Dr. Xianbo (Bill) Zhao is an Associate Professor in the College of Project Management, Built Environment, Asset & Maintenance Management (CoPBA), School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University (CQUniversity). Dr. Zhao joined Central Queensland University in 2014. He holds Bachelor and Master qualifications in construction management from Southeast University (China), and a PhD degree in building awarded by the National University of Singapore (NUS).  

Dr. Zhao has been conducting research into the issues surrounding the management of civil and building construction and built environment. Dr. Zhao has led or participated in research projects relating to enterprise risk management, risk prediction techniques, risk network evolution, political risk management in international construction and safety risk. Dr. Zhao has also investigated the issues relating to diffusion of innovative technologies (e.g., BIM, 3D printing, machine learning, etc.) in the building and construction sector as well as sustainable construction.

Dr. Zhao has over 160 peer-reviewed publications in the field of building and construction management. His research output has gained national and international recognitions as evidenced by the publications in leading journals, high citations and international awards. Dr. Zhao receives a Scopus h-index of 45. 

Dr. Zhao was selected as Australia’s Top Researcher in the field of architecture and one of the Rising Stars of Research in the field of sustainable development in The Australian’s Research Magazine in 2021. He was among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in the field of Building & Construction (Global Top 100 and Australian's Top 10) compiled by Stanford University in 2020-2025. At CQUniversity, he received Vice-Chancellor’s and Dean’s Awards for Outstanding Researchers in 2021 and Publication Recognition Awards in 2017-2019. He received the Excellent Paper Award at the 19th International Symposium on the Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate (CRIOCM2014) and Merit Paper Award at the 27th and 29th International Symposium on the Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate (CRIOCM2022 and 2024).

Dr. Zhao has reviewed manuscripts for over 50 journals and is currently the Associate Editor of the international referred journals Advances in Civil Engineering, and Frontiers in Built Environment, and the Editorial Board Member of Buildings, Journal of Green Building, and International Journal of Project Organization and Management. He was also invited to serve as the Guest Editors of four Special Issues for the journals Sustainability, Complexity, and Advances in Civil Engineering. Dr. Zhao was the Scientific Committee Chair of the 43rd Annual Conference of Australasian University Building Education Association (AUBEA2019), and Scientific/Organizing/Technical Committee Member of 16 international academic conferences.

Dr. Zhao holds the Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Dr. Zhao is a detailed assessor for Australian Research Council (ARC) research projects and international reviewer for the research proposals of European Science Foundation, Hong Kong Research Grant Council, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, and the Ministry of Education and Science, the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Dr Zhao is eligible to be a principal supervisor of PhD students.