Professor Xiao (Hua) Wang graduated from Ocean University of China, and holds a PhD in Physical Oceanography from James Cook University in Australia. He is a Co-leader of the Sino-Australian Research Consortium for Coastal Management (SARCCM), University of New South Wales, Australia, and an Associate Editor for Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (IF= 3.229 Q1) and Limnology and Oceanography: Methods (2.634 Q1), respectively. He was the Director of International Student Recruitment and Exchange (2018-2020), UNSW Canberra, and the Founding Director of the Sino-Australian Research Centre for Coastal Management (SARCCM, 2010-2020), UNSW. He has over 30 years experience in both undergraduate teaching and postgraduate supervision. His research concerns observing (including satellite remote sensing) and modelling of coastal oceans, sediment transport dynamics, and understanding of coastal management issues impacted by anthropogenic drivers and climate change. He has over 200 publications including eminent international peer-reviewed journal papers, book chapters and four books. His publication rate is 15 journal papers per year over the last five years (2019-2023), 90% of which belong to 1st quartile SJR Journals. His SciVal indexed research outputs in this period are ranked the highest among top international peers in the field. Google Scholar gives his career H-index as 42. GS consistently ranks him in top 15 researchers in ‘coastal oceanography’, ‘sediment dynamics’ and ‘coastal management’. His work has been funded by a variety sources including the Australia Research Council and the EU Framework.  He has been awarded a total of 11 competitive grants in the last five years (2017-2021) with a total cash income of $1.82M (including co-lead Chief Investigator for an industry grant of $1.25M).

Prof. Wang is the Coordinator for China Scholarship Council (CSC) Scholarship program at UNSW Canberra. He initiated and subsequently managed the MOU for academic exchange and research collaboration between UNSW and OUC since 2008. This agreement has resulted in more than 50 OUC HDRs enrolled at UNSW and numerous academics visits between two institutions.

Prof. Wang has been involved in several international collaborative projects with both European and US scientists. He was a Visiting Scientist at Princeton University USA in 1995; a Visiting Scientist in the Institute of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences-CNR, Italy in 1999; a Visiting Professor at the University of Bologna Italy in 2001; and a guest investigator in Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2005. From 1999-2004, he has spent approximately one month per year in Bolonga, Italy to conduct his study of the Adriatic Sea. Since 2005, he has spent one month per year in China to study the sediment dynamics in the Yellow and East China Seas.

Current and Graduated Postgraduate Students