Keynote Speakers
Dr. Liu is an Associate Professor of Engineering Design at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. Dr. Liu's research focuses on design methodology, design thinking, smart manufacturing, digital twin, and engineering education. He has published two books and over 130 book chapters, journal articles, and conference papers, including a series of publications in leading journals. Moreover, he has been teaching the subject of engineering design and design thinking to over 8,000 engineering students and design practitioners.
Dr. Liu has received multiple prestigious awards, including UNSW Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, #1 Ranked National Researcher in the Field of “Manufacturing & Machinery” by the Australian's Research Magazine, Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning of the 2022 Australian Awards for University Teaching, and Best Journal Paper Award by Journal of Manufacturing Systems.
Dr. Liu is a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Associate Member of International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), JSPS Invitational Fellow, Fellow of the PLuS Alliance, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). He is the Secretary of CIRP STC Design and the Secretary of the ASME Australia Section. He chaired multiple international conferences.
Yixiong Feng received the B.S. and M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, China, in 1997 and 2000, the Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2004, respectively.He is currently a Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Zhejiang University, China and the member of the State Key Lab of Fluid Power Transmission and Control of Zhejiang University, China. His research focuses on mechanical product design theory, intelligent automation and advance manufacture technology. He has published over 100 journal and conference proceedings papers in the above research areas. He has been the principal investigator of four projects supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China and one project supported by National High-tech R&D Program of China (863 Program). He is the winner of Zhejiang Province Outstanding Youth Fund and the winner of National Outstanding Youth Fund.
Jianxi Luo is a Professor of Systems Engineering at City University of Hong Kong. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Systems and an S.M. in Technology Policy from MIT, as well as an M.S. and B.E. from Tsinghua University. Luo's research has been instrumental in establishing the Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) paradigm by integrating design, system, and data sciences. In 2022, he was honored as a G20 Professor for his contributions to DDI. Recognized among the world’s top 0.5% of scientists by Stanford & Elsevier, his research has led to the development of several industry-adopted DDI tools, over 160 publications, more than 110 invited talks, and over 20 accolades from INFORMS, ASME, Design Society, Complex Systems Society, and others. He has served on the editorial boards of eight design-related journals, including Design Science, JED, and RIED. Luo also chaired the INFORMS Technology Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship Section from 2015 to 2016 and has been an executive committee member for the Council of Engineering Systems Universities in the USA since 2022. Previously, he was on the faculty of the Singapore University of Technology and Design from 2012 to 2023 and New York University from 2011 to 2012. He was also a visiting scholar at Cambridge University in 2005 and Columbia University from 2011 to 2012.
Prof. Colm Durkan is the founder and head of the Nanoengineering Science (formerly the Scanning Probe Microscopy and Nanoelectronics) group at the Nanoscience centre of the University of Cambridge.
Originally from Dublin, Colm obtained his primary degree in Physics from Trinity College Dublin. He was also a Trinity College Foundation scholar, and was the recipient of the Fitzgerald medal in 1992.
Colm obtained his PhD in Physics, also from Trinity College, on the topic of Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM), and built the first SNOM in the country. After spending a postdoctoral period at Konstanz University in Germany, during which time he was awarded an Alexandar von Humboldt visiting fellows scholarship for research into atom optics, he came to work in Cambridge in August 1997 as a postdoc.
Colm has been a University lecturer with full tenure since July 2000, a Reader in Nanoscale Engineering since October 2010 and a full professor since October 2020. He is also Deputy head (teaching) of the Engineering Department. He is on the editorial board of the Nature journal Scientific Reports.
EunSook Kwon Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the School of Industrial Design at Georgia Institute of Technology. She was previously a Director of the Industrial Design Program at the University of Houston from 2003 to 2021. She established and developed the curriculum of the BS ID and MS ID program as the founding Director. She was recognized on DesignIntelligence’s list of “Most Admired Educators” for two years for “her insight to nurture and grow the program with her vision and passion.” Kwon has published and lectured throughout the world about creative design thinking and design strategy development. She has been a consultant to numerous corporations, and she has developed educational programs for government agencies and universities. Her research covers a wide range of product types, including healthcare, household products, and wearable computing systems. She was the Director-General of Seoul Design Olympiad 2008, a comprehensive design event; two million visitors participated in the 21 days design exhibitions and festival.
Kwon holds a BFA in industrial design from Seoul National University, two master’s degrees in industrial design from Seoul National University (MFA) and the Ohio State University (MA), and Ph.D. in arts education from the Ohio State University. She served as an editorial board member of Design Issues, a juror for many international design competitions including Microsoft Next-Generation PC Design Competition, International Housewares Student Design Competition, Singapore Design Competition, and the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).