Professor Min An

School of Science, Engineering and Environment

Photo of Professor Min An

Contact Details

New SEE Building - Room 03.22

Please email to arrange an appointment.

ORCID

Current positions

Professor of Construction and Risk Management

Biography

After Professor An received a BEng (Hons) and a MSc in Civil Engineering from Chang’an University in 1983 and Xian Jiaotong University in 1990, respectively, he was a Civil Engineer and a Chief Civil Engineer in two Design & Research Institutes for nine years. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at Birmingham University in 1993, and then he joined Heriot-Watt University as a PhD research student in 1994 and received his PhD in 1997. He was employed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Liverpool JM University and then a Lecturer in 1997. He joined Coventry University in 2001 and was a Senior Lecturer and the Director of the Engineering Design Research Centre (EDRC) until May 2003. He re-joined the University of Birmingham in June 2003 and was a Reader in Construction and Risk Management, the Director of MSc/PGDip in Construction Management, MSc/PGDip in Civil Engineering, and MSc/PGDip in Civil Engineering & Management programmes, Leader of Construction Project and Risk Management, Leader of the JBM Accreditation Response Committee on H&S, Leader of MEng Management Research Projects. He joined School of Built Environment at the University of Salford as a Professor of Construction and Risk Management in June 2016. He has worked as a Lecturer, a Senior Lecturer, a Reader and then a Professor for about twenty-six years.

Professor An is also an Honorary Professor in two overseas Universities (Beijing Jiaotong and Portugal); Associate Editor and Member of Editiorial Board for 12 International Journals (UK, Canada, USA and India). He has been involved in the development of new techniques and methodologies to facilitate project design, construction and maintenance risk analysis and management in the fields of civil, construction, highway, railway, oil & gas, nuclear and transportation industries. This work has been sustained over the past twenty-six years and has resulted in over one hundred technical papers and reports. A research network with a wide range of industrial partners including more than 30 major industrial players (end user of the research) has been established, and much information has been collected in these fields. There have been already many interesting findings, which have firmly established the research in this area at an excellent international level. His research work has been funded from a variety of sources including EPSRC, EU, government agencies and industry. He is/was PI of 25 financed contracts, and has been awarded grants worth more than £3M. Professor An has successfully supervised 28 research students (26 PhDs and 2 MPhils), 6 RFs, 2 RAs and 11 Visiting Research Scholars. He currently supervises 2 RFs, 10 PhDs and co-supervise 4 PhDs. He has also supervised more than 180 MSc and MEng projects. He has delivered many workshops to transfer research results to the industry. His research works have led to improvements in processes and practices and the publication of best-practice for the wider improvement of performance in the UK industrial companies. I have been awarded a special prize, two first-prizes and two second-prizes in advanced science and technology for his scientific research.

Areas of research

Safety Risk and Reliability Evaluations and Management, Construction Risk Management, Railway Safety and Risk Analysis, Safety and Risk Analysis, Risk Analysis Modelling, Decision-Making Techniques

Teaching

Professor An’s teaching covers both Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels including:

Supply Chain Management in Built Environment (MSc), Finance and Risk Management (MSc), Individual Projects (MSc), Research Methods (MSc), Discipline Research Projects (BEng), Production & Human Resource Management (BEng), etc

Research Interests

Professor An’s expertise is in the development of safety risk and reliability assessment techniques so that safety and reliability aspects can be taken into account in design, construction and maintenance processes, and the development of the advanced procedures for minimising risks by improved design aspects, construction and maintenance strategies based on safety and reliability assessment, especially in the context of buildings, bridges, railways, highways, undergrounds, oil and gas, nuclear and transportation industries etc.

He has created and established the Infrastructure Research Group in the School of Science, Engineering and Environment at the University of Salford. A research network with a wide range of industrial partners including more than 30 major industrial players (end user of the research) has been established, and much information has been collected in these fields. There have been already many interesting findings, which have firmly established the research in this area at an excellent international level.

His research work has been funded from a variety of sources including EPSRC, EU, government agencies and industry. He has published more than 200 research publications including in academic journals, books, edited books and international conference papers.

His publications from 2016 to now can be found in ORCID or the University of Salford Institutional Repository since he moved from the University of Birmingham to Salford University in 2016.

Professor An is also an Honorary Professor in two overseas Universities (Beijing Jiaotong and Portugal); Associate Editor and Member of Editorial Board for 12 International Journals (UK, Canada, USA and India).

His research works have led to improvements in processes and practices and the publication of best-practice for the wider improvement of performance in the UK industrial companies.

He has been awarded a special prize, two first-prizes and two second-prizes in advanced science and technology for his scientific research.

The research and consultancy activities address:

  • Development and application of more rational methods and strategies for designing and maintaining the safety and reliability of infrastructure systems
  • Formal safety and reliability assessment of both rolling stock projects and large-scale infrastructure projects
  • Computer tools for safety, risk and reliability evaluations
  • Safety-cost analysis and maintenance analysis
  • Multiple criteria in decision-making
  • Human error studies (design, construction, maintenance and operation)
  • Overall Safety Case preparation for industry.

Qualifications and Memberships

Qualifications

  • BEng (Hons) 
  • MSc 
  • PhD 
  • PGCert 
  • CEng 
  • MCICE 
  • MIMechE 
  • MIEngD