People

Academic staff

Professor Hongming Xu

Professor Hongming Xu

Chair in Energy and Automotive Engineering
Head of Vehicle and Engine Technology Centre

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Hongming Xu is Professor of Energy and Automotive Engineering and Head of the Vehicle Technology Research Centre. He is Director of Birmingham CASE Automotive Research and Education Centre.

He has 6 years of industrial experience with Jaguar Land Rover and Premier Automotive Group of Ford. He researches synergies between fuel, propulsion and after-treatment technologies for cleaner road vehicles.

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 4153
Email
h.m.xu@bham.ac.uk

Dr Ji Li

Dr Ji Li

Assistant Professor
Deputy Head of CASE Automotive Group
Manager of Birmingham CASE Automotive Research and Education Centre

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr Ji Li is an Assistant Professor in Control and Automation, Deputy Head of CASE Automotive Group and Manager of Birmingham CASE Automotive Research and Education Centre. Prior to being appointed to this position, he spent two years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and one year as a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the University of Birmingham.

His research vision centralizes on the critical ...

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 3476
Email
j.li.1@bham.ac.uk

Associate Members

Professor Huw Williams

Professor Huw Williams

Honorary Professor of Automotive Engineering

School of Engineering

Huw Williams is an Honorary Professor in Automotive Engineering. He is a very well-known leader in the field of automotive engineering with wide industrial experience and significant contribution to research and development of new vehicle technology. Huw is a Fellow and past Vice President of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications and he is also a Fellow of the Royal Statistical ...

Email
h.williams.5@bham.ac.uk

Dr Dawei Wu

Dr Dawei Wu

Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering

School of Engineering

Dr Dawei Wu is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering, an EPSRC Industry Innovation Fellow, and International Tutor at the School of Engineering. He is a member of the CEE (Clean Energy Engineering) research group and is associated with the CASE (Connectivity, Autonomy, Sharing, and Electrification) Automotive Research and Education Centre. Dr Wu’s research strength lies in ...

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 4127
Email
d.wu.1@bham.ac.uk

Dr Quan Zhou

Dr Quan Zhou

Assistant Professor in Automotive Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr Quan Zhou is Assistant Professor in Automotive Engineering at the University of Birmingham and leads the research on Connected and Autonomous Systems for Electrified Vehicles (CASE-V). He obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 2019. He is the sole recipient of the Ratcliffe Prize in 2019 which is awarded by UoB for the best postgraduate research in ...

Email
q.zhou@bham.ac.uk

Dr Simon Blakey

Dr Simon Blakey

Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr Blakey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineeringat the University of Birmingham, where he teaches the “Turbomachinery and Compressible Flows” and “Integrated Design 3” modules. He is also the School Postgraduate Research Lead. He has an interest in energy efficiency and combustion. Much of his research activity has focused on the technical ...

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 4151
Email
s.g.blakey@bham.ac.uk

Dr Jose Herreros

Dr Jose Herreros

Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr Jose M. Herreros is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering within the School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on the integration of clean and efficient powertrain systems with the goal to develop energy-efficient and clean powertrains to be used in vehicular applications. He also researches synergies between fuel, propulsion and ...

Email
j.herreros@bham.ac.uk

Dr Mehdi Jangi

Dr Mehdi Jangi

Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Dr Mehdi Jangi is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering.

His key research interests are application of computational modelling in decarbonising power and heat and sustainable materials, CFD modelling of complex fluid systems involving chemical reactions, turbulence, and multiphase phenomena, and has published over 70 papers in top ranked journals in this area.

Please contact Dr Jangi ...

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 5140
Email
m.jangi@bham.ac.uk

Dr George Brinklow

Dr George Brinklow

Teaching Fellow

My current role at The University of Birmingham (UoB) is a Teaching Fellow in Mechanical Engineering. My teaching and research focus is on vehicle engineering. I started my PhD at UoB in 2018 studying emissions from hybrid electric vehicles and their catalytic aftertreatment systems. After completing my PhD I worked as a Research Fellow in decarbonisation technologies for a year before starting ...

Telephone
+44 (0)7365144656
Email
g.brinklow@bham.ac.uk
 

Dr Soheil Zeraati Rezaei

Current research Members

Research Fellows

Dr Gengxin Zhang - Premixed Combustion Flame Instability Characteristics

PhD and MRes Students

  • Miss Hua Min (06/2021-06/2025) - PhD project: Deep Reinforcement Learning for Real-time Control of Electrified Vehicles
  • Mr. Xu He (09/2021-09/2025) - PhD project: Data-oriented intelligent development of the dedicated hybrid engine in the HEV
  • Mr. Fanggang Zhang (11/2021-11/2025) - PhD project: Energy Management of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles
  • Mr. Chengqing Wen (01/2022-01/2026) - PhD project: Improvement of Energy Management System for Electric Vehicles
  • Mr. Hongyu Sun (11/2022-11/2026) - PhD project: Path-planning and energy management control of the autonomous vehicle
  • Mr. Abdul Azis Abdillah - (11/2022-11/2026) - PhD project: Observation and Prediction State Variables for the Lithium-ion Battery using Machine Learning
  • Miss Shiyi Yin (03/2023-03/2027) - PhD project: Sustainable Traffic Management and Battery Efficiency
  • Mr. Zhaofeng Gao (06/2024-06/2028) - PhD project: Optimal energy management strategies for hybrid electric vehicles
  • Mr. Qirui Miao - (09/2024-09/2028) - PhD project: Adaptive engine and vehicle dynamics control systems based on learning algorithms for intelligent driving
  • Mr. Yifan Xiong - (09/2023-09/2025) - MRes project: Game theorical traffic assignment
  • Miss Shuo Wang (04/2024-04/2026) - MRes project: Development of predictive cold starting strategy for a fan cooling PEM fuel cell system based on the data-driven model

Current Visiting Research Members

Visiting Research Fellows

Dr. Sijin Guo- Wuhan University of Technology (China)

Visiting PhD students

  • Miss Dandan Wu (04/2024-04/2025) - PhD project: Traffic dynamic assignment based on game theory - Northwestern Polytechnical University (China)
  • Miss Shuo Wang (01/2025-01/2026) - PhD project: Long-combination Vehicle Dynamics and Control - Tsinghua University (China)

Alumni

Graduate PhD students

  • Dr Cetengfei Zhang - optimization of multi-mode hybrid vehicle - Offer pending
  • Dr Zeyu Sun - Battery thermal management - Research fellow in the University of Oxford
  • Dr Bin Shuai - CAV and reinforcement learning based control - Research fellow in Tsinghua University
  • Dr Yinglong He - Vehicle platoon control and optimization - Lecturer at University of Surrey
  • Dr Ji Li - Man-machine system in electrified vehicles - Assistant Professor at University of Birmingham
  • Dr Ziyang Li - GDI engine control and optimization - Project Manager at China National Petroleum Corporation
  • Dr Quan Zhou - Design and control optimization of off-highway vehicles - Professor at Tongji University
  • Dr Scott Cash - HEV modelling and control - Sr. Hybrid Powertrain Software Development Engineer at Czinger Vehicles
  • Dr Yunfan Zhang - Calibration and optimization for dual-loop EGR system - Software engineer at JLR
  • Dr Cheng Tan - Model based control for diesel engines - Senior Investment Manager at Huawei

Previous Research Fellows

  • Dr Haoye Liu - Advanced Fuel and Engine Combustion - Professor at Tianjin University
  • Dr Guoxiang Lu - Engine Production Development - Director of the Product R&D Centre at BYD Auto Industry Co
  • Dr Wei Zhang - HEV energy management - Engineer at AVL
  • Dr He Ma - optimal Feedback control for engines - Principal Engineer at TAE Power Solutions

Previous Visiting PhD students/Research Fellows

Research fellow

  • Dr Xiulan Song (04/2023-04/2024) - Intelligent connected vehicles - Associate Professor at Zhejiang University of Technology

PhD Students

  • Mr Kun Jiang (02/2024-08/2024) - PhD project: Multi-agent reinforcement learning- Southeast University (China) - Offer pending
  • Miss Yiqi Jia (02/2024-06/2024) - PhD project: Diagnostic and prognostics for Lithium-ion batteries - Politecnico di Milano (Italy) - Offer pending
  • Dr Yanhong Wu (03/2023-03/2024) - PhD project: Data-Driven Multi-Objective Predictive Control for Electric Vehicular Platoon - Tianjin University (China) - Offer pending
  • Dr Zhong ren (01/2023-01/2024) - PhD project: Intelligent control algorithm for new energy vehicle power system - Wuhan University of Technology (China) – Lecturer at Xihua University (China)
  • Dr Jinhai Wang (04/2022-04/2023) - PhD project: New energy vehicle power control - Wuhan University of Technology (China) - Offer pending
  • Dr Zhou Ze (09/2021-09/2022) - PhD project: Dynamic Collision Behaviors of a Hydrous Ethanol Droplet on a Heated Surface - Wuhan University of Technology (China) - Offer pending
  • Dr Wan Chen (09/2021-09/2022) - PhD project: Acoustic engineering optimisation - Wuhan University of Science and Technology (China) – Postdoc Research Fellow at Wuhan University of Technology
  • Dr Mengzhu Zhang (03/2019-03/2021) -Vehicle engine emission control and optimisation - Beijing Institute of Technology (China) - Faculty member at Beijing Institute of Technology