Personal Statement
Dr Hanmei Chen graduated from Sichuan University in China and then received the M.Sc. (Distinction) degree in Civil engineering and the Ph.D. degree in Civil engineering from the University of Nottingham in 2009 and 2014, respectively. She was a researcher at Newcastle University, UK from 2013 to 2015, first working in the School of Civil Engineering and Geoscience on structural analysis for tensile membrane and research commercialisation then in the School of Mechanical Engineering from 2014 working on the development of heavy-haul railway substructure. She was appointed as a Geotechnical Engineer at China High-Speed Railway Engineering Group Co. Ltd. in 2016 working on various international projects, and assisting with international competitive bidding for railway design. From 2017 to 2020, she was a Research Associate at the University of Manchester and worked for the EPSRC REBUILD project. She is the author and co-author of over 20 international journal papers. Han-Mei is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Hanmei is recruiting PhD students in the area of Sustainable and Low carbon Architectural and Structural Design, Heritage Preservation, Digital Construction and Deconstruction. Please contact her using the email - hanmei.chen@liverpool.ac.uk

Current PhDs
1. Ahmad - Rethinking Bamboo Roof-Based Architecture of Indonesian Traditional House Using Parametric Design and Automated Fabrication Techniques
2. Saleh - Deconstruction and Sustainable Construction of Gypsum Boards with Steel Structures in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s Housing Sector: Efficiency, Performance, and Environmental Impact
3. Xueqi - Experimental Learning in Virtual Museum: Multimedia Guide, Artifact Interactions and Virtual Curation
4. Yuhan - From Fractals and Space-Filling Curves to Architecture: Designing a Non-Linear Surface using 3D-Concrete Printing of Extra-Light Porous Panels
5. Zhihan - Design optimization and sustainable performance of composite steel-timber-concrete structural members.

Previous PhDs
1. Mohammad - Robotic fabrication of concrete building components for efficient housing construction in Saudi Arabia
2. Jiangyang - Reinterpreting the Dougong: Developing a design-to-fabrication framework for utilising the Dougong in contemporary architecture
3. Weaam - Investigation on the impact of using date palm fibre for thermal insulation in residential buildings in Jeddah

Research Overview
Dr Han-Mei Chen's expertise is in sustainable structural design, digital construction techniques, building maintenance and renovation. Dr Chen’s main research interests are circular economy, climate change mitigation and sustainability in the built environment. Her research themes derive into low carbon structural design and construction, design for deconstruction, life cycle assessment for structural materials, heritage preservation, material and product reuse and remanufacturing, resource efficiency and waste management, waste utilization and upcycling in the built environment and civil infrastructures.

She is a member of the following Research Clusters in the School of Architecture
- The Environment, Sustainability and Technology in Architecture ESTA Research Group
- Experimental Material Ecologies Experimental Material Ecologies
- Sustainable Cities Cluster Sustainable Cities
- Design & Digital Cultures Design & Digital Cultures

She is a member of Liv. Feminist City Network Liv. Femisist City Network which links University of Liverpool researchers with policy-makers and practitioners.