Dr. Yongjing Mao (preferred name: Mao) is an Associate Lecturer at the Water Research Laboratory within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Mao holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Coastal Engineering and a PhD in Remote Sensing. Prior to his position at UNSW, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland.

Mao is an expert in integrating coastal morphology knowledge with remote sensing and machine learning methods to understand shoreline changes and predict future states at regional, continental, and global scales. His research interests include the application of remote sensing, deep learning, and data assimilation to shoreline monitoring and modelling, with a focus on improving satellite-derived shoreline mapping through SAR-Optical fusion, employing data assimilation for shoreline modelling, and using innovative deep learning spatio-temporal models to predict future shoreline changes.