Baojun Zhao specialises in high temperature processing.

Associate Professor Baojun Zhao was, until June 2020, a Codelco-Fangyuan Research Fellow with the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland. In July 2020, Baojun's High Temperature Processing research group transferred to the Sustainable Minerals Institutes' JKMRC, becoming an important addition to JKMRC's research capability and advancing the expertise that JKMRC can offer industry across the entire mineral processing value chain.

Baojun received his BSc (1986) and MSc (1989) from Peking University in chemistry and went on to complete his PhD (1999) from The University of Queensland in metallurgy. After receiving his PhD, Baojun continued with the School of Chemical Engineering in a number of research capacities.

Baojun's primary area of research is the experimental investigation of physiochemical properties of high temperature melts, ie, phase equilibria and viscosity of ceramics and metallurgical slags. He has developed a number of novel research techniques to accurately determine phase equilibria and viscosity of complex ceramics and metallurgical slag systems. Baojun is the author or coauthor of 8 book chapters and a high volume of referee’s papers,  conference papers and presentations.

In 2009 Baojun was awarded the Billiton Gold Medal from Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK and also the Non-Ferrous Pyrometallurgy Best Paper Award from Metallurgical Society of CIM, Canada.

His current research interests are fundamental investigations of phase equilibria and viscosity for complex oxide melts through high temperature reaction, quenching and electron probe X-ray microanalysis.