Our Keynote Speakers
(Last name from A to Z)
Keynote speakers for ICASS 2025
Professor
Leroy Gardner
Imperial College London, UK
Title: “Progress through technology: recent developments in metal additive manufacturing for steel construction”
Biography: Leroy Gardner is Professor and Head of Structural Engineering at Imperial College London and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is engaged in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, industry training, specialist advisory work and leading an active research group in structural engineering.
Prof. Gardner’s principal research interests relate to the testing, simulation, analysis, design and construction of steel structures, on which he has co-authored 4 textbooks, 7 book chapters and over 500 technical papers. He is Editor-in-Chief of two international journals and serves on a number of ISO, European and US code committees. Prof. Gardner was awarded the IABSE prize in 2017 and the ASCE Shortridge Hardesty Award in 2021.
Professor Lin-Hai Han
Tsinghua University, China
Title: “Concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) structures: life-cycle-based analytical theory, standards and engineering applications”
Short Biography: Prof. Lin-Hai Han is a Tenured Professor at Tsinghua University, and serves as the President of Guangxi University. His research interests are centered on structural engineering, with a particular focus on high-performance steel-concrete composite and hybrid structures, leading to the establishment of a life-cycle-based theory and design methodology for concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) structures. He is the author/co-author of over 259 peer-reviewed international journal papers and the sole or lead author of 7 books. He is among the top 4 scientists for Career-Long Impact in the field of Civil Engineering, according to the latest Stanford/Elsevier’s World’s Ranking of Top 2% Scientists. He was elected a Fellow of IStructE, UK, and is entitled to use the title “Chartered Structural Engineer”. He is also a Fellow of ASCE, US and ICE, UK. He is the founding Chair of the Subcommittee of Steel-Concrete Composite and Hybrid Structures (ISO/TC 71/SC 9), International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The practical applications of his research outcomes have been far-reaching and widely adopted in the design of record-breaking construction projects. He is the editor-in-chief of the National Standard of China GB/T 51446-2021, and the first-ever ISO Standard on CFST structures, ISO 16521:2024 (adopted by the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc., as their respective national standard). As the leading researcher, he was awarded the China’s State Natural Science Award (Second Prize) in 2019. He was the winner of the Prize for Scientific and Technological Innovation from the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, China in 2023. He was also awarded the ASCE Region 10 Distinguished Service Medal Award in 2024.
Professor Amit Kanvinde
University of California, Davis, USA
Title: “Advances in the Application of Fracture Mechanics to Seismic Steel Connections”
Biography: Dr. Amit Kanvinde is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis, USA. His research focuses on the seismic response of steel structures and connections, with an emphasis on extreme limit states, especially fracture. His work has been widely cited in standards, and recognized by various honors from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), including the T.R. Higgins Award (2022) and the Special Achievement Award (2017), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) with the Walter Huber Research Prize (2016), the Raymond Reese Research Prize (2024), the State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering Award (2018), and the Norman Medal (2008). In addition to his research contributions, Dr. Kanvinde serves on the AISC Committee on Seismic Effects, responsible for the AISC 341 Standard, and the Connection Prequalification Review Panel, responsible for AISC 358 Standard.
Professor
Gang Shi
Tsinghua University, China
Title: “Advances in High Strength Steel Structures: Research, Specification, and Applications”
Biography: Prof. Dr. Gang Shi is a full professor of the Department of Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University. His major research interests cover the high-performance steel structures, novel beam-to-column joints, and retrofitting of steel structures. Prof. Shi has published more than 200 papers (80 of them are in peer-reviewed SCI-indexed international journals) and four books. He has been awarded as one of the Most Cited Chinese Researchers by Elsevier from 2014 to 2024, one of the top 2% scientists worldwide by Stanford University from 2020 to 2024, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invitation Fellow. He is currently leading the Distinguished Young Scholar Programme of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. His expertise has been acknowledged with two National Science and Technology Progress Awards and eight provincial science and technology awards in China. He serves as the Special Issues Editor for the [Journal of Constructional Steel research], Associate Editor for the [International Journal of Steel Structures] and [Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Structures and Buildings], and Editorial Board Member of three other international journals. Meanwhile, he is the chief editor of nine codes and committee member of 35 codes in China.
Professor Luis da Silva
University of Coimbra, Portugal
Title: “Design of steel joints by advanced FEM: modelling, assessment of results, reliability and code specification”
Biography: Luis Simões da Silva graduated in Civil Engineering at the University of Coimbra in 1984, received an MSc in “Structural Steel Design” with Distinction at Imperial College London in 1986 and a PhD in “Structural Mechanics” also at Imperial College London in 1989. He received the title of Docteur Honoris Causa from the University of Liege, Belgium, in 2018. He is Professor of Steel Construction at the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Coimbra. President of cmm (Portuguese Steelwork Association). President of SEAPOWER (Association for the Development of the Sea Economy). Member of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering. Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Constructional Steel Research.
He is former Vice-Rector of the University of Coimbra (2019-2023), Head of Department of Civil Engineering (2001-2003; 2005-2007; 2013-2015). Director/Co-Director of ISISE – Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (2008-2023). Chair of the Technical Management Board of ECCS (2007-2013) and President of ECCS (2011-2013).
Involved in large number of Technical and Scientific Committees in the field of Steel Construction. Author of 800+ scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Large involvement in internationally-funded R&D projects.
Professor
Brian Uy
University of New South Wales, Australia
Title: “Behaviour and design of next generation steel and steel-concrete composite structures for buildings and bridges”
Biography: Brian Uy is Scientia Professor of Structural Engineering in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New South Wales. Brian has delivered over 100 plenary/keynote/invited lectures and has been involved in research in steel and composite structures for over 30 years. He has co-authored over 700 publications including over 300 refereed journal articles. Brian is Chairman of the Standards Australia Committee BD-032 on Composite Building Structures and BD-090-06 on Steel and Composite Bridge Structures. He is currently President-Elect and Vice President of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and Vice President of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). Brian is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Engineers Australia, Institution of Structural Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, Structural Engineering Institute and the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineers.
Professor Milan Veljkovic
Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Title: “Challenges in Connections of Large-Diameter Offshore Wind Structures”
Biography: Prof. dr Milan Veljkovic is professor and Head of the Steel and Composite Structure Section at Delft University of Technology. He is engaged in postgraduate teaching in Structural engineering, Hydraulic and Offshore Structures tracks. His research interest focuses on the prediction modelling of steel and composite structures, structures made of high-performance steel, innovative connections and the reuse of steel structures. One of his research activities is related to the fatigue behaviour of L-flanges and wedge connections in supporting structures for wind turbines. He participated in dozens of international and national research projects, leading to the publication of more than 350 papers. He served on various technical committees and had different roles in the Technical Management Board of ECCS. He was involved in the standardisation work of CEN250/SC3 and the national associations of Sweden and the Netherlands. He received Sigge Thernwalls Stora Byggpris, for contributing to education and research development at LTU, Sweden, 2015, and the Robert Moskovic Award in recognition of contribution to the Integrity of Steel Structures, 2021.
Professor
Y.C. Wang
University of Manchester, UK
Title: “Prospects of steel structure reuse”
Biography: Professor Wang started his research career on structural fire engineering, and a long period of research in this field has provided him with opportunities to become an established international leader on the subject. He has been a member of a number of British Standards and European Standards committees on fire safety and steel and composite structures, and has provided specialist advice to many companies. One of his more recent research projects on structural fire engineering led him to systematically develop a major interest on circular construction, with particular focus on structural member reuse. He hosted the first International Conference on Construction Circular Economy at the University of Manchester in 2019. He is a partner of the Horizon Europe project RECONMATIC (www.reconmatic.eu) in which he leads Work Package 3 of the project, responsible for developing digital tools for improved management of construction materials and products from end of service life buildings, including overcoming barriers to maximise structural member reuse.
Professor
Ben Young
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR
Title: “Structural behaviour of additively manufactured stainless steel tapered square hollow section stub columns”
Biography: Professor Ben Young is Vice President (Student and Global Affairs) and Chair Professor of Steel Structures of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He oversees the institutional policies and plans related to student development and culture promotion as well as the global engagement endeavours in educational initiatives involving the establishment of partnership with leading universities and strategic partners all over the world.
Professor Young has been elected as the Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA). His research interests include cold-formed steel structures, high strength steel structures, stainless steel structures, aluminium structures and fire resistance of metal structures. He is currently a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Constructional Steel Research, ELSEVIER. He has published over 700 international journal and conference papers, of which over 400 are SCI indexed journal papers. He has an h-index of 72 in Scopus. Professor Young received the Best Research Paper Awards given by the Journal of Structures and Journal of Engineering Structures, ELSEVIER in 2016 and 2024, respectively. In 2020, he received the Shortridge Hardesty Award for his research contributions to the stability design of cold-formed steel and stainless steel structures given by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Dr. H. C. Ho
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR
Title: “Effective use of S690 to S960 high strength steel in construction”
Biography: Dr. Ho serves as the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Steel Construction (Hong Kong Branch) and the Laboratory-in-charge of the CNERC Laboratory for Mechanics and Steel Materials.
A recognized specialist, Dr. Ho’s expertise lies in Steel Structures, Structural Fire Engineering, and Fire-Resistant Design. His significant contributions include the development of practical remedial works for fire-damaged structures which have been successfully adopted in the industry.
Dr. Ho’s current research interests also extend to the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in structural engineering design. He is also engaged in various scholarly activities in professional bodies of the industry including Hong Kong Constructional Metal Structures Association, The Institute of Cold-Formed Metal Structures, and Committee of Building Structures, Chinese Confederation of Roll Forming Industry.
Mr. Samuel Wang
a leading industrial expert from KTP Consultants Pte Ltd, Singapore
Title: “Addressing the geometric drivers of sustainability – illusion, revolution and celebration of performance-based minimalist structures”
Biography: Samuel Wang is a highly accomplished structural engineer with an M.Sc. in Structural Engineering from Stanford University, USA. He holds professional engineering certifications in Singapore, the USA, as well as Myanmar as the first foreigner registered to practice. His expertise spans complex and super high-rise structures, including those exceeding 600 meters, with a strong foundation in American codes, Eurocodes, British Standards, and Chinese codes. During his tenure at Thornton Tomasetti’s New York headquarters, he was recognized for his critical thinking and design ingenuity, frequently handling the most challenging engineering tasks and publishing in leading American journals. Currently, he serves as a Senior Director at KTP Consultants Pte Ltd, part of the Surbana Jurong Group, where he plays a pivotal role in integrating architectural artistry with engineering excellence.
Samuel has received numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to structural engineering. His accolades include the Award for Structures (Commercial) at the IStructE Singapore Structural Awards 2024, the Design and Engineering Safety Award at the BCA Awards 2024, and the Excellence Award from the ACES Design Excellence Awards 2024. He also won the Trophy Award for Most Innovative Project at the SSSS Structural Steel Excellence Awards 2023 and was part of a Global Best Project recognized by Engineering News Record in 2023. Additionally, he was named Group Promising Professional of the Year by Surbana Jurong Group in 2020 and was honored as an Excellent Partner by China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd in 2018. His work embraces sustainable, biomimetic, and minimalist structural principles, ensuring innovative and efficient designs across various structures.
Keynote speakers for ISICT 2025
Professor
Guoqiang Li
Tongji University, China
Title: “The Research and Practice of Modular Construction in China”
Biography: Guo-Qiang Li is a distinguished professor of structural engineering in Tongji University, the director of Research Center of Education Ministry of China for Steel Construction and the director of National Research Center of China for Pre-fabrication Construction. He is also a vice-chairman of Chinese Society of Steel Construction and a vice-chairman of Chinese Association of Construction Standardization. In addition, he is a foreign member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, a fellow of Institution of Structural Engineers in UK and a fellow of the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
Professor
Thomas Ng
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR
Title: “Digital Intelligence as an Enabling Technology to Integrate Intelligence, Construction and Performance”
Biography: Prof. Ng is Chair Professor of Smart and Sustainable Construction at City University of Hong Kong. His research interests cover a wide range of topics not least low carbon built environment, community resilience, smart city, construction informatics, infrastructure asset management, construction productivity, etc. Over the years, Thomas has secured more than a hundred competitive research grants amounting to over USD 21.4 million. With over 500 scholarly items being published, half of which are refereed journal papers. Prof. Ng is a Member of Technical Committee of Thermal Performance and Energy Use in the Built Environment set up by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/TC163), and he is a Fellow of Institution of Civil Engineers, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Chartered Institute of Building.
Mr. Tan Chee Kiat
Mr Tan Chee Kiat, Deputy CEO (Industrial Development), Building and Construction Authority
Title: Enabling Industrialised Construction: Singapore’s Integrated Approach to Industry Transformation
Biography: Mr Tan Chee Kiat is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Industry Development) of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore. In his current role, he sets the direction and drives the industry development initiatives to ensure Singapore’s built environment sector is capable, technological advanced and productive to deliver a sustainable, high quality and safe built environment.
Chee Kiat has more than two decades of experience in regulatory control and industry development. Over the years, he has taken on various portfolios in BCA, spanning across building engineering, construction productivity, construction procurement and business development. Between those years, he also completed stints in the private sector and the flagship Sino-Singapore Tianjin Ecocity Project. Prior to his current role, he was the Group Director (Engineering) at JTC Corporation (JTC), where he oversaw the engineering design work and research efforts as well as led JTC’s sustainability efforts for a greener future in his capacity as JTC’s Chief Sustainability Officer.
Chee Kiat graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) with Honours. He also holds a Master of Science (Soil Mechanics & Engineering Seismology) with Distinction from Imperial College, University of London, under the UK’s Commonwealth Scholarship and BCA Scholarship. He was awarded The Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2015 and The Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2023 by the Singapore Government for his contributions to public administration. For his outstanding contributions to Singapore’s fight during Covid-19 pandemic, he was also awarded The Public Administration Medal (Silver) (COVID-19) in 2022.