Professor Ng is an internationally renowned scholar in geotechnical engineering and soil mechanics, with research expertise in unsaturated soil mechanics, eco-geotechnics, and debris flow and landslide prevention.According to the 2024 Stanford University ranking of the world's top 2% scientists, he is the only Chinese professor in the subfields of geological and surveying engineering and civil engineering to be ranked among the top five in the "lifetime scientific impact" list, and the youngest among the five.Professor Ng was recently appointed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China as one of the co-directors of the newly established National Key Laboratory of Climate Resilience for Coastal Cities.

       Professor Ng has made outstanding contributions and achieved remarkable results in geotechnical engineering and soil mechanics. His key achievements include establishing the state-dependent unsaturated soil mechanics theory and its applications, and developing related experimental apparatus and equipment based on this theory. These theories and devices have been adopted by over 300 research institutions and universities worldwide, and the theories have been successfully applied to engineering projects in mainland China, Hong Kong, Brazil, and several Southeast Asian countries. These scientific and technological innovations fully demonstrate the value of multidisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector integration.

       In addition, to promote sustainable development of human society and address the challenges of climate change, Professor Ng recently pioneered a new interdisciplinary field—eco-geotechnics—based on his "state-dependent unsaturated soil mechanics theory." The related textbook he authored has been adopted by universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and many countries worldwide, leading the development of the discipline. This new interdisciplinary theory will lay an important theoretical foundation for the National Key Laboratory of Climate Resilience for Coastal Cities.

       Professor Ng has received numerous awards in his field. The three recent major awards are:

       The Telford Gold Medal, established in 1838, is the highest honor awarded by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in the UK. Named after Thomas Telford, the first president of the ICE, it recognizes outstanding papers that have made significant contributions to civil engineering, and has historically been won mostly by researchers from Europe and North America. The award has extremely high standards and is not given every year; during World War II, from 1938 to 1952, the ICE suspended the award.

       The research team led by Professor Ng, including Dr. Usman Majeed and Dr. Cai Haohui, is the first team from the Greater China region to win this honor since 1838. Their winning paper made significant contributions to geotechnical engineering, particularly in providing important insights into debris flow dynamics for disaster prevention and mitigation.

Professor Ng (left photo, second from left) and his team received the Telford Gold Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers (right photo). The award, with a history of over 180 years, recognizes the most outstanding paper in civil engineering in the past year.

Professor Ng (left) also received the Donald Stanley Best Paper Award, which recognizes the best paper published annually in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal.

Professor Ng receives the Scott Sloan Best Paper Award