Professor G Q Max Lu

Professor Max Lu was President and Vice-Chancellor of University of Surrey from April 2016 to May 2025 with responsibility is to lead the University, shaping its vision, mission and strategy.

Previously he was Provost and Senior Vice-President at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, and serves as Director of the Board of National Physical Laboratory, and as a member of the Leadership Council of the National Centre for Universities and Business. He had previously served as Director of the UK Research and Innovation, and Universities UK.  He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey and Patron for Charities such as Transform and Surrey Youth Focus.

Professor Lu lectured at Nanyang Technological University from 1991 to 1994, and held academic and leadership positions at the University of Queensland from 1994 to 2016. He founded the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials and served as its inaugural director for eight years. He was awarded the Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship in 2003 and 2008.

As a Highly Cited Researcher in both Materials Science and Chemistry he has published over 500 journal papers on nanomaterials, photocatalysis, hydrogen production and storage (h=152 and over 96,900 citations @google scholar). He is co-inventor of more than 24 granted international patents.  He has been honoured with numerous awards including Orica Award, RK Murphy Medal, Le Fevre Prize, ExxonMobil Award, China International Science and Technology Award, Japan Chemical Society Lecture Award, Chemeca Medal, and P.V. Danckwerts Lecture. He was also recently honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia (Officer) for his distinguished service to higher education and international research.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Institution of Chemical Engineers, Royal Society of Chemistry, Australian Academy of Science, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, World Academy of Science, National Academy of Inventors, and a Foreign Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Corresponding Member, National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, Argentina.