Energies Webinar | Innovations in Thermal Energy Processes and Management
the chair
As the global push for sustainable energy intensifies, thermal energy systems are undergoing a transformative shift. This talk presents recent innovations in thermal energy processes and management, with a spotlight on emerging solutions in battery thermal management, high-efficiency heat exchangers, and AI-enabled control strategies.
This webinar explores how advances in materials, system integration, and smart control are improving the thermal performance of next-generation technologies. Particular emphasis is placed on thermal challenges in battery safety, lifespan, and rapid charging, and how novel cooling architectures and phase change materials are addressing them.
By reinventing how heat is managed, stored, and utilized, these innovations support greater energy efficiency, system reliability, and progress toward net-zero goals.
Date: 06 June 2025 at 8:30 a.m. CEST | 2:30 a.m. EDT | 2:30 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 872 4117 0552
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Kian Jon Chua
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore;
Dr. Kian Jon Chua is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, at the National University of Singapore. He has been conducting research on renewable energy systems and heat recovery systems since 1997. He has more than 200 international peer-reviewed journal publications, six book chapters, and two recent monographs on advances in air conditioning. He has been elected to several fellowships, including Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Energy Institute, and Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering. He was highlighted among the top 1% of scientists in the world by the Universal Scientific Education and Research Network, the top 2% of energy researchers in the Elsevier database, and the top 0.3% in the Stanford list of energy researchers. His works have garnered more than 12,000 citations with a current h‐index of 57. He is the Associate Editor of several reputable journals in Elsevier, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis. He is on the editorial boards of numerous journals in Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, and MDPI. Further, he owns more than 10 patents related to several innovative cooling and dehumidification systems. Regularly, he has been invited to deliver many plenary and keynote talks on his research findings. He is the Principal Investigator of several multi-million competitive research grants. Additionally, he has been awarded multiple local, regional, and international awards for his breakthrough research endeavors.
Dr. Yunlin Shao
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China;
Dr. Yunlin Shao joined the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Chongqing University in October 2021. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in the School of Energy Science and Engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 2014 and her Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2018. Dr. Shao’s main research interests are flexible composite phase change materials and Battery thermal management. She has published 27 international peer-reviewed papers (as the first or corresponding author in 15 papers ).
Dr. Will Chang Liu
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore;
Dr. Will Chang Liu joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in January 2025. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and subsequently received her Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong (HKU). During her postdoctoral research, she worked with Professors Xuanhe Zhao and Nicholas X. Fang at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Liu has been dedicated to the development of intelligent soft materials and innovative green energy devices, focusing on applications in energy harvesting, energy saving, and water harvesting. She has published 22 academic papers in internationally renowned journals such as Joule, Energy & Environmental Science, Nature Communications, Nano Energy, and PNAS, etc.
On Friday, 6 June 2025, MDPI and Energies organized the webinar entitled "Innovations in Thermal Energy Processes and Management".
Please find the closing summary by our Chair, Dr. Xin Cui, below.
The webinar "Innovations in Thermal Energy Processes and Management" served as a platform to showcase cutting-edge research and development aimed at significantly improving the efficiency, recovery, utilization, and control of thermal energy. Three invited keynote presentations highlighted a shift towards smarter, material-driven solutions for thermal energy.
The webinar was hosted via Zoom and required prior registration to attend. The full recording can be accessed below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up for our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.
Innovations in Thermal Energy Processes and Management
Guest Editors: Dr. Xin Cui and Dr. Yunlin Shao
Deadline for Manuscript Submissions: 10 November 2025