Distinguished Professor Zhengyi Jiang is an internationally recognised expert and leader in research on innovative composite materials, manufacturing technologies and tribology. His research has delivered new insights into the mechanisms underlying development of fabrication techniques for new metallic composites and other materials.

Since 2001, Dist. Prof. Jiang has built an independent research program spanning advanced manufacturing, innovative composites and tribology, attracting >$28mil in funding from Australian national competitive (>$18mil) and industry (>$10mil) sources, and generating >720 outputs (h-index=45; Scopus, Nov 2024). He currently leads the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Innovative Composites for the Future of Sustainable Mining Equipment at UOW, and the Rolling Mechanics Group within the School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering. His group (14 academic staff, 15 HDR students (>30% female)) focuses on developing physical simulation and modelling techniques that realistically simulate plastic deformation and metallurgy in metal manufacturing processes.

For >25 years, Dist. Prof. Jiang has collaborated with Australian and global mining and manufacturing industry partners to successfully translate his research outputs into a range of useful advanced materials and manufacturing technologies. These have found applications in the mining, automotive, transportation, biomedical and other industries, and include bimetal wear-resistant steel (BWRS) plates for coal mining equipment, new self-lubricating composite materials made from titanium carbide and graphene nanoplatelets, and lightweight corrosion resistant roll-bonded clad steels used in scraper conveyors for bulk materials handling. His innovative method for producing low carbon steel delivered cost savings of $5mil/year for a leading local steel supplier and manufacturer and, for overseas steel suppliers and manufacturers, a combined >$30mil via adoption of new industrial practices.

Dist. Prof. Jiang’s leadership was pivotal to forging the highly productive research collaboration with Baosteel, the world’s largest steel company. In 2007-2010 he led the development of new methods for Baosteel to address friction in hot rolling of ferritic stainless steels (FSS). This led to the formation of the Baosteel-Australia Joint Research and Development Centre (BAJC), led by UOW in partnership with other high performing Australian universities in materials engineering and manufacturing: UQ, Monash, UNSW and Deakin. So far, the BAJC collaboration has generated $7mil in funding for UOW via 18 projects, and trained >30 industry-ready PhD students at UOW. For Dist. Prof. Jiang’s contribution to building the BAJC collaboration, he was ‘Highly Commended’ for the 2019 UOW Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Partnership and Impact.

In recognition of his academic and industry contributions, Dist. Prof Jiang has received >45 Australian and international prizes and awards (e.g., 2024 New Gold Owl Honorary Award (Polish Association of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering), 2023 Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship, 2022 Ausinan Science & Technology Society President Award, 2022 Best Editor Award of International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing (IF: 16.1), 2019 Excellence Award for outstanding publications and industry impact on manufacturing engineering (ModTech^Ò2019, Iasi, Romania), 2016 Vice-Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award for Researcher of The Year (UOW), 2015 JSPS Invitation Fellowship (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), and 2013 Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowship Award (Australian Government).

Dist. Prof. Jiang has been highly sought after as a keynote speaker. He has showcased his cutting-edge research through delivering >60 plenary or keynote talks at international conferences (e.g., ModTech 2024, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the 26th International Scientific Conference on Achievements in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering with Bioengineering and Dental Engineering AMME-bio-2024, Wisła Malinka, Poland; Leverhulme Trust Lecture, 23 August 2023, Teesside University, UK; ModTech 2022, Online, Romania; The Int. Conf. on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces 2021, Online, South Korea; and ModTech 2019 (the 10th Anniversary of ModTech Professional Association), Iasi, Romania). He has also facilitated the exchange of new ideas in materials and manufacturing engineering through chairing/co-chairing >16 international conferences (e.g., 2024 Green Mining Conference (Wollongong), Australia; ICMSE 2017, Zhuhai, China), sits on editorial boards of 9 international journals (e.g., Journal of Extreme Manufacturing JIF=16.1; Clarivate, 2023), and regularly referees for >80 journals (e.g., Acta Materialia, Advanced Materials, CARBON and Wear).