Dr Lihai Zhang

Dr Lihai Zhang is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at The University of Melbourne. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University, and a Visiting Professor in Earthquake Engineering Research & Test Centre at Guangzhou University, China. Dr Zhang is currently the Founding Director of Melbourne-Shenzhen Rehabilitation Research Centre and Executive Committee member of Australasia Investment and Trade Association. He is also the Associate Editor of Electronic Journal of Structure Engineering and Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Applied Mechanics.

Dr Zhang received his Master of Engineering degree from the National University of Singapore with Research Scholarship in 1996, and then worked in the industry in the area of Civil Engineering and Information Technology application for nearly 10 years. Subsequently, he went on the Melbourne International Research Scholarship to further his PhD study at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2009. Dr Zhang has extensive experience in multidisciplinary research and program development with successful track record in both Civil Engineering and Biomedical Engineering areas. His work on characterising the impact of heavy truck loading on the bridge structural performance using Engineering Reliability approach in conjunction with Non-destructive Testing techniques has built strong links with industry both nationally and internationally (e.g. VicRoads, Roads and Maritime Services, Metro Trains). Dr Zhang is also innovatively applying his Civil Engineering knowledge (e.g. Engineering Reliability and Porous Media Theory) in his Biomedical Engineering research. This gives him a leading advantage and a unique angle to solving outstanding human health problems in the areas of osteoporotic bone fracture healing and osteoarthritis.

He has published more than 70 international journal papers, conference papers and book chapters. He has been awarded 20 National and International Competitive Grants (Four “Category 1” and sixteen “Category 2-4”) with a total of more than AU$7.3 million. Most importantly, Dr Zhang has gained international recognition for his research work. He is the Lead Chief Investigator of China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation Research Grant, Australia-Indonesia Centre Tactical Research Project Grant, Johnson & Johnson Medical Grant, and AOTrauma Asia Pacific Grant.

Dr Zhang has chaired and been invited to serve in international scientific committees of many conferences that include International Symposium on Frontiers in Applied Mechanics, International Conference on Computational Methods, and Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics. He is the chairman of The 3rd International Symposium on Frontiers in Applied Mechanics (1-4 December 2016, Melbourne Australia).

At University of Melbourne, Dr Zhang is Co-ordinator, Bachelor of Science (Civil Systems) and the member of Departmental Education Committee. He has supervised/co-supervised 18 PhD students (8 completed), and 4 Master by research students (2 completed). He also has two Post-doctoral Research Fellows working under his supervision.