Professor Yi Qin (FIMechE, FIoN, FHeA, CEng, PhD, MSc and BEng), is a Professor in Manufacturing Technology and Systems, Director of the Centre for Precision Manufacturing, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Manufacturing Review, Associate Editor of the International Journal of Lightweight Materials and Manufacture, Secretary to the Committee of the UK University Manufacturing Engineering Consortium, and a Fellow of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Professor Qin’s interests in research and technological development (RTD) include Materials Forming, Micro/Precision-Manufacturing, Numerical Modelling, and Manufacturing System Technology. He has taken the lead in several large-scale RTD projects, including co-ordination of one of the largest manufacturing research projects in EU - FP6 integrated project MASMICRO for the development of an integrated facility for the mass-manufacture of micro-components. He is the Project Co-ordinator of EU FAST-SMART Project (2020-2024). His recent/current RTD projects include EU Micro-FAST, LoCoLite, Counter-Fog, MMTech, SUPERMAT, LoCoMaTech, MicroMAN, M3DLoC, imPURE, FAST-SMART, iClimabuilt, Carbo4Power and M2DESCO project, and UK EPSRC Micro-3D, AUTOMAN and Manufacturing the future SMART project.

Professor Qin has published over 270 technical articles on various subjects in the fields of materials, manufacturing and numeric modelling, including a book on "Micro-Manufacturing Engineering and Technology" (published by Elsevier, 1st edition in June 2010, 2nd edition in June 2015, and third edition, Oct. 2025), and 5 journal special-issues. He was also an Advisor to the International Commercial Magazine "Micro-Manufacturing", and edited newsletters for EU MINAM Platform and NanoFutures Platform.

Professor Qin has delivered keynote speeches and invited lectures at more than 30 international conferences/workshops. He has reviewed technical papers for more than 20 international journals and been a member of the scientific committee for more than 40 international conferences. He was the Chair of the 4th International Conference on New Forming Technology (ICNFT) (Glasgow, August 2015), Co-Chair of the 5th ICNFT (Bremen, Sept. 2018), and recently, Chair of the 21st International Conference on Manufacturing Research (incorporating with the 38th UK National Conference on Manufacturing Research) (August 2024).