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ICorr President Dr Yunnan Gao Receives 2026 WCO Corrosion Awareness Honour
Recognition highlights sustained contribution to corrosion awareness and international collaboration
The Institute of Corrosion is pleased to announce that its President, Dr Yunnan Gao, has received the 2026 WCO Corrosion Awareness Honour, presented during the morning Plenary Session of EUROCORR 2026 in Dublin on 10 September 2026.
The honour was presented by Professor En-Hou Han, President of the World Corrosion Organization (WCO), in recognition of Dr Gao’s contribution to promoting awareness of corrosion and corrosion protection and his continued commitment to increasing the visibility and importance of corrosion prevention within the international community.
The recognition reflects a sustained programme of activities spanning professional institutions, industry, academia, universities and the wider corrosion community.
Raising Awareness of Corrosion
As President of ICorr, Dr Gao has made corrosion awareness and knowledge sharing an important part of his presidential activities.
Over the past two years, he has delivered corrosion awareness and ICorr presentations across all eight UK ICorr branches, engaged with universities, students and early-career engineers, and undertaken extensive knowledge-sharing activities internationally.
His activities in the UK and China have included numerous presentations and professional engagements, while his work with universities has helped strengthen awareness of corrosion as an important engineering discipline and career.
These activities reflect ICorr’s wider commitment to advancing corrosion science and engineering and ensuring that knowledge of corrosion prevention reaches beyond specialists within the profession.
Building International Collaboration
A significant feature of Dr Gao’s work as ICorr President has been the strengthening of international cooperation.
ICorr has continued to develop close relationships with leading corrosion organisations, including the World Corrosion Organization (WCO), European Federation of Corrosion (EFC), Chinese Society for Corrosion and Protection (CSCP) and Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP).
A particular achievement has been the development of UK-China cooperation through the 1st UK–China Corrosion Summit in Manchester in September 2025 and the 2nd China-UK Corrosion Summit in Beijing in April 2026.
These events brought together experts, researchers, engineers and industrial stakeholders from both countries, providing valuable opportunities for knowledge exchange, professional networking and discussion of the challenges facing the corrosion community.
Dr Gao has also continued to represent ICorr at major international corrosion conferences and professional forums, helping to strengthen connections between corrosion professionals and organisations across Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East.
A Collective Achievement
Commenting on receiving the honour, Dr Gao said: “I am deeply honoured and grateful to receive the 2026 WCO Corrosion Awareness Honour. I regard this recognition as much more than a personal achievement. I accept it on behalf of the many ICorr members, volunteers, colleagues, academic and industrial partners, and friends across the global corrosion community who work tirelessly to make corrosion better understood and better managed.”
He added: “Corrosion is often invisible until its consequences become visible. Yet its impact on safety, infrastructure, the environment and our economy can be enormous. Raising awareness is therefore not simply about promoting our profession—it is about helping society understand the importance of preventing corrosion before its consequences occur.”
The Institute of Corrosion warmly congratulates Dr Gao on this significant recognition and acknowledges the many members, volunteers, partner organisations and colleagues whose continued commitment to corrosion awareness contributes to ICorr’s mission.
The honour also reinforces the importance of international cooperation in addressing corrosion challenges. Through collaboration between professional organisations, industry, academia and government, the corrosion community can continue to improve understanding, strengthen professional capability and promote effective corrosion prevention around the world.
The Institute of Corrosion congratulates Dr Yunnan Gao on receiving the 2026 WCO Corrosion Awareness Honour.
Advancing Corrosion Science and Engineering.
Photo 2: Professor En-Hou Han, President of the World Corrosion Organization, presents the 2026 WCO Corrosion Awareness Honour to Dr Yunnan Gao.
Photo 3: Dr Yunnan Gao delivers his acceptance speech following the presentation of the 2026 WCO Corrosion Awareness Honour.
Photo 4: Presentation of the 2026 WCO Corrosion Awareness Honour during the EUROCORR 2026 Plenary Session in Dublin.

















