A/Professor Nan Zheng
A/Professor Nan Zheng
A/Prof. Nan Zheng’s research interests include AI and traffic operation and control, AI and autonomous driving, transport big data, and transport-related and AI applications in smart cities.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy in Traffic Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL)
- Master of Science in Transport and Planning, Delft University of Technology
- Bachelor of Science in Traffic Engineering, Southeast University
Expertise
- Modelling and Optimization of Complex Systems
- Intelligent and Automated Transport Systems
- AI- and Data-driven Analytics for Transport Systems
- Digital-Twin and Virtual-Reality Enabled Solutions
Research Interests
I am a motivated and internationally recognized researcher on traffic flow theory, intelligent transport systems modeling which include traffic big data, connected and autonomous vehicles, advanced technology enabled simulations, and network optimization and control.
I am Associate Editor of IEEE Transaction on Intelligent Vehicles (Q1), Transportmetrica B: Transport Dynamics (Q1), Journal of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles (new journal); an editorial board member of Transportation Research Part C (Q1): Emerging Technologies.
I am an assessor for prestigious grants of countries and regions, such as the Australian ARC (DECRA, Discovery, Future Fellow, Linkage, LIEF) the Chinese NSF (QingNian, MianShang), the Marie Curie Postdoctoral Awards by European Commission.
I have been working closely with the local agencies such as the Department of Transportation Victoria (V-DOT) and Australia Road Research Board (ARRB), as well as industry partners such as PTV AG, Aurecon, Safe System Solutions, Clarity Consulting on various projects.
At Monash, I am a research theme leader on Mobility Digital Twin and Smart Manufacturing Precinct.
Research Projects
Current projects
Autonomous truck driving systems: sensing and control technologies, control platform and service applications in open-pit mines
Chief Investigator: Nan Zheng
Principal Investigators: Zheng Xu, Yinfei Xi
This project was granted and developed under the Monash-JITRI (Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute) R&D scheme. Partnered with JITRI and Tsingunited Corp., we developed autonomous transportation solutions for the operation of autonomous vehicles in open-pit mining sites.
Past projects
Integrated information and control cloud platform for autonomous and shared vehicle technology enabled mobility systems
Chief Investigator: Nan Zheng
Principal Investigators: Zheng Xu, Yinfei Xi
This project was granted and developed under the Monash-JITRI (Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute) R&D scheme. Partnered with JITRI and Suzhou Automobile Research Institute, we developed new-generation autonomous vehicles, multi-source data platform, software and model solutions for planning and operation of autonomous vehicles. The project ran from 2020 until 2023, a total amount of AUD 927K, one of the largest-scale international research project. I was the leading CI of the project, and Monash benefited from 4 PhD researcher recruitment (2 in Clayton, 2 in Monash), more than 10 research publications and a few patents with Monash IP are under preparation.
Figure: Professor Margaret Gardner AC (President and Vice-Chancellor), Professor Liu Qing (President of JITRI), Professor Aibing Yu (Pro Vice-Chancellor and President – Suzhou) presented at the signing ceremony
My main publication goes to the Transportation Research series such as Part A, Part B and Part C, and IEEE Transaction series such as T-ITS. Please see more up-to-date list at my GoogleScholar page.
Up to date, I have been focusing on international collaboration projects (some selected projects are listed below). The future objective is the prestigious Australia Research Council grants.
2019-2022, Leading CI, AUD 921K, Monash-JITRI Research and Development Fund Scheme, Integrated information and control cloud platform for autonomous and shared vehicle technology enabled mobility systems
2020-2022, PI, AUD 160k, Discovery Funding Scheme by the Yunnan Provincial Science Foundation, Optimal planning and operation of the charging stations for electrical mobility systems
2018-2019, Leading CI, AUD 40k, QingNian Grant – National Science Foundation China (NSFC), Macroscopic modeling and operation of large-scale multimodal urban networks: Theory and Optimization
2017-2019, Leading CI, AUD 60K, Beijing Municipal Science Foundation Grant, Development of embedded control systems on connected vehicles: Information, Security and Demonstration
Supervision
PHD
Nick Yu (Monash, supervisor)
Human-in-the-loop autonomous driving
2026 to ongoing
Luka ZHU (Monash, supervisor)
Smart and autonomous logistics
2026 to ongoing
Yuyan Wang (SEU-Monash, main supervisor)
Operational research in urban transport
2026 to ongoing
Jiaxuan ZHOU (Monash, supervisor)
Large Language Model and Agentic AI
2025 to ongoing
Ji ZHOU (Monash, supervisor)
Smart autonomous vehicle systems
2025 to ongoing
Yuxuan LI (Monash, supervisor)
Human-centric autonomous driving
2024 to ongoing
Mohan Kumar (Monash IITB, main supervisor)
Highway design for autonomous vehicle enabled road systems
2022 to graduated in 2026
Zheng Xu (Monash, main supervisor)
VR-enabled research on autonomous vehicles
2021 to graduated in 2024
Fotios Spiridonos (Monash, main supervisor)
Road design and social licensing
2021 to to industry
Junlan Chen (SEU-Monash, main supervisor)
Data-driven analytics in crash analysis under limited data
2020 to graduated in 2025
Yinfei Xi (Monash, main supervisor)
Optimal deployment of road side units
2020 to graduated in 2025
Dong XIAO (Monash, supervisor)
Built environment and road traffic research
2019 to graduated in 2024
Ruyang YIN (Monash, main supervisor)
Multimodal network design and optimization
2019 to graduated in 2022
Arash Mohammadipasikhani (Monash, main supervisor)
Machine learning in medical resource supply problems
2019 to to industry
Yifan CHEN (Monash, co-supervisor)
Large-scale traffic flow modeling and control
2019 to graduated in 2021
Wenhua JIANG (Monash, co-supervisor)
Short-term passenger demand prediction and crowd management for special events
2017 to graduated in 2021
Helamini Gamage
BIM-based mixed reality for construction management
2022 to graduated in 2026
Tanghan Jiang (Monash, co-supervisor)
VR-enabled safety research for construction
2021 to graduated in 2025
Qishen Ye (Monash, co-supervisor)
Work zone safe design and driving behaviour analysis
2021 to graduated in 2026
Bingkun Chen (Monash, co-supervisor)
Simulation-based MaaS research
2021 to graduated in 2025
Xingchen Du (Monash, co-supervisor)
Underground sensing and autonomous inspection
2020 to graduated in 2024
Yutong SHEN (Beihang, co-supervisor)
Modeling and optimization of ride-sharing operation systems
2016 to graduated in 2024
Teaching Commitments
- CIV3283 Road Engineering (Monash program, delivered in Australia and Malaysia) - 3rd year undergraduate core unit (250+ students)
- CSU Road Engineering (Monash-CSU 2+2 program, delivered in China or online) - 3rd year undergraduate core unit (80+ students)
- CSU Transport and Traffic Engineering (Monash-CSU 2+2 program, delivered in China or online) - 2nd year undergraduate core unit (80+ students)
- CIV4100 Autonomous Vehicle Systems (guest lecturer) - 4th year undergraduate technical elective unit (100+ students)
- ADS4010 Frontiers in Data Science (guest lecturer) - 4th year undergraduate technical elective unit (20 students)
- CIV5177/6177 Advanced Road Engineering (2020~2023) - Master of Professional Engineering core unit Transport stream
- CIV2282 Transport and Traffic Engineering (2018~2020) - 2nd year undergraduate core unit (200+ students)
- CIV5301/6301 Advanced Traffic Engineering (2018~2020) - Master of Professional Engineering elective unit Transport stream
- CIV5309 Transport and Traffic Data (2019~2020) - Master of Professional Engineering elective unit Transport stream
Research Opportunities
Interested in doing a PhD
I am happy to assist any interest in applying the central scholarship by Monash. I welcome Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) funded students, 1 per year, minimum stay 12 months.
If you are an professional, great! Monash also has industrial PhD scholarships (contact me for more details).
Interested in short-term research
I supervise final year student (FYP) projects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Mostly we look for students with strong computer science, mechanical engineering, and operations research background.
If you are a professional, we also tailor and set up research projects for your needs (contact me for more details).