Dr Jian Hui Guan

James (Jian Hui) Guan joined the University of Hull in January 2026 as a Lecturer in Mathematics. He holds a PhD in Experimental Fluid Mechanics from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK, and an MSci (Hons) in Physics from Nottingham Trent University, UK.

His principal research interests lie at the crossroads of fluid mechanics, plant physics, and applied mathematics. He is particularly interested in the statics and dynamics of droplets and bubbles, capillary-scale Faraday waves, and plant biomechanics.

As a Co-Principal Investigator, James was awarded a $400,000 NSF (National Science Foundation) research grant for the project entitled “Self-Propulsion by Capillary-Dominated Faraday Instabilities.” He is also the recipient of two APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) Gallery of Fluid Motion awards for his scientific videos “Galloping Bubbles” (2022) and “Run, Faraday, Run” (Milton van Dyke Award, 2024).

Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2019 to 2024, where he investigated spontaneous symmetry breaking in vibrating bubbles and waves. Before that, he was a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Oxford from 2017 to 2019, where he studied hydrodynamic instabilities in deformable media.