Dr Shoufeng Cao
Honorary Senior Fellow
School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability
Researcher biography
Shoufeng Cao is a disrupter and transformational advocate for impactful and real-world solutions, with research expertise in digital tranformation and blockchain-based innovative solutions for businesses, supply chains, industries and communites. His current research focuses on developing and demonstrating the transformative application of blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the bushfood industry.
Shoufeng obtained his doctoral degree from The University of Queensland (UQ), with his thesis on system-wide data-driven risk analysis and management in global fresh produce value chains for the strategic competition of "value chain to value chain". He started his postdoc research journeys at UQ and Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where he completed three digital transformation projects in agri-food supply chains and the industry funded by three industry-led CRCs including the CRC for developing Northern Australia (CRCNA), the Food Agility CRC, and the Future Food Systems CRC, and one ARC Indigenous Disovery Project.
His research areas span from the identification of digital transformation strategies in complex multi-industry and multi-region contexts to the design, implementation, and evaluation of blockchain solutions with end users for industrial transformation and real-world disruptive impacts. His completed projects won two Good Design Australia Awards 2020 and one of them was a runner-up of the 2021 ACS Digital Disruptors Awards in the ICT Research Project of the Year Category.
Publications
Book Chapters
Hao, Yijia, Cao, Shoufeng and Xia, Yong (2025). Blockchain applications for carbon trading – an overview of current developments in China. Blockchain for good: the transformative impacts on industry, community and the planet. (pp. 206-222) edited by Shoufeng Cao and Marcus Foth. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9781003456346-12
Powell, Warwick, Cao, Shoufeng, Foth, Marcus, He, Shan, Turner-Morris, Charles and Li, Ming (2023). Revisiting trust in supply chains: How does blockchain redefine trust?. Blockchain driven supply chains and enterprise information systems. (pp. 21-42) edited by Abdelaziz Bouras, Ibrahim Khalil and Belaid Aouni. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-96154-1_2
Cao, Shoufeng, Boyen, Xavier, Deane, Felicity, Miller, Thomas and Foth, Marcus (2022). Enabling cross-border trade in the face of regulatory barriers to data flow – the case of the blockchain-based service network. Blockchain for Industry 4.0: Emergence, Challenges, and Opportunities. (pp. 285-303) edited by Anoop V.S., Asharaf S., Justin Goldston and Samson Williams. Boca Raton, FL United States: CRC Press. doi: 10.1201/9781003282914-15
Sigley, Gary, Powell, Warwick and Cao, Shoufeng (2020). Community group buying, vulnerable communities and COVID-19 in China. State Responses to COVID-19: A Global Snapshot on 1 June 2020 . (pp. 50-51) edited by Nichole Georgeou and Charles Hawksley. Penrith, NSW Australia: Western Sydney University. doi: 10.26183/5ed5a2079cabd
Journal Articles
Cao, Shoufeng and Hine, Damian (2025). Towards a dual-level supply chain intelligence framework for the Australian horticultural sector: a multi-method qualitative study. Supply Chain Forum, 1-15. doi: 10.1080/16258312.2025.2579496
Cao, Shoufeng, Miller, Thomas, Foth, Marcus and Powell, Warwick (2025). Integrating the REA model and multisig architecture for blockchain-based supply chain traceability: An organisational-technical approach. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 219 124297, 124297-219. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124297
Hou, Yaochen, Cao, Shoufeng, Bryceson, Kim, Currey, Phillip and Yaseen, Asif (2025). Omnichannel and product quality attributes in food e-retail: a choice experiment on consumer purchases of Australian beef in China. Foods, 14 (10) 1813, 1-19. doi: 10.3390/foods14101813
Miller, Thomas, Boyen, Xavier, Cao, Shoufeng, Foth, Marcus and Powell, Warwick (2025). Proofs of Information Symmetry for Meeting of the Minds in E-Commerce Transactions. Distributed Ledger Technologies: Research and Practice. doi: 10.1145/3731682
Specht, Alison, Bryceson, Kim, Cao, Shoufeng, O’Brien, Margaret, Guru, S. M., Correa, Pedro Pizzigatti and Waycott, Michelle (2025). A collaborative data network for the Asia Oceania region enabled by emerging technologies to foster innovation in a secure and open environment. Data Science Journal, 24 1, 1-15. doi: 10.5334/dsj-2025-001
Cao, Shoufeng and Foth, Marcus (2025). Preface. Blockchain for Good: The Transformative Impacts on Industry, Community and the Planet, v-xi.
McQueenie, Jock, Foth, Marcus, Cao, Shoufeng, Hearn, Greg, Anastasiu, Irina and Powell, Warwick (2024). Short videos on Douyin: An intermediary approach to connect Australian food producers with Chinese consumers. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 10 101148, 101148. doi: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.101148
Cao, Shoufeng, Xu, Henry and Bryceson, Kim P. (2023). Blockchain Traceability for Sustainability Communication in Food Supply Chains: An Architectural Framework, Design Pathway and Considerations. Sustainability, 15 (18) 13486, 1-21. doi: 10.3390/su151813486
Deane, Felicity, Woolmer, Emily, Cao, Shoufeng and Tranter, Kieran (2023). Trade in the digital age: agreements to mitigate fragmentation. Asian Journal of International Law, 14 (1), 1-26. doi: 10.1017/s204425132300036x
Miller, Thomas, Cao, Shoufeng, Foth, Marcus, Boyen, Xavier and Powell, Warwick (2023). An asset-backed decentralised finance instrument for food supply chains – A case study from the livestock export industry. Computers in Industry, 147 103863, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.compind.2023.103863
Cao, Shoufeng, Johnson, Hope and Tulloch, Ayesha (2023). Exploring blockchain-based traceability for food supply chain sustainability: towards a better way of sustainability communication with consumers. Procedia Computer Science, 217, 1437-1445. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2022.12.342
Cao, Shoufeng, Foth, Marcus, Powell, Warwick, Miller, Thomas and Li, Ming (2022). A blockchain-based multisignature approach for supply chain governance: a use case from the Australian beef industry. Blockchain: Research and Applications, 3 (4) 100091, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.bcra.2022.100091
Natanelov, Valeri, Cao, Shoufeng, Foth, Marcus and Dulleck, Uwe (2022). Blockchain smart contracts for supply chain finance: Mapping the innovation potential in Australia-China beef supply chains. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 30 100389, 100389. doi: 10.1016/j.jii.2022.100389
Powell, Warwick, Foth, Marcus, Cao, Shoufeng and Natanelov, Valéri (2022). Garbage in garbage out: The precarious link between IoT and blockchain in food supply chains. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 25 100261. doi: 10.1016/j.jii.2021.100261
Powell, Warwick, Cao, Shoufeng, Miller, Thomas, Foth, Marcus, Boyen, Xavier, Earsman, Barry, del Valle, Santiago and Turner-Morris, Charles (2021). From premise to practice of social consensus: How to agree on common knowledge in blockchain-enabled supply chains. Computer Networks, 200 108536, 108536. doi: 10.1016/j.comnet.2021.108536
Cao, Shoufeng, Foth, Marcus, Powell, Warwick and McQueenie, Jock (2021). What are the effects of short video storytelling in delivering blockchain-credentialed Australian beef products to China?. Foods, 10 (10) 2403, 2403. doi: 10.3390/foods10102403
Cao, Shoufeng, Powell, Warwick, Foth, Marcus, Natanelov, Valeri, Miller, Thomas and Dulleck, Uwe (2021). Strengthening consumer trust in beef supply chain traceability with a blockchain-based human-machine reconcile mechanism. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 180 105886, 105886. doi: 10.1016/j.compag.2020.105886
Cao, Shoufeng, Bryceson, Kim and Hine, Damian (2021). Collaborative risk management in decentralised multi-tier global food supply chains: an exploratory study. International Journal of Logistics Management, 32 (3), 1050-1067. doi: 10.1108/IJLM-07-2020-0278
Cao, Shoufeng, Bryceson, Kim and Hine, Damian (2020). Improving supply chain risk visibility and communication with a multi-view risk ontology. Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, 21 (1), 1-15. doi: 10.1080/16258312.2020.1717990
Cao, Shoufeng, Bryceson, Kim and Hine, Damian (2020). Assessing the rigour of empirical research in supply chain risk management. International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience, 4 (2), 123-149. doi: 10.1504/ijscor.2020.10031119
Cao, Shoufeng, Bryceson, Kim and Hine, Damian (2019). An Ontology-based Bayesian network modelling for supply chain risk propagation. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 119 (8), 1691-1711. doi: 10.1108/imds-01-2019-0032
Conference Papers
Cao, Shoufeng and Bryceson, Kim (2025). Blockchain commons for autonomous digital custodianship: designing a dual NFT infrastructure for Indigenous food sovereignty and collective benefit. 2025 eResearch Australasia Conference, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 20-24 October 2025.
Spech, Alison, Bryceson, Kim, O'Brien, Margaret, Waycott, Michelle, Correa, Pedro, Cao, Shoufeng and Guru, Siddeswara (2025). A collaborative data network for the Asia Oceania region enabled by emerging technologies to foster innovation in a secure and open environment. SciDataCon 2025, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 13 - 16 October 2025.
Cao, Shoufeng (2023). How can the Indigenous bushfood industry benefit from distributed ledger technology? – emerging application potentials and considerations. 6th Symposium on Distributed Ledger Technology 2022, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 22 November 2022. Rochester, NY, United States: SSRN. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4494908
Powell, Warwick, Cao, Shoufeng and Turner-Morris, Charles (2022). When time is money: a case study of supply chain circulation, disintermediation and value distribution in beef supply to China with blockchain technologies. 6th Symposium on Distributed Ledger Technology, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 22 November 2022. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4539848
Cao, Shoufeng (2022). Fully traceable bio-farming for sustainability transition – applying blockchain technology to verifiable and complete communication of bio-farming throughout the product life cycle. The Bioeconomy Forum: seizing opportunities and leading the way, Mackay, QLD, Australia, 12 September 2022.
Cao, Shoufeng, Miller, Thomas, Foth, Marcus, Powell, Warwick, Boyen, Xavier and Turner-Morris, Charles (2021). Integrating on-chain and off-chain governance for supply chain transparency and integrity. 5th Symposium on Distributed Ledger Technology, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 23 November 2021. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2111.08455
Thesis
Cao, Shoufeng (2018). System-wide risk analysis and management in global fresh produce value chains. PhD Thesis, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.590
Newspaper Articles
Cao, Shoufeng (2025, 03 31). The Rise of AI-powered Digital Economy TI Observer 1-5.
Cao, Shoufeng, Deane, Felicity, Foth, Marcus, Powell, Warwick and Robb, Lachlan (2020, 07 30). China's blockchain services network: A new global emerging infrastructure ACS Informationage
Research Reports
Cao, Shoufeng, Hine, Damian, Henry, Robert, Shaw, Lindsay and Mitter, Neena (2020). Evaluation of the potential to expand horticultural industries in northern Australia. Hermit Park, QLD, Australia: CRC for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA).
Cao, Shoufeng, Dulleck, Uwe, Powell, Warwick, Turner-Morris, Charles, Natanelov, Valeri and Foth, Marcus (2020). BeefLedger blockchain-credentialed beef exports to China: early consumer insights. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Queensland University of Technology. doi: 10.5204/rep.eprints.200267
Cao, Shoufeng (2020). Australian mangoes in China: navigating competition and driving differentiation in an evolving market. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4289526