This book presents the outcomes of the workshop sponsored by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China and the UK Newton Fund, British Council Researcher Links. The Workshop was held in Harbin, China, from 14 to 17 July 2017, and brought together some thirty young (postdoctoral) researchers from China and the UK specializing in geosciences, sensor signal networks and their applications to natural disaster recovery.
The Workshop presentations covered the state of the art in the area of disaster recovery and blended wireless sensor systems that act as early warning systems to mitigate the consequences of disasters and function as post-disaster recovery vehicles.
This book promotes knowledge transfer and helps readers explore and identify research opportunities by highlighting research outcomes in the internationally relevant area of disaster recovery and mitigation.
Tariq S Durrani received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southampton, UK in 1967 and 1970 respectively. After postdoctoral research at Southampton, he joined the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, as a lecturer in 1976, and was appointed Professor of Signal Processing in 1982. He was Head of the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department from 1982 to 1986, and Deputy Principal from 2000 to2006. Currently, he is a research professor at the department.
His research interests are in the areas of communications signal/image processing, technology management and higher education management. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IEEE, the IET and The Word Academy of Sciences, and a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He was awarded the OBE in December 2002 for services to higher education and electronics research.
Wei Wang is a Professor in the College of Electronic and Communication Engineering at Tianjin Normal University, China. He received his Ph.D. degree in Measuring Technology and Instruments from Tianjin University. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Arlington from September 2011 to February 2012. His research interests are data stream mining technology in sensor networks, including feature extraction and selection, small sample classification, and multi-class identification from sensor network data streams. He has published more than thirty papers in international journals and conferences.
Sheila Forbes obtained her MBA degree from the University of Strathclyde Graduate Business School, UK in 1993 and is an honorary administration officer in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. Her research interests include management of technology, innovation, engineering management and triple helix activities. She has co-authored twenty-five research publications and has been a grant holder and co-investigator on UK Engineering Physical Science and Research Council (EPSRC) and industry-funded research projects.
She acts as Coordinator for the China-Scotland Signal Processing Research Academy (SIPRA), and from 2008-2016 has organised the annual China-Scotland SIPRA Workshops held in China and Scotland. Sheila is a member of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on China, and Public Affairs Liaison Officer for the Graduate Women International (Scotland) Glasgow Association.
She has a wealth of experience in small and large scale conference management, and has been involved in the organisation of workshops and international Conferences including: the IEEE International Engineering Management Conference (2002); the Annual ECIU Leadership Development Workshop (2002-2005); the European Universities Association Convention (2005), and the IEEE International Conference on Communications (2007). She was the Conference Administrator for the VII International Triple Helix Conference which was held in Glasgow on 17-19 June 2009.
