Associate Professor Wengui Li

ARC Future Fellow, Scientia Associate Professor in Construction Materials and Structural Engineering

Wengui Li is a Scientia Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) in Australia. He has earned international recognition for his pioneering research in the fields of intelligent/smart concrete and sustainable construction materials. Wengui received his Joint Doctoral Degree from Tongji University and Northwestern University in 2013. From 2010 to 2013, he studied as a Predoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Advanced Cement-Based Materials (ACBM) at Northwestern University, USA.

With his expertise in connecting material properties of concrete to structural responses at multiple scales, ranging from the nano to structural levels, Wengui has established the "Intelligent Concrete and Infrastructure Materials" (ICIM) research group in the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety (CIES) at UNSW. The group focuses on developing new functionalities and nanotechnology for concrete to enhance its properties, making it smarter and more sustainable for future infrastructure. Through his extensive experience collaborating with leading experts from universities and industries worldwide, including Australia, USA, Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, China and Japan. Wengui is an International Excellence Fellow at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and JSPS Invitational Fellowships for Research in The University of Tokyo. 

Wengui’s research interests are centered on multifunctional concrete and low-carbon construction materials, with a particular focus on smart concrete (e.g., self-sensing, self-healing, self-powering, hydrophobicity, photocatalysis, energy-saving), recycled aggregate concrete materials and structures, solid waste recovery for construction materials, low-carbon concrete, and CO2 mineralized concrete, concrete nanotechnology (e.g., nanomodification, nanocharacterization), concrete durability (e.g., chloride transport, reinforcement corrosion), seawater-sea sand concrete materials and structures, fire resistance of concrete, and pavement materials and technology.

Wengui has an impressive track record in securing research funding from various sources, including the Australian Research Council (ARC), public government, and industry schemes. He was awarded the ARC Future Fellow Project (one of only two in FoR: 4005 – Civil Engineering) in 2023, an ARC DECRA Project in 2015, two ARC Discovery Projects, one ARC Linkage Project, two ARC ITR Hub Component Projects, and two ARC LIEF Projects. He also received an Innovation Connections grant from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science.

Wengui has a prolific publication record with over 220 refereed journal papers published in Scopus, generating over 13,000 citations, and earning him an h-index of 60. In Google Scholar, he has over 15,000 citations and an h-index of 64. Notably, his work has been highly cited, with seven Highly Cited Papers recognized by Clarivate (Web of Science). He also has an impressive track record as an editor, committee member, and conference organizer. For example, he serves as an editor (associate) or editorial board member for 7 international journals, including Construction and Building Materials (Elsevier), Sustainable Materials and Technologies (Elsevier), Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering (ASCE), and Case Studies in Construction Materials (Elsevier).