession, namely International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS), International Geosynthetics Society- Malaysian Chapter (MyIGS), Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM), Society of Engineering Education Malaysia (SEEM) and Geological Society of Malaysia (GSM). She is also serving as the Secretary for MyIGS since 2018, facilitating the coordination of engagement between industry and universities, particularly in the field of geosynthetics applications. Dr. Chan has authored over 150 technical papers, including entries in seminars, conferences and journals, as well as 3 modules for undergraduate courses. She has published a book, The Sinking Earth, in 2012, an easy-to-read introductory book to ground improvement techniques. Her research interests have always revolved around sustainable geotechnics, with innovations to make poor quality soils into usable materials. Indeed, Dr. Chan has for the past decade in active collaboration with the Marine Department of Malaysia and various industrial as well as research institutional counterparts to explore the fundamental characteristics of dredged marine soils from Malaysian and regional waters, with the aim of transforming the otherwise discarded materials into useful recycled geo-materials. Her research effort in this direction has received recognition with the award of several grants worth over 150,000 USD from various national agencies and the industry. Steadfast in her belief that research findings should be channeled to greater good of the people and beyond, Dr. Chan is striving towards engaging more industrial players in addressing the issue of inappropriate disposal of dredged marine soils, and encouraging the reuse of the material based on reliable scientific discoveries while sharing and disseminating research-based knowledge, skills and technology. It is her hope that Malaysia will one day, in a future not too far away, become a regional leader in giving beneficial second lives to these geo-wastes, consequentially contribute to nature conservation and resources optimization. As an academic, Dr. Chan is also appointed as Accreditation Panelist for Civil Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA), as well as Engineering Technology Accreditation Council (ETAC) of the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). Besides, she is regularly consulted on academic programme development, reviews and revisions. Her close working relationship with the industry has enabled insights for continuous improvement of the engineering / engineering technology programmes, with closing of the university-industry gap via better engagement, feedback and improvement
Wang Lu received the B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Shijiazhuang Tiedao University in 2022. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in Bridge Engineering at Beijing Jiaotong University
Professor Seo is currently a professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Korea National University of Transportation. He received his doctorate from Hanyang University in Korea and did his postdoc at Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign in the United States. His main field is structural engineering, especially reinforced concrete structures and steel-concrete composite structures. For about 30 years, he has conducted a lot of research related to the development of precast concrete structural methods. Over the past 10 years, he has been conducting research on not only the strengthening of concrete structures using FRP, but also the measurement and monitoring of deformation of the reinforced structural members using non-destructive testing such as optic fiber and acoustic emission. He has also been conducting research on the development of Top-down construction methods related to excavation and expansion for building underground construction. More detailed information can be found at the following link: https://sites.google.com/view/hyb-lab
Afshar Seifiasl Ph.D. student in structural engineering at the University of Sherbrooke, Canada
Baoguo Han, Professor of Civil Engineering at Dalian University of Technology since 2012, holds a BS and MS in Material Science and Engineering (Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, 1999, 2001) and a PhD in Engineering Mechanics (Harbin Institute of Technology 2005). He was invited to the University of Minnesota and has worked as a visiting research scholar there for three years. His main research interests include cement and concrete materials, nano-engineered cementitious composites, smart materials and structures, multifunctional concrete, fiber reinforced concrete, and ultra-high performance concrete. He has published five authored books and one book video, three edited books, 17 book chapters, and more than 200 technical papers. The citations and h-index/i10-index in Google are 11359 and 56/160, respectively. The research outcomes have been reported as research highlights more than 20 times. He has held more than 20 authorized national invention patents and was awarded the first prize of Natural Science by the Ministry of Education of China. Professor Han is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining as well as the International Association of Advanced Materials, and has served as a member in more than 40 scientific professional societies (including an academic organization, as journal chief editor and editorial board member, and on a review panel for scientific research projects and awards) and as a reviewer for more than 160 books and journals. He has been awarded Top Peer Reviewer in the Global Peer Review Awards powered by Publons in both Materials Science and Cross-Field, listed in Highly Cited Chinese Researchers by Elsevier, and named in the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University.
He graduated in Civil Engineering at the University of Trieste. He graduated cum laude in Architecture at IUAV University in Venice with a Thesis on structural restoration. He is Full Professor of Structural Engineering at Iuav University of Venice, Italy. In 2007, he got the book (HOEPLI) on FRP pultruded structural elements. Former Director of the Laboratory of Strength of Material at Iuav University from the 2010 till the 2018. Former member of the IUAV academic senate. He is author of 224 publications, the most notable of which are 77 International and national Journal papers. He has been Director of the Iuav Master of Architecture at Iuav University; he is also Director of the Iuav Cluster Unit Research dedicated to the ‘Experimental Design Approach for construction and sensitive and crisis areas’. He has been Visiting Professor at Columbia University of New York, Visiting Researcher at Rolla University (USA); Visiting Professor at Curtin University of Perth (Australia) and Visiting Researcher at Nova Gorika University. He is Adjunt Professor at Curtin University of Perth, School of Civil Engineering. He has been involved in many national and international Ph.D courses. He is co-author of the CNR-DT 2005/2007 on the structural use of pultruded FRP members. In 2008 he received an award for the "Best scientific paper" at the 4th Int. Conf. on Composite in Civil Constructions in Zurig. He is formally cited as 'expert' of the Report-2766-EN on 'Prospect for new guidance in the Design of FRP'. He has been involved in many international research's programs and resulted winner to one (EPSRC) on "Characterising dynamic performance of fiber reinforced polymer structures for resilience and sustainability". He is RILEM Member. He is involved in CEN/TC 250/WG 4 for the first Eurocode dedicated to all FRP structures. From the 2015 he is UNESCO's consultant in the field of structural engineering, structural restoration, rehabilitation and retrofitting of RC and historic constructions and monuments and modern constructions also hit by extreme event as well as earthquake, flood and hazards. As UNESCO consultant he already worked in Myanmar (Bagan), in Nepal (Kathmandu), in Syria, through the Beirut UNESCO Office, in Iraq (Mosul), and in Cuba in the frame of historic constructions and monuments. He is Editor of the 'Shock and Vibration' and 'Material Science and Research' Journals; he is reviewer of the most important journals in the world. Venice, december 2023
He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the State University of Maringá (UEM). He completed a master's and PhD in Structural Engineering at the University of São Paulo (USP). He completed his postdoctoral studies at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). He is currently a Professor at Presbyterian University Mackenzie. He is a Professor and Advisor of the Postgraduate Program in Civil Engineering (PCV) at UEM. He works mainly in the following areas: Fiber Reinforced Concrete, Composite Structures, Precast Concrete, and Finite Element Method applied to structures.
He graduated from Çukurova University Civil Engineering Department in 1987. He completed his PhD at the University of Liverpool, England in 1995, became Associate Professor in 1999 and Professor in 2005 in the Department of Geotechnical Engineering. He published a total of 180 publications, 41 of which were SCI and SCI-Exp publications. He is a member of the Geotechnical Board of the Chamber of Civil Engineers in Turkey. Prof. Laman did Organizing Committee Presidency and Science-Advisory Board Membership of International Geotechnical Symposium, which has been held every 2 years since 2005. He was Deputy Rector at Osmaniye Korkut Ata University between 2009-2012. Also, he attended the University of Liverpool in England in 1997 and 2002, and the University of Central Florida in USA in 2016 as a visiting professor. Prof. Laman has been working as the consultant of PerformGeo Company in Istanbul since the year 2018.
Dongfang Wang received her BSc degree in Materials Sci. & Eng. from South China Uni. of Tech., obtained her PhD degree in Civil Eng. at UMass Amherst in 2021. She started her career as a seniro R&D; engineer in Sobute New Materials. Her current research interests focus on high-performance civil engineering mateirlas, bio-mimicking materials, multifunctional nanomaterials for carbon emission reduction.
In 2021, she completed her Ph.D. in Structural Engineering at the University of Brasilia (UnB) in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP). During her Ph.D., she developed the MAIS Method (Method of Assessment by Integrity and Safety) for evaluating reinforced concrete buildings. Before that, she earned a Master's degree in technology, sustainability, and environmental aspects from the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU) at UnB. She also taught various civil engineering courses, including solid mechanics, technical drawing, and construction materials. Currently, she works as a researcher at the Laboratory for Rehabilitation of the Built Environment (LabRAC) and in the research program on Existing Structures - Evaluation Methodology Based on Reliability at FAU - UnB. Her work extends to areas like waterproofing design, structural evaluation, performance assessment, and the study of structural problems, all while striving to blend practical and computational methods. Her main aim is to contribute to the preservation of heritage and buildings, promoting a balanced coexistence between structures and the environment to enhance the well-being of communities.
