ICMSN Speakers

Biography: Alexander Korsunsky received his degree of Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) from Merton College, Oxford, following undergraduate education in theoretical physics. His current appointment is Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford and Trinity College. He has given keynote plenaries at major international conferences on engineering and materials. He has developed numerous international links, including visiting professorships at Universitá Roma Tre (Italy), ENSICAEN (France) and National University of Singapore. Prof Korsunsky’s research interests concern developing improved understanding of integrity and reliability of engineered and natural structures and systems, from high- performance metallic alloys to polycrystalline ceramics to natural hard tissue such as human dentin and seashell nacre. Prof Korsunsky co-authored books on fracture mechanics (Springer) and elasticity (CUP), and published over 200 papers in scholarly periodicals on the subjects ranging from neutron and synchrotron X-ray diffraction analysis and the prediction of fatigue strength to micro-cantilever bio-sensors, size effects and scaling transitions in systems and structures. Support for Prof Korsunsky’s research has come from EPSRC and STFC, two major Research Councils in the UK, as well as also from the Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), NRF (South Africa), DFG (Germany), CNRS (France) and other international and national research foundations. Prof Korsunsky is a member of the editorial board of Journal of Strain Analysis published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK (IMechE). Prof Korsunsky is consultant to Rolls-Royce plc, the global aeroengine manufacturer, whom he advises on company design procedures for reliability and consistency. He spent a period of industrial secondment at their headquarters in Derby, UK (supported by RAEng), and made recommendations on R&D in structural integrity. Prof Korsunsky plays a leading role in the development of large scale research facilities in the UK and Europe. He is Chair of the Science Advisory Committee at Diamond Light Source (DLS) near Oxford, UK, and Chair of the User Working Group for JEEP (Joint Engineering, Environmental and Processing) beamline at DLS. These activities expand the range of applications of large scale science to problems in real engineering practice. Prof Korsunsky’s research team at Oxford has involved members from almost every part of the globe (UK, FR, DE, IT, China, India, Korea, Malaysia, South Africa).

Biography: Dr. Yuyuan Zhao graduated with a BEng in 1985 and MSc in 1988 from Dalian University of Technology, China, and a DPhil in Materials from Oxford University in 1996. He was a Lecturer at Dalian University of Technology from 1988 to 1991, a Research Associate at the MADYLAM Laboratory of CNRS, France in 1995, and a Research Fellow at Birmingham University from 1995 to 1998. Dr. Zhao worked at Liverpool University from 1998 to early 2023 for more than 24 years, starting as a Lecturer and later as a Professor. He is currently an Honorary Professor at Liverpool University and a Professor at Ningbo University of Technology. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao pioneered the Sintering and Dissolution Process (SDP) for manufacturing aluminium foam, which inspired the subsequent developments of several powder-based space-holder methods for manufacturing metal foams. He further invented the Lost Carbonate Sintering (LCS) process, a more versatile and cost-effective method for producing micro-porous metals. The LCS technology has led to the creation of Versarien, a highly successful start-up company which mass produces micro-porous copper for thermal management applications. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao was awarded the Ivor Jenkins Medal in 2015 for an outstanding contribution to powder metallurgy in developing and commercialising innovative powder based technologies for manufacturing metal foams. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao current research is focused on the manufacture, characterisation and applications of porous metals and metal matrix syntactic foams.

Biography: Dr Yan Huang leads metallic biomaterials and metal matrix composites research at Brunel University London, with interests in structural and biomedical applications. He is a founding member and co-investigator of the UK government EPSRC Future Liquid Metal Engineering HUB where he leads the activities on light alloy processing involving both solidification and plastic deformation. He has extensive experience in process innovation for combined solidification and thermomechanical processing, solid state joining and severe plastic deformation for light alloys and light metal matrix composites. He has long-term interests in the characterization of microstructure and texture evolution during thermomechanical processing and fundamental issues of strengthening, plastic deformation and grain boundary migration. He has published over 100 peer reviewed papers and filed 3 patents with an h-index of 26 and a total of 2690 citations.
Speech Title: Criterion for Compatible Deformation of Polycrystalline Materials (Read More)

Biography: Fosca Conti received her degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Molecular Sciences from the University of Padova, Italy, following undergraduate education in physical chemistry. Her current appointment is Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University of Padova. Prof. Conti’s research interests concern developing advanced materials and new chemical processes for renewable energies, from fuel cells and batteries to biomass. She has given talks at major international conferences on engineering, chemistry and materials. She has developed numerous international links, including visiting researchships at University of Freiburg (Germany), Free University of Berlin (Germany), Juelich Forschungszentrum (Germany), and Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences (Germany). Prof. Conti is a member of the editorial board of the international scientific journal Environmental and Climate Technology. She is a member of the academic board of the PhD doctoral program in Molecular Sciences at the University of Padova. She teaches for the bachelor studies in Chemistry, Industrial chemistry, Materials Science, Science and Technology for the Environment, Biotechnology, and Geosciences. She leads the research group Physical chemistry of materials. Prof Conti co-authored one scientific book on fuel cells (Springer) and one didactic book (Cleup) and published over 90 papers in scientific periodicals on the subjects ranging from fullerenes, Nafion, melanin, polymer electrolyte membranes fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries, joint metal alloys for microelectronics, to bioenergy from biomass. She has an h-index of 20 and a total of 1280 citations.
Speech Title: Microelectronics Fabrication: Materials for Electrically Conducting Interconnects