Professor Ting Ren is a highly experienced Mining Engineer and Research Scientist with a track record spanning over 30 years in the mining industry. He has extensive expertise in Mining Engineering and Mine Safety, with a focus on mine dust mitigation, coal mine gas management, and mine fire and spontaneous combustion prevention and inertisation, as well as computational modelling and simulations.

Since joining the University of Wollongong in 2009, Ting has played a crucial role in the development and expansion of mining research programs, particularly in areas of mining health and safety. He has led industry-driven research projects aimed at addressing operational issues and has been successful in securing significant funding of over 4.0 million dollars from industry, ACARP and ARC. Ting has also worked on projects for a range of mining companies including BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), Anglo American (Anglo Coal), Centennial Coal, Peabody Energy, Glencore, JOY Global, and Caterpillar Global Mining. Additionally, he has served as an expert witness for the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry, the Senate Select Committee of the Australian Government on Health, and an invited speaker to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the USA.

Prior to his current role, Ting spent over six years as a Senior Research Engineer and Project Leader at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). During his time there, he led and contributed to numerous industry-driven projects supported by ACARP, mining companies, the Australian Government, the US EPA, and the Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP). He also worked on projects funded by global mining companies in South Africa, China, India, and New Zealand. Before joining CSIRO, Ting worked as a Senior Research Fellow/Lecturer at the University of Nottingham, leading and contributing to various projects supported by the European Union (ECSC), UK research councils (EPSRC), and industry.

Ting is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) registered with the UK Engineering Council, a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining, a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM), and an Adjunct Professor of China University of Mining & Technology, China. He is also the co-editor for the International Journal of Mining Science and Technology. His outstanding contributions to the industry have been recognized through various awards, including the BMAs Health & Safety Award 2009, CSIROs Partnership Excellence Award 2006, and the 2012 Australian Bulk Handling Review Award for his exceptional industry work on dust control.

Professor Weimin Cheng is a National Distinguished Teacher and the Dean of the College of Safety and Environmental Engineering at Shandong University of Science and Technology. Prof. Cheng serves as an expert in national safety production, an executive council member of the China Association for Public Safety, a council member and an expert committee member of the China Occupational Safety and Health Association, and an expert committee member of the Prevention of China Emergency Rescuer Care & Miner Pneumoconiosis Control Foundation.

Over the past 32 years, Prof. Cheng has conducted extensive research on mine ventilation and dust prevention and control, as well as hydraulic fracturing and wetting of coal seams. He has led over 120 national Key R&D projects, the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and other collaborative research projects. He holds 40 domestic and international invention patents and has published more than 250 papers, including over 140 indexed by SCI and EI. Prof. Cheng has also authored 6 academic monographs and textbooks. He has received 4 first prizes of Ministerial and Provincial-Level Science and Technology Awards.

Linming Dou, is a professor at the China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT). He graduated from the Department of Mining at Xi’an Mining Institute in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree. In June 1986, he obtained a master’s degree from CUMT (Beijing), and in June 1998, he received a Ph.D. from Silesian University of Technology in Poland. From 1999 to 2001, he completed his postdoctoral research at CUMT. Between February and May 2017, he was a senior visiting scholar at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Between 2001-Now, he held a Professorship at CUMT.

Currently, Prof. Dou serves as the Director of the Rock-burst Research Center at CUMT and Anhui University of Science and Technology. He is also the Vice President of the Jiangsu Mining Association. He has previously held positions such as the Director of the National Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, Director of the Key Laboratory of Deep Coal Resource Mining of the Ministry of Education, Committee Member of the Fourth Professional Committee of the International Society for Mine Surveying (ISM), and member of the International Mining Professors Association.

Prof. Dou is a specialist in applied research for underground mining and construction. His research focuses on rockburst, mining geophysics, mine-induced seismicity, and roof disaster prevention and control. He established the “one theory, three principles, one platform, eight technologies” framework for rockburst control. He also established the world’s earliest and largest remote monitoring and early warning platform for mine-induced seismicity and rockburst. His research outcomes have been widely and successfully applied in 26 mining group companies (over 80 mines), including in Bangladesh, achieving significant social and economic benefits. He has published 12 books, over 260 papers, and holds more than 50 patents and software copyrights.

He has received numerous accolades, including the State Council’s Special Government Allowance, the Chief expert of the “653 Project”, and recognition as a Youth Leader in Jiangsu Province’s “333 Project.” He has led over 20 national and international cooperative projects, including the National Key R&D Program, the National “973 Program,” the National Science and Technology Support Program, the development of major scientific research instruments funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Sino-Polish governmental cooperation project, and the Polish National Science Foundation project. He has also held more than 200 enterprise innovation projects. His work has been recognized with two National Science and Technology Progress Awards, the Mining Award (Honorary Sword) from the Polish Ministry of Economy, and 18 provincial and ministerial awards.

Prof. He is a leading scientist in mining safety science and engineering acquiring over 35 years of experience in teaching and research. His research focuses on theoretical and technological developments in mining safety science and engineering. Prof. He has been leading numerous major national and international research projects as the Principal Investigator from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST), and listed mining and energy companies. He has significantly contributed towards scientific community by supervising over 15 postdoctoral research scholars and over 75 doctorates. He served as the Chair of the International Committee on Mine Safety Science and Engineering (ICMSSE) since 2017. Prof. He has been awarded over 6 national level science and technology-oriented awards and honours, and over 30 provincial or ministerial level awards and honours. He has published 422 research articles (167 indexed by Science Citation Index-Expanded, 44 indexed by EI-Compendex, and others indexed by CNKI), over 20 monographs, and over 65 Patents (including 4 US patents). The total citation reached 17966 times. His achievements have been applied in more than 350 mines both domestically and internationally, promoting technological progress in mine safety, with significant safety and economic benefits. Some applied mines increased sales by 19.2 billion RMB year-on-year, with an additional profit of over 6.3 billion RMB.

Prof. Zhengyi Jiang is Distinguished Professor, Director of Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Innovative Composites for the Future of Sustainable Mining Equipment at the University of Wollongong (UOW). His research interest includes multiscale materials processing, advanced rolling technology, tribology in metal forming, development of novel lubricants in metal forming, microforming, manufacturing of composites, contact mechanics and numerical simulation of metal forming. He has over 580 journal articles, 5 monographs and 26 co-authored books. He has been awarded over 40 prizes and awards including ARC Future Fellowship, ARF (twice), Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowship and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invitation Fellowship, two Australian Academy of Sciences awards for International Cooperation and Exchange and UK Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship.