Plenary & Keynote Speakers

Dr. Li He
University of Oxford, UK
Plenary Speaker

Li He earned BSc & MSc at Beihang University (1982, 1984), and PhD at Cambridge University (1990). He remained at Cambridge as a postdoc and a college research fellow until 1993, then moved to Durham University, as Lecturer (1993), Reader (1998) and Professor (2000). At Durham, he became the Head of Thermofluids and the Director of Research for the School of Engineering, before being elected to the Royal Academy Engineering/Rolls-Royce Research Chair at Oxford (2008-2013).
He holds the Statutory Chair Professorship of Computational Aerothermal Engineering at University of Oxford, and is the Oxford co-director of the EPSRC Centre of Doctoral Training (CDT) in Gas Turbine Aerodynamics. He had been the head of the Osney Laboratory (2008-2011), and the acting director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre (UTC) in heat transfer and aerodynamics. Under his leadership his leadership, the Osney Lab had undertaken a major (18 months) upgrading relocation, acquired the 2nd generation flagship Oxford Turbine Research Facility (OTRF), and doubled the number of academics. The new Osney Lab has been the reinvigorated centre of turbomachinery research at Oxford (renamed as ‘Oxford Thermofluids Institute’ since 2018).
Professor He’s primary research interest is in developing unsteady aerodynamic, aeroelastic and aerothermal prediction and design/optimization methods. He is recognised for instigating the Fourier methods for turbomachinery in 1990s. The Fourier methods have since then been further developed in various forms, implemented in many commercial, industrial and research CFD codes for practical applications worldwide. The corresponding development efforts have also evolved into an active research topic area in turbomachinery over the last two decades.

Topic of Keynote: Leveraging Scale-interaction: Two-scale Approach to Turbulent Flow and Heat Transfer over Smooth and Micro-structured Wall
Keynote Abstract

Dr. Josua P Meyer
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Plenary Speaker

Professor Josua Meyer was appointed as a professor at Stellenbosch University in April 2022. Prior to this position, he held the title of professor at the University of Pretoria. During his tenure as a professor, he served as the Head of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, overseeing a student body of 1,900, for 20 years. Additionally, he held the position of Chair of the School of Engineering, with a student population of 7,000, for 17 years. Notably, this institution is renowned as one of the largest engineering schools worldwide.

Professor Meyer’s research encompasses a wide range of thermal sciences, with a specific focus on heat exchangers. His work in this area centres around essential investigations in internal forced convection, the transitional flow regime, nanofluids, boiling, and condensation. On an applied level, his research delves into thermal-solar, wind, and nuclear energy. He has cultivated a research group comprising approximately 30 full-time graduate students and 10 staff members. Over the years, he has also established several state-of-the-art laboratories, designed and constructed more than 14 unique experimental setups in collaboration with his team.

The recognition of Professor Meyer’s contributions extends beyond his academic appointments. He has been honoured with 11 national teaching awards from three different universities, in addition to an international award. His instructional videos on heat transfer, available on YouTube, have garnered over 1.8 million views. Furthermore, his exceptional research endeavours have earned him over 45 prestigious accolades, including 24 awards for the best article of the year or best conference paper. Notably, 12 of his postgraduate students have received international and national awards for the calibre of their work under his guidance.

Topic of Keynote: Fundamental Differences between Developing Internal Forced Convection Flow for a Uniform Heat Flux and a Uniform Wall Temperature on the Wall of a Circular Tube
Plenary Abstract

Dr. Lars Davidson
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Keynote Speaker

Topic of Keynote: Development of wall functions by using Machine Learning

Dr. Koulis Pericleous
University of Greenwich, UK
Keynote Speaker

With a first degree in Aeronautics, Prof Koulis Pericleous completed a PhD in unsteady aerodynamics in 1978 at Queen Mary College, University of London. His first post-university employment was with Prof D B Spalding’s scientific software company CHAM Ltd, where as part of the development team contributed among others to the development of PHOENICS, the first ever commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

He joined the University of Greenwich, UK in 1989 and over his 30+ year tenure as the professor of CFD, he has enthusiastically promoted CFD as a tool for industry and the environment through both research and teaching. In Greenwich he formed the Computational Science and Engineering research group and brought his knowledge of fluid dynamics into both practical and fundamental research. Recent focus has been the multi-physics world of metals processing, in particular aerospace alloys and light metals. This work encompassed many length scales from macroscale (such as continuous or shape casting, aluminium electrolysis cells and VAR processing), mesoscale (welding and Additive Manufacturing) to microstructure formation (freckle defects, or high undercooled growth).

The complex nature of all these processes led Koulis to develop PHYSICA, a multi-physics code in continuous evolution since 1992.

Topic of Keynote: Improved Dewatering of Mine Waste Tailings
Keynote Abstract

Dr. Gavin Tabor
University of Exeter, UK
Keynote Speaker

Topic of Keynote: