Inaugural Address from Prof. Xungai Wang

Dear members of the global TBIS community,

I am deeply honored to serve as the inaugural World President of the Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Society (TBIS). 

I wish to first of all acknowledge the vision and foresight of Professor Henry Yi Li at the University of Manchester. Through Professor Li and his team’s hard work for nearly two decades, TBIS has become the preeminent global nexus for cross-disciplinary innovation - uniting textile science, bioengineering, and informatics to address pressing needs in our society. From advanced medical textiles and smart wearable technologies to sustainable fiber materials and protective apparel, the work of TBIS community transcends borders, industries, and academic silos.

We are at a pivotal moment and our world faces unprecedented challenges in geopolitics, public health vulnerabilities, resource scarcity, and the demand for smarter, more sustainable materials, technologies and industrial systems. Yet these challenges are also our greatest opportunity. TBIS’s unique mission - to bridge research, industry, and application for the global good - has never been more pertinent. 

In the years ahead, TBIS’s work will be guided by three core commitments: 

1. International Collaboration: We will strengthen TBIS as a truly collaborative community, and forge partnerships between academia and industry to drive innovations.

2. Innovation for Impact: We will accelerate the translation of laboratory based research into real-world solutions, prioritizing sustainable textiles, healthcare technologies, environmental protection materials and technologies that improve quality of life for all.

3. Excellence and Integrity: We will uphold TBIS’s legacy of rigorous science, ethical innovation, and service to society, ensuring our work advances knowledge and creates a healthier, more sustainable, and equitable world.

This journey demands collective effort, particularly from the next generation of research and industry leaders. The challenges we face also call for new ways of knowledge sharing and delivering benefits to the TBIS community and beyond.    

Let us advance TBIS - not merely as a not-for-profit organization, but as a global platform for good. Let our research clothe the sick and vulnerable, give comfort to the public, and protect our community and the environment.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support and contribution to TBIS. 

Best regards,

Professor Xungai WANG

April 21, 2026 

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Brief Biography of Prof. Xungai Wang 

Professor Wang is the Chief Professor and Academic Vice President at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University and an internationally renowned expert in fiber materials and textile engineering. He has long been engaged in research on fiber processing, spinning technology and functional fiber materials. He has been included multiple times in the list of the World’s Top 2% Scientists for Lifetime Scientific Impact jointly released by Stanford University and Elsevier. In 2005, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from The Fiber Society. In 2015, he served as President of The Fiber Society. In the past five years, he has published more than 100 papers in international academic journals. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of the Textile Institute, the oldest academic journal in the textile field, with significant academic influence in fiber materials and textile engineering.

Professor Wang earned his doctoral degree from the University of New South Wales, and worked at the University of New South Wales and Deakin University successively. Before joining Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, he was appointed as a Global STEM Scholar at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he served as Chair Professor of Fiber Science and Technology, Associate Dean of School of Fashion and Textiles, and Director of Joint Research Centre for Fiber Innovation and Renewable Materials.

He has long been committed to promoting technological innovation and industrial applications in the fields of bio-based fiber materials and textile engineering, and has conducted extensive research in relevant areas.