Xianping Liu is an Associate Professor with the University of Warwick, UK. She obtained her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Instrumentation Science of Harbin Institute of Technology in 1981 and 1984, respectively, and Ph.D degree in Precision Engineering of the University of Warwick in 1995. Dr Liu has excellent expertise in the fields of micro/nano-metrology , surface measurement and characterisation, precision instrument design, and functional surfaces.

She has published over 90 prestigious research papers. Dr Liu developed the first TPM (tribological probe microscope) and won the "Metrology for World Class Manufacturing Awards 2001". Dr Liu has been awarded many research grants such as Royal Society's Paul Instrument Funds, EPSRC/P&G grants, and EU FP7 projects. She is a Fellow of Institute of Nanotechnology and Fellow of Royal Microscopical Society, a Member of EPSRC Peer Review College, and a Panel Member for European REA-FP7-NMP 2011.

Derek Chetwynd is currently Professor of Engineering, Leader of the Discipline Stream in Mechanical and process engineering in the School of Engineering. His research interests range across precision mechanisms, nanometre metrology, surface characterisation, instrument design and microsystems

He has co-authored a book on Ultraprecision Mechanism Design, written or co-written over 120 major publications. He has obtained over 50 research grants from peer-reviewed and industrial sources and has managed both EPSRC and EC funded projects. He is a Founding Fellow (and former Board member) of the Institute of Nanotechnology; from late 1992 until 2011 was on the Council of the European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology and joint Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Precision Engineering.