Welcome to Dr. Zili Li's Geotechnical Research Group

Dr. Zili Li is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Civil Engineering Discipline, School of Engineering and Architecture at University College Cork, and a Visiting Professor / Affiliated Scholar at School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. He is the Founding Director of Quantum Sensing Lab at University College Cork. He holds a PhD degree from the University of Cambridge, UK and a bachelor degree from Tongji University, China. 

Internationally, Dr. Li is the Founding Chair of Technical Commitee TC310 Space Geotechnics in ISSMGE (International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering), the largest international geoengineering society. He chaired ISMLG 2023 (the 4th International Symposium of Machine Learning and Big Data in Geoscience) at University College Cork, Ireland in 2023. He also acts as the Leader of Task Force ‘Physical AI’ in TC309 Machine Learning & Big Data at ISSMG, and leads world-class the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) tunnel projects.

Dr. Li’s specialised research areas include: underground engineering, geothermal infrastructure, innovative field monitoring technologies, data-driven machine learning analysis for infrastructure resilience, and etc. Since taking up current employment in May 2016, he has secured €5.5+ million research grant as the Principal Investigator or National PI, including prestigious Science Foundation Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme (€612k total budget) and Research Ireland Infrastructure Programme (€1,713k total budget).

He has published 100+ peer-reviewed papers in machine learning, computer vision, geo-structure long-term resilience and broad geotechnics with ample experience in project management. His team has received 20+ honours and awards, including Bright Spark Lecture Award, Geotechnical Trust Fund Award, Irish Mining and Quarrying Society (IMQS) Bursary, Best Paper Award (2023) in the journal of Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, and Keynote speaker, Civil Engineering Research Ireland (CERI) Conference, Ireland and etc. 

Research Hights:

Physical AI for Geotechnics, Geothermal Energy, Sensing for Infrastructure and Geotechnics, Quantum Sensing for Geoengineering, Underground Infrastructure and Agentic AI

Links about Dr. Li:

Space Geotechnics: https://www.issmge.org/committees/technical-committees/impact-on-society/space-geotechnics

Quantum Sensing: https://www.ucc.ie/en/soe/news/ucc-researchers-secure-62m-for-pioneering-research-infrastructure-projects.html

CERN: https://www.ucc.ie/en/soe/news/ireland-joins-cern-long-lasting-collaboration-between-cern-and-ucc-geotechnical-excellence-led-school-of-engineerings-dr-zili-li-.html

Innovation: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-further-and-higher-education-research-innovation-and-science/press-releases/minister-harris-and-commissioner-mcguinness-announce-first-26-teams-to-receive-funding-under-the-65-million-national-challenge-fund/