Prof. Zhao Xiao Lin

Professor Zhao is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (澳大利亞工程院院士). He held the Chair of Civil Engineering from 2001 to 2019 and then the Head of Department of Civil Engineering from 2008 to 2011 at Monash University, Australia. Before joining PolyU, Professor Zhao was the Associate Dean (International) in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia. His current research focuses on high-performance sustainable materials in civil engineering applications, steel-concrete-FRP hybrid construction and floating structure technology. Professor Zhao has published 9 books and 400 refereed journal papers with an H-index over 80. He has supervised more than 50 PhD students.

Professor Zhao was selected as Australia’s Top Researcher in the fields of Structural Engineering and Civil Engineering in the Australian’s Research Magazine in 2019 and 2021 respectively. He was listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in the field of Civil Engineering by Stanford University in 2020 and 2021. Professor Zhao has also received a number of prestigious fellowships including the Alexander von Humboldt Fellow hosted by RWTH Aachen University, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Invitation Fellow hosted by the Nagoya University, the H. K. Cheng Structural Engineering Fellowship from The University of Hong Kong, the Distinguished Visiting Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering hosted by the Imperial College London, the Swiss National Science Foundation Visiting Professorship at the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Science and Technology, the Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor at Tongji University and the Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Tsinghua University. Professor Zhao was a recipient of the Humboldt Research Award, the International Institute of Welding Thomas Medal and Kurobane Lecture Award.

Professor Zhao chaired several international committees, such as the International Institute of Welding XV-E Committee (2002-2014), Australian/New Zealand Standards Committee CS/23 (1998-2002), International Institute of FRP in Construction working group on FRP Strengthened Metallic Structures (2005-2014). He served as a member on the Australian Research Council ERA (Excellence in Research for Australia) Research Evaluation Committee for Engineering and Environmental Sciences Cluster (2015, 2018), and the Australian Research Council College of Experts (2021).