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Fei Jin   BEng (Hons), PhD, FHEA CEng MIMMM

Dr Fei Jin

(he/him)

BEng (Hons), PhD, FHEA CEng MIMMM

Lecturer

School of Engineering

Email
JinF2@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29208 75760
Campuses
Queen's Buildings, Room C/4.16, 5 The Parade, Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 3AA
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

I am a Lecturer at the Geoenvironmental Research Centre, where I specializes in the fields of cement and concrete science as well as soil remediation. My primary focus revolves around the exploration of techniques related to carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), with a particular emphasis on leveraging solid waste materials for the development of sustainable construction materials and soil remediation solutions.

I obtained my Batchlor's Degree at Southeast University, China and joined the University of Cambridge to pursue my PhD in 2010. After graduation, I worked as a Research Associate on two EPSRC-funded projects on the use of MgO-bearing cementitious materials in land remediation and energy infrastructure. Before joining Cardiff University in July 2020, I was an Assistant Professor at the University of Glasgow in its Singapore campus.

I am dedicated to tackling geoenvironmental engineering challenges mainly via material and process innovations. Specifically my research interests include:

  1. Magnesia-bearing cements and alkali-activated cements;
  2. Carbon sequestration and storage in waste and construction materials;
  3. Clay minerals/Biochar and their modifications for sustainable water/soil remediation;
  4. Sensors and testing techniques for water/soil quality monitoring.

I am a UNESCO Research Fellow as part of the UNESCO Chair team in Developing a Sustainable Geoenvironment. The team is led by Prof. Devin Sapsford (UNESCO Chair) and has Dr. Arif Mohammad, Dr. Pallavee Srivastava, and me as team members.

I am a Charted Engineer (CEng) and Member of Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (MIMMM). I serve on a number of committees and actively review for journals and funders. I published widely across materials engineering, geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering subjects (please see Publications section). Prospective students are more than welcome to contact me via email (please see Supervision section for more information).

Related Links:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fei_Jin4

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/P-4472-2018 

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0899-7063

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cN32JuAAAAAJ&hl=en

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Research

Funding

Title Funder People Value Duration

Montmorillonite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron for enhanced performance of low-permeability barriers

Royal Society Jin F. (PI), Cleall P., Sapsford D. £11,860 2023-2025
CAPTURE: Regulating CaCO3 polymorphism to unlock the potential of carbonated steel slag as a cement replacement EPSRC Jin F. (PI)

£198,863

2024-2025
WasteReBuilt – a circular approach to transform Waste sand into REsource for the Built environment EPSRC IAA Maddalen, R., Jin F. (Co-I)

£44,170

2023-2024
Recovery of critical minerals from wastes CU (ENGIN) Jin F. (PI), Sapsford D. (Co-I)

£6,997

2024
Collision Cell Mass Spectrometry CU RIF (HEFCW) Cooper G., Inglis E., ... (others), Jin F. (Co-I) £736,000 2023
METAL-SoLVER (Mine Effluent Treatment At Low- cost using Sustainable Low-footprint VERtical flow reactors) SMART Expertise Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) and Welsh Government Sapsford, D, Jin F. (Co-I) £941,437 2021-2022
Carbon Negative Ecological Concrete for Sustainable Coastal Protection  Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (Singapore) Zhao M., ...(others), Jin F. (Collaborator) ~£94,000 2022-2024
Waste Valorisation in Concrete Production via CO2 Sequestration

Building and Construction Authority (Singapore)

Zhao M., ...(others), Jin F. (Collaborator), Maddalena, R.  ~£270,000 2022-2025
Innovative Construction Technologies for Deep Foundation and Excavation NatSteel Holdings Pte Ltd. and Singapore Institute of Technology  Tong WK, Wu H, Del Linz P., Juan KY, Zhao M., Lim ZK, Jin F. (Co-I), Park JH  ~£276,000 2021-2023
Waste-derived hierarchical porous composites for wastewater treatment 

CU (ENGIN)

Jin F. (PI) £6,653 2021-2022
Analysis of a small-scale rammed earth building subjected to shaking table tests using applied finite element methods CU (ENGIN) Novelli V., Jin F. (Co-I) £15,300 2021-2022
Quantum Efficiency Hub  CU RIF (HEFCW)

Hou B., ... (others), Jin F. (Co-I) 

£404,000 2021-2022
DURALAB (Durability and Characterisation Laboratory) CU RIF (HEFCW)

Maddalena R., Gardner D., Novelli V., Jin F. (Co-I) and others

£383,000 2020-2021

 

Visiting Researchers and Students

Name Year Institution
Erxing Peng March 2022 - March 2023

State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Xiaoying Hu March 2022 - March 2023

Lanzhou University of Technology, China

Xinli Mu March 2024 - March 2025

University of Science and Technology Beijing

 

Postgraduate Research Students

Title Name Status

The Effect of Plants-derived Biochar as Soil Amendment on Improving the Primary Macronutrients Content: Exploring Machine Learning Methods

Yao Fu PhD in progress
Waste-derived biochar composites for wastewater treatment Zongqiang Ren PhD in progress

Teaching

  • Engineering Analysis
  • Soil Mechanics Laboratories
  • Soil and Groundwater Chemistry
  • BEng/MSc projects
  • Field Course

Biography

  • 2010 - 2014     PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2005 - 2009     BEng. in Civil Engineering, Southeast University, China

Honours and awards

  • Canadian Geotechnical Journal Fredlund Award (2019)
  • Travel grant to the Global Young Scientist Summit, Singapore (2017)
  • Excellence in reviewing for Chemosphere (2016)
  • Cambridge Philosophical Society research grant (2014)
  • Best paper award in the 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Construction Materials & Technologies, Japan (2013)

Professional memberships

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) (2022-present)
  • Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Professional Member of Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (MIMMM) (2018-present)
  • Committee Member, BSI EH/4 on Soil Health (2020-present)
  • Council Member, International Society of Environmental Geotechnology (ISEG) (2020-present)
  • Associate Member of the British Society of Soil Science (2021-present)
  • Member of EPSRC Peer Review College and UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships Peer Review College (2021-present)
  • Member of Geotechnical Society of Singapore (2018-2020)
  • Member of Cambridge Philosophical Society (2011-2018)

Academic positions

  • Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Singapore Campus (2017-2020)
  • Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK (2014-2017)

Committees and reviewing

  • Associate Editor, Frontiers in Materials (Feb. 2022-present)
  • Editorial board member, ICE-Environmental Geotechnics (Jan. 2019-present)
  • Guest Editor, Environmental Pollution Virtual Special Issue (VSI): Global Soil Pollution, Elsevier (Dec. 2018-Dec. 2020)
  • Scientific Committee Member, 5th & 6th International Conference on Civil Engineering, Singapore (2021 - 2024), 5th International Conference on Geotechnical Research and Engineering (ICGRE’20), 3rd International Conference on Bioresources, Energy, Environment, and Materials Technology 2019 (BEEM2019), 2nd Tsinghua Forum on Environmental Remediation.
  • Grant reviewer, EPSRC (UK), Horizon Europe, Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, Czech Science Foundation, National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation (Republic of Kazakhstan), The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore, National Science Centre of Poland, United Arab Emirates University and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
  • Journal reviewer, Cement and Concrete Research, Geotechnique, Environmental Science & Technology, PNAS Nexus, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Chemical Engineering Journal, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Journal of Cleaner Production, Cement and Concrete Composites, Journal of CO2 Utilisation, Environmental International, Science of the Total Environment, Environmental Pollution, Chemosphere, Geoderma, RSC Advances, Royal Society Open Science and many others (see https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/P-4472-2018)

Supervisions

Please refer to my research expertise for potential topics to work on together but I am always open to new ideas. Potential research projects can be: 

  • functional biochars for water/soil remediation; 
  • biochar for soil health improvement;
  • carbon dioxide removal using alkaline wastes and their applications in cement/concrete;
  • low-carbon and waste-based cementitious materials;
  • sensors and machine learning in water/soil/cement applications

 

An EPSRC DTP studentship starting late 2024/early 2025 (full scholarship) is available at: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/locking-co2-into-cement-new-perspectives-from-advanced-spectroscopic-techniques/?p166847.

In addition, two self-fund PhD projects can be found below but self-proposed projects are more than welcome. 

Kinetics and mechanisms of mineral waste carbonation at Cardiff University on FindAPhD.com

Enhanced spectroscopy-based in-situ environmental monitoring: development of novel materials and machine learning techniques at Cardiff University on FindAPhD.com

Prospective students should investigate potential funding and/or scholarships before getting in touch. Informal inquiries can be made to jinf2@cardiff.ac.uk

Current supervision

Yao Fu

Yao Fu

Graduate Demonstrator

Zongqiang Ren

Zongqiang Ren

Graduate Demonstrator

Specialisms

  • Cement and Concrete Science
  • Pollution and contamination
  • Civil geotechnical engineering