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Last updated 21st August 2025

Dr Haiyan (Helen) Miao is one of our experts in the fields of thermofluids, powertrain systems, renewable energy, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), with over 30 years of research experience. She is the author of over 100 technical publications in alternative fuels, spray & combustion, complex system design & optimisation, conditional monitoring and related fields. Dr Miao has been involved in

• efficiency improvement and emission reduction of both traditional combustion based and electrified powertrain systems for net zero transport and power generation,
• thermal & vibro-acoustics characterisation related with internal combustion engines and electric motors,
• battery thermal management & diagnostics, and
• urban heat island and energy in built environment.

She has experience in thermofluidic system modelling, engine testing, spray & combustion measurements, and advanced signal processing technologies as well as CFD simulation.

Dr Miao has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Her academic experience includes JSPS postdoctoral period at the University of Hiroshima, Japan (2001-03), associate professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China (2004-08), and Senior lecturer at Charles Darwin University, Australia (2016-19) before moving to the University of Huddersfield. Dr Miao also spent eight years working as a research scientist in urban heat management and city planning to address climate change effects at Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) of The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), Singapore.

In 2019 Dr Miao joined University of Huddersfield and has served as

• Admission tutor
• Course leader for MEng/BEng(Hons) in Automotive and Motorsport Engineering
• Course leader for Meng/BEng(Hons) in Energy Engineering
• Module lead for
  • NPE0001: Communication and Research
  • NPE0001-FNA (FNU, China): Communication and Research
  • NIM2206: Engine Systems
  • NIM2215: Automotive Propulsion Systems
  • NHM2405: Advanced Energy Systems
  • NHA2416: Aerodynamics and Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • NMM3551: Vehicle Dynamic Performance Evaluation
  • NMM3510: Year 5 Group Project
• Year 1 tutor (2020-23)

Helen became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2020 and has been academic advisor of Huddersfield University Formula Student team, Team HARE since 2019. She supervises a variety of Formula Student racing car related projects and welcomes enquiries if you are interested to join team HARE.