I have had a rewarding journey at Cambridge, where my research ideas flourished in an innovative and supportive environment. I am deeply honoured to be awarded the ETH Fellowship and to continue enjoying the freedom to pursue my independent research. I am keen to develop cutting-edge modelling tools that support climate-resilient infrastructure.

Dr. Wei Bi

Dr. Wei Bi completed her PhD in three years and has since been a Research Associate working with the UK National Hub for Decarbonised, Adaptable, and Resilient Transport Infrastructure (DARe).

Her academic goal is to bridge resilience principles, computational modelling of complex systems, optimisation techniques, and data science to deliver interdisciplinary approaches that produce scientific evidence and practical solutions, empowering infrastructure operators and policymakers to manage the growing uncertainties driven by climate challenges and escalating system dependencies.

In collaboration with Transport for London, Dr. Bi’s PhD research is on advanced complex network modelling to assess the flood resilience of urban rail transit systems and optimise dynamic recovery processes for minimising post-flood impacts. As part of the DARe project, her current work contributes to the development of an agent-based integrated modelling framework for stress-testing multimodal transport systems under extreme weather scenarios. She focuses on establishing multidimensional performance metrics for transport resilience assessment, capturing impacts from physical asset-level disruptions and operational performance loss towards broader environmental, social, and economic ripple effects.

Drawing on these experiences, Dr. Bi will extend her research to incorporate system dependencies and climate adaptation pathways into advanced network modelling for infrastructure resilience management. She will be hosted by the Institute of Construction and Infrastructure Management at ETH Zurich.

She says:
“I have had a rewarding journey at Cambridge, where my research ideas flourished in an innovative and supportive environment. I am deeply honoured to be awarded the ETH Fellowship and to continue enjoying the freedom to pursue my independent research. I am keen to develop cutting-edge modelling tools that support climate-resilient infrastructure.”

The ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship programme is intended to foster young researchers who have already demonstrated scientific excellence in the early stages of their careers. This prestigious early career programme is geared towards high potential academics with 40-50% of the fellows securing a professorship within a few years after the fellowship. Applications from candidates of all genders and backgrounds are strongly encouraged.