Two UTS international PhD students from China have been recognised by the Chinese Government as top achievers in their field, earning them each a valuable scholarship.

Faculty of Engineering doctoral student Ying Yan and Faculty of Law researcher (George) YiJun Tian are two of six NSW winners of this year's Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students of China, given by the China Scholarship Council.

Ms Yan and Mr Tian have each received $5000 US to support their work, based on a review of their achievements by experts from universities in China and Australia.

Mr Tian, who has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington Law School and a Summer Associate of the Berkman Center at the Harvard Law School, is examining fundamental issues of the knowledge economy and the access of communities and society to information.

"The research is timely as the three-year review of the Australian Digital Agenda Amendments to copyright law is underway and some overseas jurisprudence is emerging concerning issues of access and appropriate regulation of the online environment," Mr Tian said.

"The recently concluded Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Australia and proposed FTAs with Asia Pacific countries including China, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand bring this study into sharp focus, as all are importers of entertainment, software, books and information products generally."

Mr Tian's study is being supervised by Dean of Law Professor Jill McKeough.

Ms Yan, who undertook her undergraduate studies at North China Electric Power University, enrolled at UTS in 2003 to work on developing a high-performance sensorless variable speed drive for permanent magnet electric motors.

"My project involves comprehensive research in advanced permanent magnet motor modelling, modern control theory application, power electronic drive scheme design and simulation and embedded microprocessor hardware implementation," Ms Yan said.

"To an engineering student, UTS is very attractive for its good reputation in industrial practice. Sound knowledge and practical experiences can be obtained through study and research at UTS. My supervisor Professor Jianguo Zhu is famous worldwide in his research field."