About Us · Principal Investigator

Meet the Team

ACCSA SAF is led by Professor Shane Zhang, who has over a decade of experience in sustainable aviation and Australia–China cooperation.

Professor Yahua (Shane) Zhang
⭐ Principal Investigator

Prof Yahua (Shane) Zhang

Professor of Aviation
College of Engineering and Information Technology
School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
Adelaide University

Professor Zhang leads the Australia–China Cooperation for Sustainable Aviation (ACCSA) project, building on the successful 2024–2026 UniSA SAF programme. His research advances aviation sustainability and transport economics, and supports bilateral SAF collaboration between Australia and China.

Major Grants Awarded
A$400,000
ACCSA Project · 2026–2028
National Foundation for Australia–China Relations grant for the Australia–China Cooperation for Sustainable Aviation programme — five major conferences, student exchange, industry networking platform.
A$230,000
UniSA SAF · 2024–2026
Earlier NFACR grant exploring commercial opportunities of bio-feedstock SAF. Delivered eight events across seven cities in Australia and China — completed February 2026.
Project Team
Glenn Toogood
Glenn Toogood
Industry Professor of Clean Energy
Future Industries Institute, Adelaide University & IMT Atlantique

Industry Professor of Clean Energy with over 20 years of international leadership in energy, resources and investment. Former General Manager of Hydrogen and Clean Fuels at entX, and previously held senior roles at Santos, Beach Energy, Qantas Airways and ExxonMobil across Australia, Asia and Europe.

Changmin Jiang
Changmin Jiang
Associate Professor, Logistics & Maritime Studies
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

PhD from the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. Specialises in economic and policy analysis of the aviation, transport and maritime sectors, with two books and over 60 peer-reviewed papers. Founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of Transport Economics and Management.

Kun Wang
Kun Wang
Assistant Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

PhD in Transport and Logistics from UBC’s Sauder School of Business; formerly Associate Professor at UIBE Beijing. Author of over 100 articles and named among the World’s Top 2% Scientists (Stanford, 2023–2024). Advises China’s State Council and the CAAC on transport policy.

Xin Deng
Xin Deng
Associate Professor, School of Economics
Adelaide University

PhD in Economics from Monash University, with undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Wuhan University. Her research focuses on sustainability and diversity, leading UN Women and Australian government-funded projects on gender equality. A regular commentator for SBS Mandarin, ABC and China Daily.

Lei Xu
Lei Xu
Associate Professor in Finance
School of Accounting and Finance, Adelaide University

PhD in Finance from the University of South Australia, with prior banking experience at Bank of China and China Merchants Bank. Research interests span banking, corporate governance and FinTech. Recipient of the 2025 Research Excellence Award and UniSA Teaching Excellence Awards in 2023 and 2024.

Thomas Gao
Thomas Gao
Manager
NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer’s Office

Oversees energy projects and provides evidence-based advice to NSW Ministers on energy, environment and sustainability. A UNSW chemical engineering graduate who has worked across the water and energy sectors, he supports Australia–China SAF collaboration through the Australia–Asia Sustainable Aviation Fuel Alliance (AASAF).

Research Areas
✈️
Aviation Economics
Transport economics, management and aviation policy
🌱
Sustainable Aviation
SAF, decarbonisation pathways and net-zero aviation
🚛
Multimodal Transport
Air–rail–road integration and supply chain optimisation
📦
Transport Logistics
Freight, logistics policy and international cooperation
Featured In
Australian Flying
Travel Weekly
Australian Aviation
Advanced BioFuels USA
ACCSA SAF 2026–2028 — Australia–China Cooperation for Sustainable Aviation
Led by Adelaide University · Funded by NFACR
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