Wei Li is the Chair Professor and Vice-Chief Engineer at Central Iron and Steel Research Institute of China. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Physics from Shandong University in 1982. He was a senior engineer in The Institute of Precision Alloy, Central Iron and Steel Research Institute in 1989. He was a visiting research fellow at the Swedish Institute of metal research from 1991 to 1992. In 1993 he became a professor at Central Iron and Steel Research Institute.
He is a fellow of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths and Vice-Chairman of Chinese Institute of Electronics-Applied Magnetism Branch and National Magnetic Material and Devices Industry Association of China. He has been a member of the editorial boards of IEEE transaction on magnetics, Chinese Journal of Rare Earth, Acta Metallurgica Sinica, Journal of Functional Materials and Devices, and Electrical Engineering Materials. He has also been a member at the international advisory committee of Rare-Earth Permanent Magnets and Their Applications, International Symposium on Advanced Magnetic Materials and Applications and The 8th Pacific Rim International Congress on Advanced Materials and Processing.
He has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals, 5 books and many patents. He has presented over 10 invited talks at international meetings and conferences. He is the recipient of Guanghua engineering science and technology award of Chinese Academy of Engineering, countrywide outstanding scientists and technologists of China, the overseas Chinese (creative talent) contribution award, the first prize and twice of the second of national science and technology progress award of China, and the first prize of award for progress in science and technology of the National Metallurgical Industrial Bureau, etc. His current research interests include magnetic properties and structures of novel high performance permanent magnets, high performance sintered rare earth permanent magnet industrial manufacturing and application techniques, the anisotropic nanocomposite permanent magnet material, and novel metal permanent magnetic materials.