Swinburne highly cited researchers reach the top in 12 fields

Ten academics at Swinburne University of Technology have been named on Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list for 2025, appearing across 12 fields of research.

The influential Swinburne researchers are ranked in the top zero point one per cent in the world by citations for their fields over the past decade. 

Each researcher has authored multiple highly cited papers and has received extensive recognition from a wide-ranging, international network of citing authors.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Professor Karen Hapgood, celebrated the researchers’ contributions on the world stage.

“Congratulations to Swinburne’s outstanding Highly Cited (HiCi) Researchers, whose work continues to shape their fields and attract global recognition. Being named among the top one in a thousand researchers worldwide speaks to the scale and quality of their work,” Professor Hapgood said.

“Their achievements across areas such as computer science, space science and engineering reflect Swinburne’s growing strength as a research-intensive university of technology. Appearing on Clarivate’s 2025 list highlights the sustained influence of their work over the past decade and into the future.”

Swinburne researchers on the 2025 list

This year, ten Swinburne researchers have been recognised for their outstanding performance in multiple fields of research, alongside specialists in singular research fields: 

Professor Jinjun Chen has been cited for computer science. His research spans cloud computing, distributed systems and algorithms, mobile computing, hardware security, system and network security, data security and protection, and software and application security.

Dr Xiaohua (Jamie) Ge has been cited for computer science and engineering. Dr Ge’s research is oriented towards networked control systems, multi-agent systems and cyber-physical systems, with real-world applications in mobile robots, electric vehicles, autonomous road and rail vehicles, connected vehicles and intelligent transportation systems.

Distinguished Professor Qing-Long Han, Swinburne’s Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research Quality), has been cited for computer science and engineering. An internationally recognised leader in control theory and control engineering, Distinguished Professor Han is listed by Thomson Reuters as one of only six Highly Cited engineering researchers in Australia.

Associate Professor Ivo Labbé, an astrophysicist and Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, has been cited for space science. His research interests span the formation, development and demise of first-generation galaxies. He was awarded precious time in the first observation cycle of the James Webb Space Telescope, and has since helped reveal never-before-seen details in a region of space known as Pandora’s Cluster (Abell 2744).

Distinguished Professor Neville Owen has been cited for cross-field research. A health sciences researcher, Distinguished Professor Owen’s work informs the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, through understanding and influencing physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

Professor Kai Qin has been cited for cross-field research. He is the Director of the Intelligent Data Analytics Lab within the Swinburne Digital Capability Research Platform, and is the Deputy Director as well as the Program Lead of AI for Space at the Swinburne Space Technology and Industry Institute.

Associate Professor Chenghua Sun has been cited for cross-field research. Associate Professor Sun’s research focuses on catalyst design for clean energy and environment applications, particularly for ammonia synthesis at room temperature, efficient methane combustion, and biomass conversion.

Professor Yang Xiang, Director of Swinburne’s Digital Capability Research Platform, has been cited for cross-field research. His main research interests are cyber security, including network and system security, AI, data analytics, distributed systems, and networking. 

Dr Xian-Ming Zhang has been cited for computer science and engineering. His research interests include security control, event-triggered control, networked control systems, H-infinity filtering and estimation, robust control, time-delay systems, stochastic system, neural networks and offshore structure control.

In addition, Professor CP Lim was also named a HiCi scholar for the first time in 2025. His work spans cross-fields of automation, cyber security and operations. 

About Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2025

The Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher 2025 list identifies and celebrates individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research. In 2025, Australia is ranked fifth globally for world share of Highly Cited Researchers, with a 4.4 per cent share.

Data is drawn from science and social sciences journals in the Web of Science Core Collection citation index, corresponding to an 11-year period. 

Cross-field researchers qualify for selection based on the sum of their Highly Cited Papers and citations that meet a normalised threshold equivalent to selection in any field, whereas those named in multiple fields qualify outright in each field.