Jingyi Yang

Origami Engineer

I obtained my bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Nanyang Technological University. I then completed my D.Phil in the Department of Engineering Science at University of Oxford, under the supervision of Professor Zhong You. Following graduation, I continued at Oxford as a postdoctoral researcher and served as a Research Fellow and Tutor at Keble College.

Currently, I am researching deployable structures for wave energy converters with Professor Zhong You, in collaboration with the University of Plymouth and the University of Southampton. My research centres on the design and analysis of deployable structures inspired by origami and kirigami, which can undergo significant, reversible shape changes. I am particularly interested in understanding the fundamental principles governing these large geometrical transformations and their mechanical behaviour under various loading conditions. Potential applications of my work include packing and deploying space antennas and solar arrays for satellites, small-strain structural design for wave energy converters, and hybrid rigid-soft robotics.

I recently participated in the Spotlight Oxford to share my research passion: https://eng.ox.ac.uk/news/researchers-put-the-spotlight-on-engineering-at-the-old-fire-station-in-oxford/#