Zhili Sun Surrey

Professor Zhili Sun is a Chair Professor of Communication Networking and PGR Director at the Institute for Communication Systems (ICS), 5G/6G Innovation Centre, University of Surrey. He received his BSc in Mathematics from Nanjing University in 1982 and his PhD in Computer Science (Distributed Systems) from Lancaster University in 1991. Professor Sun has extensive experience in satellite communications and networking, having participated as principal investigator and technical coordinator in numerous European and UK-funded research projects under ESPRIT, EU Framework Programmes (FP5, FP6, FP7), ESA, and EPSRC. His work spans IP multicast over satellite, QoS for IP telephony, IPv6 over satellite, hybrid secure multicast, GRID networking, DTN systems, and next-generation Internet technologies. More recently, his research has focused on 5G/6G satellite integration and mega-LEO constellation networks, contributing to IEEE future networks initiatives and ITU-T/ETSI standardisation efforts. He has supervised over 40 PhD students and 20 postdoctoral researchers, published more than 240 journal and conference papers, and authored three books. He serves on editorial boards of journals including Nature – Scientific Reports (Space Technology) and the International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking, and has contributed actively to international standardisation bodies and major IEEE conferences.