Thong Pham is an Associate Professor and Enterprise Fellow in Structural Engineering at UniSA STEM, University of South Australia. Renowned for his exceptional contributions, he pioneers innovative solutions that foster engineering excellence with sustainability and resilience. Thong’s effort is focused on turning household and industrial waste to structures against multi-hazards.
Thong's primary research lies on three-fold focus:
1.     Materials Innovation: his exploration includes a range of sustainable materials, e.g.,  geopolymer concrete, waste-derived materials, low-CO2 concrete, rubberised concrete, metaconcrete, and bio-inspired materials. Through these materials, Thong seeks to contribute to the evolution of construction practices, fostering an environmentally conscious and resilient industry.
 
2.     Prefab Construction Advancements: improving prefab construction and introducing non-corrosive precast concrete joints, stay-in-place formwork systems, and structures strengthened with fibre-polymer (FRP) reinforcements. His goal is to simplify construction methods while enhancing the durability of structures.
 
3.     Resilient Structures Against Impact and Blast Loads: his research spans meta structures, bio-inspired designs, and ultra high-performance concrete, all tailored to enhance our built environment's capacity to endure extreme conditions.
 
Thong's achievements extend beyond the laboratory:
Funding and Leadership: He has secured competitive government grants and led five industry-sponsored research projects, including a prestigious ARC discovery project, totaling over $750k in research income.
 
Recognitions: Thong's work has been recognized with numerous honours and awards.
·       2025 Distinguished Young Researcher Award, International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC)
·       2021 Award for Excellence in technology and innovation category from CIA-WA
·       2020 Curtin Research Team Award
·       2019 Best Young Researcher’s Paper award from the 16th East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction
·       2019 Highly Commendable Paper Award from Japan Society of Civil Engineering-Impact Committee
·       2018 Curtin Early Career Researcher Award Finalist (only two from the entire university)
·       2012 Best Performance-Postgraduate Research Award from Faculty of Engineering (UoW)
·       Eleven of his papers were listed as the most-cited papers in top international journals.
 
Global Impact: His reach extends beyond Australia, and he's been recognized by Stanford University and Elsevier as part of the top 2% of scientists globally since 2020, underscoring his international contributions to the field.
 
Leadership Role: Thong co-chaired the 7th International Conference on Protection of Structures against Hazards in Hanoi, contributing to his position as a respected figure in enhancing the safety of our built environment.
 
Editorial Contributions: His commitment to knowledge dissemination is evident through his roles as Associate Editor of Innovative Infrastructure Solutions and Journal of Science and Technology in Civil Engineering. He also serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Protective Structures.
 
Education and Mentorship: Thong is committed to nurturing research talent, demonstrated through his guidance of seven PhD students to successful completion. His students have achieved recognition, receiving National Bursary Awards (2021) and acknowledgments as finalists (2023) for the best thesis from the Concrete Institute of Australia. Research papers of two students were recipients of the best paper awards at international conferences.