Keynote Speakers

Zhen-Yu Yin

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China

Biography: Prof. Yin obtained his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Zhejiang University (China) in 1997. He then worked as Engineer in Zhejiang Jiahua Architecture Design Co., Ltd. for five years. In 2003 and 2006, he obtained his master's and doctorate degrees in Geotechnical Engineering from the École Centrale de Nantes (France), respectively.
Currently, Prof. Yin serves as the academic editor for “International Journal of Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics”, associate editor for 4 top-tier international journals: Geotechnique, European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering (EJECE), Geotechnique Letters, and ASCE-International Journal of Geomechanics. He is also serving as editorial board member of several journals, including the Canadian Geotechnical Journal (Can. Geot. J.), Acta Geotechnica, Transportation Geotechnics, Computers and Geotechnics, GeoRisk, etc..
Prof. Yin primarily engages in teaching and research in the fields of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering. He has published over 300 SCI papers in leading international journals to date, with an H-index of 85 in google scholar.
Prof. Yin's main research areas include: (1) Macro and micro characteristics of soil and its constitutive relationship, (2) Model testing in geotechnical engineering and large deformation numerical analysis, and (3) Application of artificial intelligence in geotechnical engineering. For more information, please refer to the research group's homepage: GeoInvention (https://geoinvention.com/ ).

Title of presentation: Hybrid Element Particle Method for Large Deformation Analysis

 

Chian Siau Chen, Darren

National University of Singapore, Singapore

Biography: Dr. Chian Siau Chen, Darren is an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Chian is also the Director of the Centre for Soft Ground Engineering in the university. Dr. Chian obtained his Ph.D. and B.Eng. from Cambridge University and Nanyang Technological University respectively. Dr. Chian actively involves in collaborative research projects with local government agencies to recycle unwanted soils from underground construction projects as land reclamation fill materials. Dr. Chian has also expanded recycling waste material into useful pozzolans in supplementary cementitious material technology. Dr. Chian was named as Asia’s Top 10 Innovators under 35 (TR35) by the MIT Technology Review in 2016, GeoSS Promising Young Geotechnical Engineer Award in 2018, Enterprise Singapore SAC Distinguished Award in 2018, Ministry of Transport Distinguished Minister Innovation (Distinguished) Award in 2021, Award Finalist of the Land Transport Excellence Award (Most Innovative Solution) and Prominent Geotechnical Engineer Award in 2022. Dr. Chian is the current President of the Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS).

 

 

Arvin Farid

Boise State University, USA

Biography: Dr. Farid is a Professor at the Civil Engineering Department. He joined the faculty in Civil Engineering at Boise State as an Assistant Professor in spring 2008. He was first promoted to Associate Professor in 2013 and then to Professor in 2020. Before joining Boise State, he was an Associate Research Scientist at CenSSIS (The Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems), Northeastern University, Boston, MA. From 2001-2003 he was a Research Assistant at CenSSIS and Civil & Environmental Engineering Dept., Northeastern University, Boston, MA where he received his Ph.D.

 

 

Ernest Kian Jon Chua

National University of Singapore, Singapore

Biography: Dr. Chua Kian Jon is an internationally recognized expert in clean thermal energy systems. His research spans thermal energy recovery, hybrid cooling, desiccant dehumidification, solar-assisted systems, and thermal energy storage for buildings and industrial applications. He is internationally recognized for pioneering work in dew-point evaporative cooling, membrane dehumidification, and waste heat recovery, enabling low-energy solutions for sectors such as buildings, data centres, EVs, and district cooling. Dr. Chua has published over 280 SCI-indexed journal papers, eight monographs, and holds more than 10 patents. A Fellow of the Royal Society, IET, Energy Institute, and IMechE, he ranks among the top 1% of scientists globally (USERN) and top 2% of energy researchers per Stanford since 2021, with 17,500+ citations and an H-index of 70. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Thermal Science and Engineering (Nature Portfolio) and serves as Associate Editors of numerous journals in Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis. A two-term NUS Dean’s Chair holder, he has received multiple international awards and leads major competitive research projects and is frequently invited to deliver plenary and keynote lectures and serve on technical committees at major international conferences. His work continues to shape the future of sustainable thermal energy systems across Asia and beyond.

 

Christopher H. T. Lee

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Biography: Christopher H. T. Lee (M’12-SM’18) received his B.Eng. (First Class Honours) degree in 2009, and Ph.D. degree in 2016 both in electrical engineering from Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He is currently an Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow and then a Visiting Assistant Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States. He is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, and IET Renewable Power Generation. He is currently the Chair of Motor Subcommittee of IEEE PES Electric Machinery Committee. He was the Chair of IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Singapore Section Chapter in 2023 – 2025. He is a Chartered Engineer in Hong Kong. His research interests include Electric Machines and Drives, Renewable Energies, and Electromechanical Propulsion Technologies. In these areas, he has published 2 books, 4 books chapters, and over 270 referred papers. Dr. Lee is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, U.K. He was a recipient of the 10th Nagamori Award in 2024, IAS Myron Zucker Student-Faculty Grant in 2023, JSPS Fellowship in 2023, MDPI Energies Young Investigator Award in 2022, NRF Fellowship in 2020, Nanyang Assistant Professorship in 2019, Li Ka Shing Prize (the best Ph.D. thesis prize) in 2017 and Croucher Foundation Fellowship in 2016, and 8 best paper awards, including Best Paper Awards in IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion in 2022 and 2024.

Speech title “Advanced Motor Design Concepts for Electromobility”