Dr. Junhua Zhao is currently a professor at the School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. He is also the Executive Director of CUHKSZ – CSIJRI Joint Centre of Smart Energy Storage, the Director of the Energy Market and Energy Finance Laboratory at Shenzhen Finance Institute (SFI) and deputy director of the Group Intelligence Center at Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society (AIRS). Before returning to China, he acted as the Principal Research Scientist of the Centre for Intelligent Electricity Networks, the University of Newcastle, Australia, with 11 years’ working experience in the power industry in Australia. He has conducted research on smart grid, electricity market, low-carbon transition, and artificial intelligence for a long time.

Prof. Junhua Zhao was elected IET Fellow (2023). China Highly Cited Scholar, selected by Elsevier. (2021-2024), he was named among Research.com’s Top Global Engineering Scientists (2024). His honors include Best Engineering and Technology Scientist by Research.com (2023), Global Green Finance Award, International Finance Forum (IFF) (2023-2024), Guangdong Power Technology Contribution Award (2022), and Zhejiang Natural Science Second Prize (2020). Prof. Junhua Zhao has published 300+ papers, including publications in Joule, Patterns (Cell Press), 2 in Scientific Data (Nature), and Engineering (CAE), with 60+ IEEE Transactions papers. His work has received 18,000+ citations (H-index: 67, Google Scholar).

Prof. Zhao has led over 40 research projects, including NSFC key programs and collaborations with China Southern Power Grid, with significant industry impact. As a key expert in China’s first provincial (Guangdong) and regional (Southern China) electricity spot markets, he pioneered the nation’s first cross-border carbon trading product and developed core technologies for “Moonlight” – China’s inaugural multi-agent AI grid dispatcher. His team’s software solutions have been implemented by global energy leaders including Con Edison (NY), HK Electric, and China Southern Power Grid.