Chenying Liu BEng DPhil

Dr Chenying Liu is an engineer by training with a B.Eng. in Automation (Mechatronics) from Beihang University, China (2019), and a D.Phil. in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford (2024). Her undergraduate studies provided a broad foundation in mechanical and electrical engineering, and during her D.Phil., she began to specialise in origami engineering and robotics.

Chenying’s doctoral research introduced a new class of origami structures inspired by paper folding but constructed from materials beyond paper, such as plastics, wood, and metal. She demonstrated how their unique mechanical properties can enable intelligent robotic behaviours, such as in-hand manipulation and reconfiguration. These findings open new possibilities for applications in soft robotics, including agricultural harvesting, waste management, and disaster search-and-rescue. Chenying’s work has been recognised both nationally and internationally, earning her an Award Lectureship at the 2024 British Science Festival and selection for the 2024 Prototype for Humanity exhibition (top 100 out of 2,700+ submissions).

Following her doctorate, Chenying worked for just over a year as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Oxford, extending her research into industry-focused projects. These included developing energy-absorbing materials for safer sports helmets with the Podium Institute and contributing to dielectric fluid generators for wave energy harvesting funded by Supergen ORE Hub and Wave Energy Scotland. This experience strengthened her expertise in cross-sector collaboration and provided valuable insights into practical engineering challenges.

Chenying took up a Junior Research Fellowship in Engineering at Christ Church in 2025 to further expand her research programme. She is passionate about both teaching and public engagement, having taught Structures and Mechanics at the college since 2022. Chenying is also a recent recipient of the Josh Award, a national prize for excellence in science communication.

Dr Chenying Liu’s research investigates the fundamental principles that govern how structures move, adapt, and interact with their environment. She is particularly interested in understanding the underlying physical and scientific mechanisms—how geometry, materials, and mechanics combine to create functional, responsive systems—and in transforming this knowledge into real-world applications. Her approach leverages her training in both mechanical and electrical engineering as tools to design systems that are not only functional but inherently intelligent through their structures.

Her vision is to develop adaptive structures that integrate seamlessly into people’s living environments, enabling innovations in robotics, healthcare, renewable energy, and beyond. Ultimately, her goal is to embed intelligence into the physical design of structures so that structures themselves, rather than relying solely on complex control algorithms, empower robots to perform sophisticated tasks. In the long term, Chenying’s aims for these technologies to become an invisible yet essential part of the environment around us, reshaping how we build, interact, and care for one another.