
POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
Dr RAHMAN DAIYAN
Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Dr. Rahman Daiyan received a B.E in Mechanical Engineering in 2014 from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and his PhD from UNSW Sydney in 2018. He is now a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Particles and Catalysis Research Lab of the School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW Sydney. His research direction is to explore artificial photosynthesis through the development of inexpensive and scalable nanomaterials and high throughput systems to tackle climate change (Carbon dioxide reduction) as well as to promote alternate fuels (hydrogen production). With skills and experience in material synthesis, electrocatalysis, in-situ characterizations and techno-economic analysis of renewable energy driven energy conversion systems, he also designs and develops electrolyzer prototypes for scale-up in energy conversion reactions such as CO2 reduction, oxygen evolution reaction and hydrogen evolution reaction. Daiyan has received excellence awards from both the HKUST and UNSW, including a Postdoctoral Writing Fellowship. Under the leadership of Professor Rose Amal, he manages projects in the Power-to-Gas theme.
Dr XIN GUO
Research Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, UTS
Dr Xin Guo is a Research Fellow at Centre for Clean Energy Technology in the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He received his B. Sc., M. Eng. and Ph.D in 2011, 2014 and 2019, respectively. His research focuses on the synthesis of nanostructured materials, including carbon-based composites, 2D materials and metal oxides, and their applications in the field of energy storage. So far, Xin has published over 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Nat. Cat., Joule, Chem, ACS Nano, Adv. Mater., Adv. Energy Mater., Energy Storage Mater., Small, J. Mater. Chem. A etc. His research works have been cited over 1,200 times in the past 5 years, with an h-index of 20 (Google Scholar). Dr Xin Guo works under the leadership of Professor Guoxiu Wang on new technologies for high energy batteries.
Dr CHAOJIE LI
Senior Research Associate, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
Dr. Chaojie Li received his B.Eng. in Electronic Science and Technology in 2007 and a M.Eng. in Computer Science in 2011 from Chongqing University, Chongqing, China, and his Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from RMIT, Melbourne in 2017, where he was a Research Fellow for one and a half years. He was also Senior Algorithm Engineer with Alibaba Group. His current research interests include graph representation learning, distributed optimization and control in smart grids, neural networks, and their applications. Under the leadership of Professor Joe Dong and Dr Guo Chen, he manages the project “Multi-scale analysis and networked control of energy storage systems” in Theme 5.
Dr CUO (CHARLIE) ZHANG
Research Associate, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
Cuo Zhang received his a (Hons.) degree in Electrical (Power) Engineering from the University of Sydney in 2014 and his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from UNSW Sydney, in 2018, where he is now a research associate with UNSW Sydney. His research interests include power system planning and operation, voltage stability and control, microgrids, multi-energy systems, and applications of optimization theory in these areas. Cuo was a recipient of IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid Best Reviewer for 2019, an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, and he received a 2014 University Medal from the University of Sydney. Under the leadership of Professor Joe Dong, he manages two projects – Flexible demand as virtual energy storage and Optimal energy storage operation strategy considering demand change.
Dr YUCHEN ZHANG
Research Associate, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
Yuchen Zhang received his B.Eng in Electrical Engineering (Hons.), B.Com in Finance, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UNSW Sydney, in 2013, 2013, and 2018, respectively. He is now a research associate with UNSW Sydney. His research interests include power system stability analysis, energy storage, condition monitoring, wind farm planning, smart campus, and data-driven applications in energy systems. He was a recipient of Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Under the leadership of Professor Joe Dong, he manages two projects - Advanced health monitoring and analysis methods for battery energy storage systems, and Advanced operation and control methods for coordinating heterogeneous energy storage devices in Theme 5.
Dr YANG ZHOU
Research Fellow, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW
Yang Zhou is currently a research fellow under the direction of Prof. Chun-Hui Wang in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia since 2018. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Deakin University in 2018 under the direction of Prof. Tong Lin. His research
interests focus on the preparation and application of multifunctional composites, flexible and structural energy storage and conversion devices. He is working on subtheme 1.2, Structural and high energy density supercapacitors lead by Professor Chun-Hui Wang, and will build a demonstration device.

RESEARCH STUDENTS
Higher degree research students contribute to core research on the Hub,
either through targeted contributions or more general scope of work.
Sara Ashfaq
Phd Candidate, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
Sara is a Ph.D candidate and Research Assistant in Electrical Engineering at UNSW Sydney. Her research interests include power system planning and operation and control, micro grids, multi-energy systems, and applications of optimization theory in these areas. A recipient of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (RTP), she holds a Distinguished / Exceptional Talent Visa under The Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Research Program (ITRP) in the Priority Research area of Energy.
Under the leadership of Professor Joe Dong, she contributes to themes 4 and 5 and has managed three related studies:
1. Regionalization of islanded Microgrid considering planning and operation stages
2. Voltage Stability-Oriented Two Stage Optimal Energy and Reserve Management Framework for Islanded Microgrid
3. A Novel Load Flow Algorithm for Islanded Microgrid Considering the Regionalization Approach.
Xiaoxuan Luo
Phd Candidate, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Xiaoxuan Luo received her B. Eng. at Southwest Petroleum University in China. In 2019 she finished her Mphil. in Chemical Engineering at UNSW with three publications then worked as a research assistant at Merlin UNSW. She commenced her PhD at UNSW with a research project “Complex borohydrides as
inorganic solid-state electrolytes” that will contribute to Theme 2 - Fuel Cells, led by Professor Francois Aguey-Zinsou.
Hossein Saberi
Phd Candidate, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
Hossein Saberi completed his undergraduate B. Sc in Electrical Enginenring (Power Systems) at the Shahid
Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran in 2013 and his M. Sc in Electrical Enginenring (Power Systems) at the University of Tehran, Iran in 2015. He then collaborated with the K.N. Toosi Universityof Technology on research projects for Iran Grid Management Company. He commenced his PhD in February 2020 at UNSW under Professor Joe Dong with the topic “Flexible Demand as Virtual Energy Storage in Distribution Network Operation." He will be contributing to Theme 5 projects.
Qingmian (Martin) Chai
Phd Candidate, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
Qingmian Chai completed his undergraduate Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering, first class scholarship) at Beijing Jiaotong University in 2008, followed by a Masters of Engineering in 2010, with a Research Assistant Scholarship and a teaching assistant role. From 2010 to 2019 he worked in industry as a Power Grid Operation and Maintenance Engineer, Power Grid Distribution Planner and Customer Project Manager with the State Grid Beijing Electric Power Company, winning a number of prizes and certificates. In 2019 he began his PhD at UNSW under Professor Joe Dong with a thesis topic of “Reliability-Constrained Voltage/VAR Control in High PV-Penetrated Distribution Networks.” He will be contributing to Theme 5 projects.
Zihang (Derek) Qui
MPhil Candidate, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW
Zihang Qui graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Xuzhou University of Technology, China in 2018. He has interned with Amerson (a Fortune 500 company), in the Engineering Tech Center, State Power Environmental Protection Research Institute, China and the Nanjing Chemical Construction Co. He has a licensed patent for utility models as first author/first inventor. He commenced his Mphil at UNSW under Professor Joe Dong on the subject “Battery energy storage system(BESS) modeling considering both depth of discharge(DoD) and charging rate(C-rate)”, and he will be contributing to Theme 5 projects.
Housheng Zhou
Phd Candidate, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW
Housheng completed his undergraduate double degree of Renewable Energy Engineering and Commerce with first class honours and the university medal at UNSW in 2016. He then worked as an engineer for a leading commercial-scale solar and storage engineering, procurement and construction firm based in Sydney. In 2017, he commenced his pursuit of a PhD degree at UNSW under the supervision of Professor Alistair Sproul, Dr Rob Passey and Dr Anna Bruce with a thesis topic of “Technical and financial assessment of the impacts from distributed battery energy storage systems”. He will be contributing to Theme 5 projects.