Dr. Zili Li is a permanent Lecturer in Civil Engineering Department at University College Cork. He holds a PhD degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK.  He used to be a Research Associate at the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) in the University of Cambridge, UK, and also worked at the Centre for Underground Construction and Tunnelling, Colorado School of Mines, US.

Currently, Dr. Li is the Theme Leader in Geotechnics of Civil Engineering Research Association of Ireland (CERAI). He is an active member of Geotechnical Society of Ireland and an Irish delegate in Geotechnical Society International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).

Since 2016, he has secured €316k external research grant as the Principal Investigator, and has published 31 academic papers so far. At present, there are one Marie Curie Fellowship Postdoc, two PhD students and one research master student in his research group at UCC.