Non-Destructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring (NDT & SHM) is one of the major requirements in aerospace structural design and plays an important role in operation and maintenance of aerospace structures. NDT &SHM is a technology dealing with the development and implementation of techniques and systems where monitoring,inspection and damage detection become an integral part of structures. Furthermore,NDT & SHM assesses the state of structural health and predicts the remaining life of the structure through appropriate data processing and interpretation. Nowadays,the increasing age of our existing aerospace structures makes the cost of maintenance and repairs a growing concern.NDT & SHM systems could ensure the safety and reliability while reducing the maintenance costs of aerospace structures.As a result, NDT & SHM has received a lot of attention and many technologies have been currently developed within the engineering science discipline.This column presents some relevant research regarding NDT & SHM to promote the understanding and cooperation in the aerospace industry.

Shenfang Yuan

Shenfang Yuan is a Changjiang Chair professor of the State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures and she is the Director of Smart Materials and Structures Institute and Research Center for SHM & Prognosis in Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She is a winner of National Science Fund for Outstanding Youth Scholars and National Special Support Program for High-level Personnel Recruitment. Prof. Yuan now serves as a member of the European Structural Health Monitoring Committee. She is also the associate editor of the Structural Health Monitoring-an International Journal and the editorial advisory board member of Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, etc. She has authored 2 academic books and over 300 journal papers. She won 6 national science and technology awards and 8 provincial and ministerial awards for science and technology. She was awarded the worldwide SHM Person of the Year in 2017.

Lei Qiu

Lei Qiu is a professor of the State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Structures in Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and he is a German Humboldt Research Fellow and a Hong Kong Scholars. He is also a winner of the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program of CAST. He serves as a member of Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics, IEEE and International Society for SHM of Intelligent Infrastructure. He is also the editorial advisory board member of the international journals of JVE and JME. Prof. Qiu has published over 90 journal papers. He won 3 provincial and ministerial awards for science and technology and he also won the EWSHM Best Paper Award in 2016. He received the project supported by the Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation for Young Teachers in 2018.