Dr. Jia received his BEng and MEng degrees in Civil Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering from Hohai University, China, in 2004 and 2007, respectively, and his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering from Saga University, Japan, in 2010. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research (2010–2013) and served as a Guest Associate Professor (2013–2014) at Saga University. He is currently a Yingcai Associate Professor, Distinguished Research Fellow, and PhD Supervisor at the School of Civil Engineering, Tianjin University, China. His research interests include the mechanical behavior and sustainable stabilization of soft clays; in-situ evaluation of clay structure and constitutive modelling; weakening mechanisms and constitutive modelling of clay–structure interfaces; sand production and reservoir stability during gas hydrate extraction; and construction and operational safety in geotechnical engineering.