Senior Professor Huijun Li is currently working at University of Wollongong; he is the Associate Dean – Higher Degree Research at Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences. He has over 26 years of research experience in materials science and engineering. This includes expertise in the use of electron microscopy to study the microstructure of materials (particularly metals and ceramics) in areas such as phase transformations and structural evolution, additive manufacturing. He also has extensive experience in mechanical tests, failure analysis and materials development, as well as detailed knowledge of crystallography, welding metallurgy, line pipe steels, nickel based alloys, high entropy alloys, and shape memory alloys.
As a Certified Materials Professional (CMatP) in Australia, Prof Huijun Li obtained a PhD degree in 1996 from the University of Wollongong; He has published 7 book chapters and more than 500 papers over his career in the field of additive manufacturing, welding metallurgy, new alloy development, surface engineering, nuclear materials and microstructure characterization.
In 1995, he joined CRC Materials Welding and Joining as a postdoctoral research fellow at University of Wollongong. In 2000, he took a research scientist position at Materials Division, ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation), he worked on a wide range of research projects in conjunction with the CRC Welded Structures, CRC CAST3, CRC Rail, British nuclear research organisations and American national laboratories. During this period, Prof Li pioneered research on 9-12% Cr creep resistant steel s in Australia. Prof Li started working at University of Wollongong from July 2008; he is heavily involved in research work with Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC), Energy Pipeline CRC (EPCRC), Baosteel Australia Joint Centre (BAJC), and Australian Rail Industry, in particular, Sydney Trains. Prof Li won over 50 research/commercial grants (with total more than A$20 million) from government and industry sectors since joining UOW in 2008. Prof Li has been supervising (or co-supervising) 48 PhD students and 14 postdoctoral fellows; In conjunction with Prof John Norrish and Prof Zengxi Pan, he established wire arc additive manufacturing research at University of Wollongong.
Prof Li was awarded Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia, 2013, Australia Endeavour Fellowship 2014, and Defence Materials Technology Centre - Capability Improvement Award in 2014 and 2016. He was named in the 2019 Australian Research magazine as Australian Field leader in both Manufacturing & Machinery and Metallurgy. He has also received UOW Vice Chancellor Award - Research Partnership and Impact Award for the year 2019. Prof Li has been recognised as Australia’s top researcher in metallurgy in 2020, 2021 and 2022 again. Prof Li is currently serving as a Technical Committee Member for both “Standards Australia, MB-028, Additive manufacturing” and “ISO Standards, ISO/TC 261 - Additive manufacturing” since 2020. The joint DMTC shipbuilding project in which Prof Li participated as a chief investigator has earned a High Commendation award at INDO PACIFIC 2022 International Maritime Exposition, this project also won “The Defence science and technology enterprise collaboration award” at the Australian Defence Science, Technology and Research Summit (ADSTAR) July 2022. In 2023, Prof Li was promoted to Senior Professor at University of Wollongong, and in the same year, he was elected as a Member of Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts.