Research Interests

His research includes the antenna theory and applications, active electronically scanning arrays (AESAs), integrated antennas and arrays, substrate-integrated waveguide antennas, leaky-wave antennas and wireless propagation.

Career Details

Lei Wang is an IEEE Senior Member since 2019. He received the Ph.D. degree from Southeast University, Nanjing, China in 2015. From 2014 to 2016, he was a Research Fellow and Postdoc in Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. From 2016 to 2017, he was a Postdoc Research Fellow in KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. From 2017 to 2020, he was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) in Hamburg, Germany. From 2020 to 2023, he was an Assistant Professor in Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK. Since 2024, he is an Associate Professor in Lancaster University in Lancaster, UK.

Research Grants

Live Projects:

• 2025-2026: Sony Research Award
  • “Integrated Wireless Power Transfer and Sensing System Using Millimeter-Wave Leaky-Wave Arrays with Beam Focusing and Steering”.
  • Principal Investigator, one year, USD $100,000.
• 2025-2026: European Space Agency ITT
  • “Manufacturing of High-Power Frequency Selective Surfaces Using Innovative Techniques”.
  • Co-Investigator, two years, £225,656.
• 2025-2027: Innovate UK - Quantum CR&D Demonstrators for PNT
  • “Engineering the endohedral fullerene clock”.
  • Co-Investigator, two years.

Finished Projects:

• 2023-2026: EPSRC ECR International Collaboration Grant
  • “Active Integrated Antenna for Intelligent Arrays in 6G Non-Terrestrial Networks”.
  • Principal Investigator, two years, GBP £208,105.
• 2024-2025: Innovate UK - Future Telecommunications Challenge
  • “Multibeam W-band Transmitter for Fixed Access Enabled by Traveling Wave Tubes”.
  • Co-Investigator, one year, £952,950.
• 2022-2023: Royal Society Research Grant
  • “Millimeter-Wave Active Integrated Lens Antenna”.
  • Principal Investigator, one year, GBP 20,000.
• 2022-2023: Research Recovery Fund
  • “Millimeter-Wave (mmW) Shared-Volume Dual-Polarized Substrate Integrated Horn Arrays for 5G Handset Applications”.
  • Principal Investigator, one year, GBP 16,375.
• 2020-2023: Research Grant from German Research Foundation (DFG)
  • “Properties of Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) Waves with Respect to Wireless Communication in Complex Environments and to Electromagnetic Interference”.
  • Co-Investigator, three years, EUR 287,500.
• 2020-2022: EPSRC Core Equipment Award 2020
  • Co-Investigator, two years, GBP 655,000.
• 2016-2018: Fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
  • “Fast Analysis and Optimization of Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) Antennas Using the Contour Integral Method (CIM)”.
  • Principal Investigator, two years, ≈ EUR 100,000.
• 2014-2015: Fellowship from Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship
  • “Study and Application of Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) Antennas"
  • Principal Investigator, one year, ≈ CHF 35,000.

Additional Information

He is the awardee of

• Sony Research Award (2025),
• EPSRC Early-Career International Collaboration Grant (2023),
• the British Royal Society research grant (2022),
• German Research Foundation (DFG) research grant (2020),
• the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship (2016),
• the National PhD Scholarship in China (2014),
• the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (2014).

Moreover, he received

• the Best Theory and Design Antenna Paper Award in EuCAP-2023,
• the Best Paper Award in UCET-2020,
• the Best Poster Award in iWAT-2018.

He also supervised students winning

• the Best Student Paper Award (2nd) in iWAT 2026,
• the Best Paper Award (2nd) in iWAT 2026,
• the Second Place Winner in IWS-2023,
• the Best Student Paper Award in UCMMT-2022,
• the Honourable Mentioned Best Student Paper in APS-2021.