People
Yongjing Wang
Principal Investigator, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham (UoB)
Bio: Yongjing (Yong-Jing or YJ) received BEng (Automation Science and Engineering) from Harbin Institute of Technology, and BEng (1st in Electronic and Electrical Engineering) from UoB. He went on to complete a PhD in self-healing composite materials at UoB. After Postdoctoral research at Birmingham in the area of robotic disassembly, he joined the School of Engineering, UoB in 2020 as an memebr of academic staff. YJ is a member of IET, a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of HEA, a senior member of IEEE and a Fellow of IMechE.
Links: Linkedin – Google Scholar – School
Feiying Lan
Research fellow, STAMAN lead for research
Bio: Feiying received BEng from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and BEng (1st honours) from University of Birmingham (UoB) in Mechanical Engineering in 2018. He then completed his PhD studies in robotic perception at UoB in 2023. After two-year R&D work as research engineer in Huawei Technologies co ltd, he returned to UoB to continue his post-doctoral research in robotics.
Link: LinkedIn
Chaozhi Liang
Research Fellow, STAMAN lead for impact
Bio: Chaozhi Liang is a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham and the impact lead for the STAMAN project. He received his BEng in Automotive Engineering with First Class Honours from Coventry University in 2018, MSc in Mechanical Engineering with Distinction from the University of Birmingham in 2019, and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham in 2025.
His work focuses on robotic disassembly and remanufacturing of end-of-life products, including electric vehicle batteries, electric motors, and other high-value components. He has experience in mechanical design, robotic systems, automated guided vehicles, and industrial automation. His current research aims to develop safer, more repeatable, and scalable robotic disassembly technologies for recycling and circular economy applications.
Link: LinkedIn
Farzaneh Goli
Research Fellow, RoboTriage lead for impact
Bio: Farzaneh Goli is a Ph.D. Student at the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Birmingham. She received her Bachelor of Science in Robotic Engineering and Master of Science in Mechatronic Engineering from Islamic Azad University in Iran, in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Her master thesis was about “Design of an eight-bar exoskeleton mechanism for knee joint”. She is a member of ASME. Also, her research interests include robotics, Deep Learning, and Rehabilitation.
Links: Linkedin
Richard Fox
Research Fellow, RoboTriage lead for research
Bio: Richard Fox is a Research Fellow in the field of Mechanical
Engineering. He earned his Master of Physics (MPHYS) from the University of
Salford in 2018, followed by an MSc (2019) and Ph.D. (2024) in the Mathematics
of Real-World Systems from the University of Warwick. His doctoral research
focused on reinforcement learning with human feedback, culminating in a thesis
titled “Human-centric feedback in reinforcement learning: behaviour-led reward
shaping for pedestrian and autonomous vehicle interaction.” Prior to his
current academic role, he spent two years as a data scientist in the defense
sector. His research interests include sequential decision-making,
human-centric design, and sustainable manufacturing.
Link: LinkedIn
Yue Zang
PhD Researcher
Bio: Yue Zang is PhD student in Mechanical Engineering under the supervisor of Dr. Yongjing Wang. He has recently been focusing on robotic disassembly of electric vehicle batteries and is funded by a scholarship from the School of Engineering. Prior to arriving at UoB, Yue complete a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from Wuhan University of Technology, where he focus on the development of CNC straightening equipment and steel structures welding robots.
Links: LinkedIn – ResearchGate
Anselmo Parnada
PhD Researcher
Bio: Anselmo is a returning student at the University of Birmingahm having
completed his MEng in Mechanical Engineering in 2020. Between his undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Anselmo built up experience as a Data Scientist who helped developed deep learning-enabled proof of concepts in the domains of Autonomous Vehicles and Ergonomics. His research interests include Cognitive Robotics, Deep Reinforcement Learning and Self-Supervised Learning.
Link: LinkedIn
Xiaoguo Lin
PhD Researcher
Bio: Xiaoguo Lin is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, supervised by Dr. Yongjing Wang. In 2023, he received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from both the University of Birmingham and Wuhan University of Technology. Achieving the highest overall score in his final year at Birmingham, he began his PhD studies there in the same year. His research interests span robotics, force control, machine learning, and optimization.
Link: LinkedIn
Gustav Jonsson
PhD Researcher
Bio:
Gustav is a PhD student in Data Science and Robotics at the University of Birmingham. Having completed his MEng in Mechanical Engineering in 2024, he is passionate about exploring the intersection of machine learning and robotics. His research focuses on investigating the science of sorting and categorising end-of-life products, developing robotic operation, and designing intelligent planning mechanism for autonomous operations.
Link: Linkedin
Rui Li
PhD Researcher
Bio: Rui Li is a PhD student in data science and machine learning at the University of Birmingham, working under the supervision of Dr. Yongjing Wang. Rui holds an MSc in Environmental Data Science and Machine Learning from Imperial College London and a BEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on robotic triaging, specifically developing machine learning-driven decision-making techniques for disassembling products and assessing the reusability, recyclability, or remanufacturing potential of electrical components.
Linkedin: Link
Mani Bhesania
Project officer
Bio: TBC
Youxi Hu
Visiting Scholar
Bio: Youxi Hu is a Visiting Scholar funded by China Scholarship Council (CSC) in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham. He earned his PhD in Engineering from Aston University in 2024 and currently work as a Lecturer at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Hubei University of Technology. His research interests include remanufacturing, human-robot collaborative disassembly, and smart manufacturing.
Linkedin: Link
Alumini
Dr Linxiao Li (Research Fellow 2023)
Dr Mo Qu (Research Lead – Research Fellow 2022-2024)
Mr Adeyemisi (Yemisi) Gbadebo (System integration Engineer 2024)
Mr Faraj Altumi (Technical Officer 2024-2025)
Mr Zidong Wu (Visiting PhD researcher 2024-2025)
Dr Adib Housaini (PhD researcher 2025)
Professor Wenwen Liu (visiting professor, 2024-2025)