Biography

Dr. Tian joined the School of Engineering at the University of Warwick as Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow. After that he was appointed as Assistant Professor and then promoted to Associate Professor, Reader. He previously held the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researcher at Oldenburg University, Germany, and Research Fellow at Monash University, Australia after he obtained his PhD. He is a Fellow of IET (FIET), Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Fellow of Royal Microscopical Society (FRMS) and Chartered Engineer (CEng). He has excellent expertise in the fields of micro/nano robotics and automation, precision instrument design, modelling and control, metrology and characterisation, mechanobiology and biomechanics. He has published over 300 high-ranking Journal and peer reviewed conference papers. He has obtained a number of government and industry based grants e.g. EU FP7/H2020/HE/UKRI projects. He has been the Technical Editor of IEEE-ASME Transactions on Mechatronics (2015-2020), and International standing committee of a number of conferences including 3M-NANO, MARSS, etc.

Research Interests

• Multiscale robotics and automation
• Compliant mechanisms
• Measurement and characterisation
• Mechanical system dynamics and control
• Micro/nano scale fabrication
• Functional surfaces and interfaces
• Laser ablation and lithography

Teaching Interests

ES480 Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems (Module Leader)

ES9ZD Mechanical Engineering Group Design (Module Leader)

ES2C6 Electromechanical System Design (Project Supervisor)

ES410 Group Project (Project Supervisor)

ES327 Individual Project (Project Supervisor)

Selected Publications

1. Y. Yang, Y. Tian, X. Liu, Y. Song, Relative sensitivity of nano-mechanical cantilevers to stiffness and mass variation, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 2024, 262: 108728.
2. H. Wei, Y. Tian, Y. Zhao, M. Ling, B. Shirizadeh, Two-axis flexure hinges with variable elliptical transverse cross-sections, Mechanism and Machine Theory, 2023, 181: 105183.
3. Z. Huang, H. Li, Z. Yang, H. Wang, J.N. Ding, L. Xu, Y. Tian, D. Mitlin, J. Ding, W. Hu, Nanosecond laser lithography enables concave-convex zinc metal battery anodes with ultrahigh areal capacity, Energy Storage Materials, 2022, 51: 273-285.
4. F. Chen, Y. Wang, Y. Tian, D. Zhang, J. Song, C. Crick, C. Carmalt, I. Parkin, Y. Lu, Robust and durable liquid-repellent surfaces, Chemical Society Reviews, 2022, 51, 8476-8583
5. J. Zhu, Y. Tian, J. Yan, J. Hu, Z. Wang, X. Liu, The effects of measurement parameters on the cancerous cell nucleus characterisation by atomic force microscopy in vitro, Journal of Microscopy, 2022, 287(1): 3-18.
6. W. Xiang, Y. Tian, X. Liu, Theoretical analysis of detection sensitivity in nano-resonator-based sensors for elasticity and density measurement, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, 2021: 106309.
7. W. Xiang, Y. Tian, X. Liu, Dynamic analysis of tapping mode atomic force microscope (AFM) for critical dimension measurement, Precision Engineering, 2020, 64: 269-279.
8. Y. Tian, K. Lu, F. Wang, et al., A spatial deployable 3-DOF compliant nano-positioner with a three-stage motion amplification mechanism, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2020, 25(3): 9000974.
9. Z. Yang, X. Liu, Y. Tian, Insights into the wettability transition of nanosecond laser ablated surface under ambient air exposure, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2019, 533: 268-277.
10. Y. Song, X. Liu, Y. Tian, Identification of incident parameters of interference beams using angular power spectral density, Applied Physical Letters, 2019, 114: 241902.

View Full Publications

Projects and Grants

1. Nanofabrication of antivirus surfaces, EU, €237 k, 10.2024-09.2026, (PI)
2. Surfaces/interfaces for electrodes, UKRI, £312 k, 03.2024-02.2028, (PI)
3. Soft materials metrology and characterisation, UKRI, £521 k, 03.2024-02.2028, (PI)
4. Nanoscopical techniques for single entity characterisation, UKRI, £242 k, 03.2023-02.2027, (PI)
5. LIL based 4D-printing for nanomaterials, UKRI, £198 k, 01.2023-12.2026, (PI)
6. Large-stroke and high-speed nanoscanning for multi-photon polymerization 3D lithography, EU H2020 MSCA IF, €337 k, 12.2021-06.2025, (PI)
7. Innovative design and control methodologies for large scale solar tracker, EU H2020 MSCA IF, €225 k, 07.2023-06.2025, (PI)
8. Micro/nano robotics for single cancer cells, EU H2020 MSCA RISE 2016, €1.76 million, 01.2017-10.2022, (PI)
9. European and Chinese platform for stacked aerospace structure drilling process and equipment, EU H2020 MSCA RISE 2016, €1.62 million, 01.2017-06.2022, (CoI)
10. Design and fabrication of functional surfaces with controllable wettability, adhesion and reflectivity, EU H2020 MSCA RISE 2014, €1.29 million, 01.2015-12.2018, (CoI)
11. Biomedical robotics and applications, EU FP7 IRSES 2013, €445 k, 01.2014-12.2017, (CoI)
12. Surface modelling and characterisation for self-cleaning functions, EU FP7 Marie Curie IIF, €310 k, 12.2013-11.2015, (CoI)
13. Laser-based sensing, measurement and control of multi-axis flexure-based mechanisms for nano- manipulation, Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project, AU$ 390 k, 01.2014-12.2016, (CoI)

Opportunities

PhD scholarships: The talented researchers are encouraged to apply the following scholarships:

1. Chancellor's International Scholarship (CIS),
2. Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC)- University of Warwick Scholarship
3. Monash-Warwick Alliance Joint PhD Scholarships
4. School of Engineering MPhil/PhD Scholarships

Research Fellowships: The following funds are available for the excellent researchers.

1. Newton International Fellowships (Open January – March)
2. Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (Open April – September)