Wei Zhao is an associate professor in the field of Mineral Processing Engineering at China University of Mining and Technology and a master's supervisor. He obtained his Ph.D. from the research group of Professors Hu Yuehua and Sun Wei at Central South University. In 2022, he joined the team of Academician Liu Jiongtian and Professor Gui Xiaohui at the Coal Processing and Clean Engineering Technology Research Center at China University of Mining and Technology. His main research areas include the interface chemistry of oxidized mineral flotation and the molecular design of reagents, as well as the hydrometallurgical separation and recovery of strategic metals from coal resources.

In recent years, he has been selected for the Jiangsu Province "Outstanding Postdoctoral Program" and has led one project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Youth Fund), one task under the National Key R&D Program, one sub-project of a major national scientific and technological project, and two horizontal projects with enterprises. He has received the Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award from Hunan Province and the Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Chinese Nonferrous Metals Society. As the first author, he has published over 20 papers in prestigious academic journals, including the Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, and the Journal of Chinese Nonferrous Metals, with a total citation count exceeding 600 times, including 10 papers in the SCI Q1/TOP category and 2 papers in EI. He has contributed to the editing of the "Encyclopedia of Solid-Liquid Interfaces" and "Flotation Chemistry and Practice of Tungsten Ores," serves as a reviewer for SCI journals such as Minerals Engineering, Langmuir, and Colloids and Surfaces A, and is a young editorial board member for the journal "Minerals Engineering."

He has applied for 15 patents, with 8 granted as invention patents. His research achievements have been promoted and applied in mining enterprises such as China Minmetals Corporation, Xiamen Tungsten Industry Co., Ltd., and Henan Energy Group, and he has been awarded the Second Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in Fujian Province, the First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in the Chinese Nonferrous Metals Industry, and the Second Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress in the Chinese Coal Industry.