Australia China Scholar Network
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee oversees the governance of the organization and coordinates events aimed at strengthening academic ties between Australia and China, thereby enriching the scholarly community.
A/Prof Yuan Chai
President
Dr. Chai is a Associate Professor at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, Northeastern University. He received his Ph.D. from the Australian National University in 2019 and subsequently conducted research at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on interdisciplinary precision medicine in orthopaedics, integrating medical imaging, surgical decision-making, and artificial intelligence.
He is a member of UNDP INSPIRO Network, International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS), and China Small Animal Protection Association. He also serves on the editorial boards of SCIE-indexed journals including Scientific Reports, Health Informatics Journal, and Current Medical Imaging.
Zhiwei Yang
Vice President
Chair of the Academic Advisory Board
Zhiwei Yang is a researcher at the University of Sydney Medical School. His research focuses on the mechanisms and physical therapy approaches for pain management and musculoskeletal health, with particular interest in the application of pain reduction in orthopaedic post-surgical recovery and the rehabilitation treatment of central nervous system disorders.
Dr. Ye Zhang
Secretary
Dr. Ye Zhang (PhD 2023, Macquarie University) is an early career researcher at UTS. She has multidisciplinary expertise including computational fluid dynamic simulation, microfluidics, chip design, biofabrication, tissue engineering and nanomedicine development. Her PhD research focused on interdisciplinary projects utilizing advanced microfluidic techniques. Dr. Ye Zhang also earned the NSW Defence Innovation Network PhD Candidate Internship program award and developed an innovative biosensor for industrial application. During her postdoc at the Woolcock Institute (2023-2024), she led several projects focusing on treatments for chronic diseases. At UTS (2024-present), she plays an active role in the UTS Strategic Research Accelerator (SRA) Program, aimed at developing translatable nanomedicine technologies for joint diseases. She is also the affiliate of the Kolling Institute of USYD and the Woolcock institute of MQ. She has developed strong global connections and cross-cultural research collaboration skills through collaborating with international research groups and participating in governmental and industrial projects. Dr. Ye Zhang also holds a Project Management Professional certificate and has extensive experience in mentoring and co-supervising honors students and postgraduate students.
Fangli Hu
Secretary
Fangli Hu is a PhD candidate in the School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University, Australia, working on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of tourism and health sciences. She obtained her master’s degree in Tourism Management from Fudan University, China. Since 2022, she has published several peer-reviewed articles in prominent tourism and public health journals. Additionally, her lead-authored research, titled “The principle of entropy increase: A novel view of how tourism influences human health”, garnered 848 media mentions from prominent outlets such as CNN, The Australian, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fox News, and CBS News, reaching approximately 2.7 billion people between August and November 2024.
Tong Zhao
Treasurer
Tong Zhao earned her Master’s degree in Professional Accounting from the University of Sydney in 2021. She has experience as a financial program host at a radio station and has worked as an accountant at accounting firms in Sydney, specializing in personal and corporate tax filing, tax planning, estate planning, and related services.
Dr. Jin Han
Academic Collaboration Manager
Jin Han is a Research Fellow at the Black Dog Institute of the University of New South Wales. She got her PhD in ANU in 2017. Her research interest includes suicide prevention, digital mental health and cross-cultural comparison. Jin was awarded over five million funding as a Chief Investigator and multiple prestigious awards, including the 2020 Bupa Emerging Health Researcher Award and the 2022 MHS Early Career Research Award.
Xuan Chen
Operation Manager
Xuan is a PhD Candidate in Finance at the Nottingham University Business School China. She graduated with a master’s degree from the College of Business and Economics at the Australian National University, with her main research directions being applied finance, rural financial poverty reduction, and corporate social responsibility.
Dr Jiao Jiao Li
Australia Relations
Representative of UTS
Dr Jiao Jiao Li FRSN FRSB MAICD is a Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering at UTS, and a Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellow. She also serves as Board Director and Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee for Science & Technology Australia, as well as Board Director of Australian Institute of Policy & Science (AIPS). Recognitions of her research include 2024 Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science, 2023 Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research, 2022 NSW Premier’s Prize, 2022 NSW Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year, and 2022 Young Investigator Award of Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS).
Australia China Scholar Network
Academic advisory board
The Academic Advisory Board provides expert guidance on the network’s strategic direction, ensuring its initiatives align with academic excellence and foster meaningful scholarly communication between Australia and China.
University Representatives serve as liaisons between the scholars of their academic institutions and the ACSN, facilitating collaboration and promoting our organization within their universities to foster greater academic engagement between Australia and China.
Zhiwei Yang
Vice President
Chair of the Academic Advisory Board
Zhiwei Yang is a researcher at the University of Sydney Medical School. His research focuses on the mechanisms and physical therapy approaches for pain management and musculoskeletal health, with particular interest in the application of pain reduction in orthopaedic post-surgical recovery and the rehabilitation treatment of central nervous system disorders.
Shiwen (Laura) Lao
Representative of University of Sydney
Shiwen (Laura) Lao is a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney and a co-founder of PulseTech Group Pty Ltd. Her research focuses on enterprise-level AI agent architecture design, large language model optimization, and their innovative applications in industrial scenarios.
Dr. Bingnong Jiang
Representative of UNSW
Dr. Jiao Jiao Li
Australia Relations
Representative of UTS
Dr. Jiao Jiao Li FRSN FRSB MAICD is a Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering at UTS, and a Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellow. She also serves as Board Director and Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee for Science & Technology Australia, as well as Board Director of Australian Institute of Policy & Science (AIPS). Recognitions of her research include 2024 Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science, 2023 Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research, 2022 NSW Premier’s Prize, 2022 NSW Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year, and 2022 Young Investigator Award of Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS).
Dr. Zhongpu (Leo) Zhang
Representative of Western Sydney University
Dr. Zhongpu (Leo) Zhang is currently working as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Western Sydney University, Australia. Before starting at Western Sydney University in 2018, he was a postdoctoral research assistant in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies at the University of Sydney. He completed his PhD degree at the University of Sydney in 2016. He also obtained his MPhil and Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), both from the University of Sydney. He has authored over 30 refereed journal publications, co-edited 3 conference proceedings and a number of high quality conference papers, including those prestigious prize-winning papers and plenary/keynote papers. He was the “Secretary in General” for the 1st Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics (ACCM2013) in 2013 and the 11th World Congress on Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization (WCSMO-11) in 2015, which were the most prestigious conferences in the engineering computational mechanics and optimization field.
Dr. Zijian Wang
Representative of Australian National University
Dr. Zijian Wang acquired his PhD at the Australian National University’s College of Science and Medicine. His doctoral research focuses on consumer leadership in palliative care using a combination of qualitative methods including story completion and Delphi study. As he progresses in his doctoral studies, Zijian aims to bridge the gap between academic research and practical application in healthcare settings, particularly in consumer empowerment in palliative care.
Dr. Yuzhou (Thomas) Wu
Representative of Monash University
Dr Yuzhou Wu is a Research Fellow at Monash Suzhou Research Institute and an Adjunct Lecturer at Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University. In addition to his roles in teaching and research, he also serves as the Director of Research at Monash Suzhou.
Dr Wu obtained his degree of PhD in Biological Sciences in 2017 from the University of Newcastle. Later in 2018, Dr Wu moved to the University of Sydney as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, before he joined Monash University in early 2023. As a biotechnologist, Dr Wu spent more than ten years study and research in transfer cell and developmental biology using plants as model species, with a particular interest in identifying general principles by comparing development across different kingdoms, and ultimately providing information that could contribute to the global challenges of many kinds.
Dr. Yingnan Shi
Representative of UWA
Dr. Yingnan Shi began his lectureship at UWA in July 2024. He was jointly supervised by CSIRO and the Australian National University (ANU) from 2018, completing his PhD in Information Systems. With over ten years of diverse experience in teaching and industry roles across telecommunications, NGOs, banking, and medical equipment manufacturing, Dr. Shi has developed a strong interdisciplinary foundation. He holds multiple interdisciplinary degrees, including a Master of Business Information Systems with Distinction and a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) in Applied Economics.Dr. Shi’s research interests lie at the intersection of data/knowledge management, IS economics, HCI design, virtual education, and e-commerce. His work is recognized for its practical relevance and academic rigor, as evidenced by his numerous publications in top-tier journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Shi has also secured competitive research funding, including prestigious scholarships from CSIRO, which have supported his investigations into the socio-technical dynamics of AI in professional settings.
Dr. Jiayun Lun
Representative of Curtin University
Dr. Jiayun Lun is an engineer at Information Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management of the PRC. After a joint training in Curtin University supported by CSC, he received his PhD in China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) in 2020. He is committed to teaching, researching and practicing on green and low-carbon transformation, prevention of gas disasters and coalbed methane/shale gas extraction. He participated in the compilation of China’s first national level carbon neutrality and emission peak series.
Dr. Yunwei Zhang
Representative of Murdoch University
Dr. Jiayun Lun is an engineer at Information Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management of the PRC. After a joint training in Curtin University supported by CSC, he got his PhD in China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) in 2020. He is committed to teaching, researching and practicing on green and low-carbon transformation, prevention of gas disasters and coalbed methane/shale gas extraction. He participated in the compilation of China’s first national level carbon neutrality and emission peak series.
Dr. Fangli Hu
Representative of Edith Cowan University
Secretary
Dr. Fangli Hu acquired her PhD in the School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University, Australia, working on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of tourism and health sciences. She obtained her master’s degree in Tourism Management from Fudan University, China. Since 2022, she has published several peer-reviewed articles in prominent tourism and public health journals. Additionally, her lead-authored research, titled “The principle of entropy increase: A novel view of how tourism influences human health”, garnered 848 media mentions from prominent outlets such as CNN, The Australian, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fox News, and CBS News, reaching approximately 2.7 billion people between August and November 2024.
Dr. Minghao (Michael) Liu
Representative of QUT
Dr. Minghao (Michael) Liu is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Biomedical Technologies of the Queensland University of Technology; a Coordinator of Australia-China Centre for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine; a Research Assistant and Coordinator of Cardiovascular Technology Laboratory.
His research interest is to explore two-dimensional materials on the applications of next-generation electronics and drug delivery, based on theoretical simulations and machine learning.
Fangfang Yuan
Representative of University of Queensland
Fangfang Yuan is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, focusing her research on cathode materials for Li-ion batteries and single-atom materials. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with First-Class Honors and was awarded full scholarships from four of the world’s top 50 universities. As an early-stage researcher, Fangfang embraces interdisciplinary approaches, applying scientific logic not only to her research but also to everyday life and work.
Therefore, Fangfang has contributed extensively to the global education community. She has created hundreds of videos to support Chinese students studying in Australia, garnering tens of millions of views. Additionally, she has led the organization of numerous business projects related to education, collaborating with hundreds of PhD students to explore innovative solutions.
Xiaojing Du
Representative of University of South Australia
Xiaojing Du is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer and Information Science at the Adelaide University . Her research focuses on causal inference on graph data and peer effects in networked systems. She has authored more than twenty publications and serves as a reviewer for several top-tier journals and conferences in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Australia China Scholars Network
Join Us
If you are interested in joining the executive team, please email us at:
admin@acscholars.org
Please attach your resume and a cover letter stating your relevant experience and why you are suitable for the position. (Note: the ACSN is a non-profit organization and currently does not offer paid positions. All positions are voluntary.)
Available Positions
University Representatives
Media Officer
Industrial Partnership Manager
China Relations
Australia Relations