Recently, Prof. Dr. Xiao Jianzhuang, Vice President of Guangxi University, Director of the Guangxi University Carbon Peak and Neutrality Science and Technology Research Institute and Director of the Green Construction Research Center at Tongji University was invited to attend the 2025 Humboldt Annual Meeting in Berlin, Germany. He participated in the “Humboldt Research Award” ceremony and accepted the 2024 “Humboldt Research Award”.

Xiao Jianzhuang was selected as a “Humboldt Research Fellow” in 2004, awarded the “National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars” in 2013, and received the “Humboldt Research Award” in 2024. Over the past two decades, with the support of academic funding both domestically and internationally, Xiao Jianzhuang has dedicated himself to fundamental research and innovative applications in “recycled concrete materials, structures, and construction technologies”, leading his team to continuous breakthroughs.

Xiao Jianzhuang’s team has addressed the challenges posed by China’s large-scale, widely distributed, compositionally complex, and ecologically impactful construction solid waste. They proposed the concept of “forward-reverse” synergistic recycling of construction waste, developing high-efficiency full-component recycling processes and technologies for producing and modifying recycled concrete. Facing the issue of poor mechanical performance in recycled concrete--caused by the random distribution of old mortar on recycled aggregate surfaces--and the inapplicability of traditional structural design theories, the team introduced a “model recycled concrete” analysis method. This approach established constitutive equations for recycled concrete under various stress conditions, enabling unified structural design for both recycled and conventional concrete. To advance green construction of recycled concrete structures, the team proposed structural disassembly and re-construction strategies, inventing demountable and modular recycled concrete component construction techniques, as well as 3D printing digital construction technologies for recycled aggregate concrete. These achievements provide a systematic theoretical and technical foundation for the construction of recycled concrete structures. They have supported post-earthquake reconstruction in Wenchuan, the Shanghai World Expo Park construction, and the green engineering of the Pinglu Canal megaproject, while also being widely applied in buildings, roads, bridges, and hydraulic projects across Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shandong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, and other regions.

Building upon these achievements, Xiao Jianzhuang’s team has promoted the establishment of domestic standard systems and facilitated their international adoption, including China’s first national standard “Technical Code for Recycling Construction Waste in Engineering Projects” (GB/T50743-2012), the industry standard “Technical Standard for Recycled Concrete Structures” (JGJ/T443-2018), Shanghai local standard “Technical Standard for Application of Recycled Aggregate Concrete” (DG/TJ 08-2018-2020), Shandong local standard “Technical Specification for Application of Fully Recycled Concrete Prefabricated Components” (DB37/T-5176-2021), and ISO international standard “Preparation and Application of Recycled Concrete” (ISO/DTS 21056); initiated two RILEM technical committees on “Structural Behavior of Recycled Concrete” and “Multi-interface Properties of Recycled Concrete”, and founded the Springer-published international journal “Low-carbon Materials and Green Construction” (indexed by EI and Scopus).

Xiao Jianzhuang’s team is expanding their research focus from “recycling and reuse” to “remanufacturing”, with research objectives gradually deepening from ensuring structural safety to achieving synergy between safety and low-carbon performance. The team has published commentaries in Nature and its subsidiary journals on the future frontiers of low-carbon concrete and green construction, striving to extend their innovative achievements from theoretical and technological innovations to promoting social, economic, and ecological sustainable development, thereby contributing to the construction of a Beautiful China and fostering extensive international and regional exchanges and cooperation.

The “Humboldt Research Award” is one of Germany’s highest honors bestowed upon non-German research scholars, with no more than 100 scholars worldwide receiving this distinction each year. All awardees are world-leading scientists who have made significant impacts in fundamental research or cutting-edge innovation fields. Xiao Jianzhuang was honored with the 2024 “Humboldt Research Award” for his outstanding achievements in fundamental research and teaching in the field of recycled concrete structure technology.