Professor DRJ Owen , an international authority on finite element and discrete element techniques, is the author of seven textbooks, over three hundred scientific publications and is the editor of thirty monographs and conference proceedings. 7 textbooks, 230 edited texts and journal publications, as well as 208 refereed conference papers. Prof. Owen’s research, in the field of solid and structural mechanics, has largely centred on the development of solution procedures for non-linear problems encountered in engineering practice. Professor Owen has contributed prominently to the development of computational strategies for plastic deformation problems and to the introduction of parallel processing concepts to finite element analysis. Over the last decade or so, his work has focused on the development of discrete element methods for particulate modeling and the simulation of multi-fracturing phenomena in materials. Areas of application have included the simulation of industrial forming processes for metals, plastics and glass, rock blasting modeling, deep level mining operations, food technology, defense problems and structural failure predictions. Prof. Owen’s contributions to these areas have been ground breaking and transformational and constitutes one of the major developments in computational mechanics over the last two decades.

He has won many prestigious awards, including:

Prof. Owen is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, Fellow of the Royal Society, UK, Foreign member of the US Academy of Engineering, and Foreign member of Chinese Academy of Sciences. His involvement in academic research has led to the supervision of 76 Ph.D. students.

DRJ Owen's site

Professor Yun Tian Feng is an international authority in particle-based methods, particularly in Discrete Element Methods and its coupling with other continuous based methods, such as Finite Elements and Lattice Boltzmann methods, and has been at the forefront of international research in the field.

He is responsible for the development of several fundamental techniques in the discrete element modeling. His research interests extend to a wide range of scientific and engineering fields, and cover both fundamental development and application. His recent research work is strongly focused on the development of particle based methods for a variety of industrially relevant applications exhibiting discrete and/or discontinuous features and also involving multi-phase physics. Prof Feng is a prominent participation member and often a Keynote or Plenary Lecturer in international conferences in his research area. Prof. Feng is extremely active in the international community, where his interaction with leading Chinese institutions, including Tsinghua University, is particularly prominent. He has published over 180 academic papers.

Yun Tian Feng's site


Dr Chen Feng Li  is an Associate Professor in the Zienkiewicz Centre for Computational Engineering at Swansea University. His research centres on computational science and engineering with applications to nuclear engineering, aerospace engineering, geotechnical engineering as well as creative industries. He made a series of original contributions in stochastic modeling of random media, such as composite materials, concrete, rock masses and geological formations, which takes into account various uncertainties associated with heterogeneous materials, predicts the system behaviour in the context probability, and forms a rigorous quantitative foundation for structural safety, reliability and risk assessment. He has published over 50 papers in world-leading journals and conferences, in computational mechanics, material science and computer graphics.

Dr. Chenfeng Li's site