Academician Wang Quan, Executive President of Shantou University, won the International Cooperation Award for Foreign Experts in Universities and Colleges in 2024, which was officially announced by the Foreign Culture and Education Experts Working Committee of Guangdong Association of Higher Education on January 7.

As a senior expert in the field of structural health monitoring and structural repair, Wang Quan has made a series of original work in structural health monitoring and maintenance, nanotechnology and energy harvesting, and has made remarkable academic achievements. With his outstanding academic contributions, he was elected as an academician of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2015 and the Royal Canadian Academy of Sciences in 2016. He was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2018 and a member of the European Academy of Sciences in 2019, elected as a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering in 2022. He is currently a member of many international professional associations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers, and serves as the chief editor and deputy editor of several internationally renowned magazines. So far, Wang Quan has published more than 300 papers in leading international journals, and his research results have been cited nearly 20,000 times in Google Scholars, H-factor 74. In 2021-2023, Stanford University released the Top 2% of the World's Top Scientists List. Wang Quan attaches great importance to the cultivation of high-end talents. Over the years, he has cultivated a large number of visiting scholars, exchange students, postgraduate students and post-doctoral research successors in China, which is loved by teachers and students.

Wang Quan has been serving as the executive President of Shantou University since 2018. He has made unremitting efforts to promote and guide the discipline construction of the University and led Shantou University to achieve a great breakthrough in ESI (Essential Science Indicators) ranking: Shantou University has increased from only 2 disciplines in the top 1% of ESI in 2018 to 12 disciplines nowadays. Wang Quan closely follows the strategic initiatives of the national and provincial party committees and provincial governments in the field of higher education, vigorously promotes the development of the university with an outstanding international perspective, strengthens international scientific and technological exchanges, promotes the construction of scientific and technological personnel teams, scientific research platforms and key laboratories, and has made outstanding contributions in scientific and technological innovation and personnel training.

Wang Quan devoted himself to education and public welfare. He and his wife Professor Liu Chunhui jointly set up the "Spring Scholarship" and donated One million RMB to the university to support undergraduate students from poor families and help more Shantou students develop in an all-round way. On a daily basis, he conducts public welfare lectures in middle schools in East Guangdong, with the theme of "Why we Learn" and "Science Ramblings", encouraging students to be curious, have a critical spirit, master scientific learning and thinking methods, and develop lifelong learning habits.