Jian Dai (FASME, FIEEE, FIMechE, FREng) is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. His research interests are theoretical kinematics, screw algebra and Lie algebra, metamorphic mechanisms and reconfigurable mechanisms, Origami mechanisms and polyhedral mechanisms, and their applications to intelligent robotic devices, reconfigurable robotics and reconfigurable manufacture. His work in the aforementioned areas has been the subject of numerous publications in international journals and conferences. He is directing several research initiatives, including collaborations with high-technology companies and he has graduated over 50 PhD students.

Jian Dai is currently an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, an Editor-in-Chief of Robotica (Est. 1983), and a Subject Editor of Mechanism and Machine Theory (Est. 1966). He received several awards including the ASME DED Mechanisms and Robotics Committee Award in 2015, and the ASME Machine Design Award in 2020.