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Dr Mingchao Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham. He received his Bachelor of Engineering in Engineering Mechanics from Shandong University in 2013 and his PhD in Engineering from the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Tsinghua University in 2018. During his PhD studies, he spent time as a visiting PhD student and Endeavour Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. Before joining the University of Birmingham in 2023, he was a Newton International Fellow at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, from 2018 to 2022, and a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Nanyang Technological University from 2022 to 2023.
Dr Liu’s research primarily focuses on the mechanics of slender structures and its applications in the design of shape-morphing structures and the modelling of soft robotics. He leads the Adaptive & Intelligent Matter (AIM) Lab, which investigates nonlinear mechanics, metamaterial design, and bio-inspired systems. He has received the Florence Price Award for Outstanding Early-Career Academic at the University of Birmingham Founders’ Awards 2025, the 2025 JMPS Best Referee Award, and the ICCES Outstanding Young Researcher Award. His recent publications include articles in journals such as the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Science Advances, Matter, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, covering topics including inverse elastica for morphing structures, snap-through buckling, and dehydration-induced folding in plant leaves. Dr Liu has contributed to editorial and review activities and delivered invited presentations at international conferences on metamaterials and computational mechanics.
University of Birmingham researchers harness rice's unique rate-softening behavior to create active smart materials for soft robotics and impact protection. Explore the science, applications, and career opportunities.
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