The Team - Welcome

Our Team

The Core Team

Harsha Ratnaweera, Director SWIQ and Professor

Professor Harsha Ratnaweera is a globally recognized leader in water engineering, research, and policy. He currently holds the presidency of the European Water Association (EWA) and serves on the Board of Directors of the International Water Association (IWA), where he is honored as a Distinguished Fellow.

With a distinguished academic career spanning Europe and Asia, he has been a Professor of Water and Wastewater Engineering at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) since 2012 and at Qingdao University of Technology in China since 2025. He further contributes to global water education as an Adjunct Professor at the United Nations University – FLORES in Germany and holds several honorary professorships across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Previously, Dr. Ratnaweera dedicated two decades to the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), where he led International Projects and Innovation. His academic foundations include a PhD in Civil Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Ukraine (KPI).

In recognition of his contributions to science and technology, he was elected in 2024 as a Fellow of both the European Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences. He has also received multiple awards from national, provincial, and municipal authorities in China.

His current research focuses on driving digital transformation and promoting green, circular economy principles in the water sector—particularly through the application of advanced digital tools for process surveillance, optimization, and intelligent control.

Dr. Yue Yin Researcher SWIQ.

Yue Yin has been serving as a Lecturer at the SEME, Qingdao University of Technology since 2025. His core research expertise focuses on the resource recovery and efficient concentration technologies from diverse water matrices. He is also dedicated to the R&D and technological optimization of low-carbon processes for wastewater treatment. In addition, his research scope covers the systematic monitoring, accurate accounting and emission reduction potential evaluation of GHGs throughout the water sector.

Dr. Haifeng Zhang Researcher SWIQ.

Dr. Haifeng Zhang is currently a full-time assistant professor at the Qingdao university of Technology (QUT). He was born in 1996, and graduated from Xuzhou University of Technology, where he got his bachelor degree in water supply and Drainage science and engineering. In 2019, he pursued a Master’s degree in Municipal Engineering at Qingdao University of Technology. In 2022, he applied for the integrated Master’s-PhD program in Civil Engineering at QUT and successfully got his PhD degree in 2025. Since December 2025, he has been fortunate to be appointed by QUT as a full-time assistant professor. His research directions mainly cover two aspects: the first is biopolymer recovery from wastewater, specifically including the application of various enhancement methods to improve the biopolymer production and recovery from wastewater, and conducting in-depth exploration of the underlying mechanism; the second is the carbon footprint and carbon emission assessment of municipal wastewater treatment processes. He has published 8 SCI papers as the first author, including 6 papers in Water Research, Bioresource Technology and Chemical Engineering Journal.

Ms Wanru Zhang, PhD student.

Ms Zhang completed her MSc in Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2025 and began her PhD studies at SWIQ in the same year. Her research focuses on the management and control of emerging contaminants in wastewater systems, with particular emphasis on the removal mechanisms of persistent organic pollutants and their interferences with dissolved organic matter during treatment processes. She is committed to integrating advanced water treatment technologies with digital tools to support intelligent monitoring, process optimization, and sustainable water management.

Mr Yingjie Yang, PhD student.

Yang Yingjie is currently a PhD student at Qingdao University of Technology, focusing on the monitoring and management of greenhouse gas emissions through digital tools. He earned his MSc in Environmental Science and Engineering from the same institution in 2025, during which he focused extensively on the advanced valorization and high-efficiency circular recovery of activated waste sludge. To date, he has published one SCI paper and has cultivated expertise in cutting-edge methodologies such as high-throughput metagenomic bioinformatic analysis and Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs). His technical repertoire is further supported by his proficiency in operating SBR and MBBR systems, as well as his mastery of sophisticated analytical techniques including FTIR, 3D-EEM, and HPLC for advanced environmental research.

Ms Mohiniid Tamilki, MSc student:

Ms Mohindi holds a BSc (Honours) in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering from Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, with a specialization in Robotics and Automation. Prior to her MSc, she gained professional experience as an automation engineer, having trained and worked in several companies in Sri Lanka, including a multinational corporation. She commenced her MSc studies at SWIQ in 2025. Her research focuses on applying her background in automation and digital technologies to the field of smart water systems. Specifically, she is working on the Predictive Lifespan Assessment of Water Infrastructure, aiming to develop intelligent models for infrastructure monitoring and maintenance.

Mr Wedahitha Yapa, MSc student.

Wedahitha Yapa is a Master’s student in Environmental Engineering at Qingdao University of Technology (QUT). His academic interests include water and wastewater treatment processes, environmental monitoring, and sustainable water resource management. He has a strong interest in applying data-driven and digital-twin approaches to analyze and optimize treatment systems. His work integrates engineering principles with sensing, automation, and environmental data analysis. Wedahitha aims to contribute to resilient and sustainable water infrastructure through research and applied engineering solutions.

Collaborating Researchers

Prof Chanqing Liu, Previous Dean of the School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology.

Bi Xuejun is a professor and doctoral supervisor at QUT. His research focuses on biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal technologies for wastewater, particularly pioneering the inverted A2/O process and developing the composite iron enzyme-promoted activated sludge technology for enhanced biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal, which addresses engineering challenges such as low-temperature operation. He has led several major international scientific cooperation projects with Norway, the European Union, and others. He has also presided over more than 20 national and provincial-level key research projects, including the National Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment and the National Key Research and Development Program of China. His achievements have earned awards such as the National Science and Technology Progress Award. He has published over a hundred academic papers and serves as a reviewer or editorial board member for journals including Environmental Engineering.

Prof Chanqing Liu, Dean of the School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology.

Prof Liu became a professor in 2017. His research is dedicated to advancing low-carbon biological wastewater treatment technologies, with a specialized focus on optimizing anaerobic digestion processes and innovating in the development and practical application of biochar for water purification. He has experience of coordinating 4 key research 4 national key research program of China and international projects with Norway, USA, and E+ CBHE project. He has authored more than 90 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and has been invited as reviewer for more than 20 journals.

Prof Xueqing Shi, Vice Dean of the School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology.

Prof Shi jointed QUT in 2019. He was awarded as world’s top 2% scientists (Stanford/Elsevier) in 2023. His research expertise includes biorefinery and resource recovery from pollutants in wastewater, water safety as well as low-carbon wastewater treatment process innovation. He has experience of coordinating 2 international collaboration projects in Asia (Singapore and South Korea), 4 China projects regarding talent exchange and education quality enhancement, and another 7 research grants, with a total funding size exceeding 4.6 million EURO. To date, Professor Shi has published 73 SCI indexed journal papers, 2 book chapters (Elsevier) and 16 patents. He has delivered 17 talks as keynote/invited speaker in international conferences since 2016. He has been invited as Guest Editor for two SCI journals, as reviewer for over 10 SCI journals.

Prof Xiaodong Wang, a professor and doctoral supervisor at QUT,

Prof Xiaodong Wang, a professor and doctoral supervisor at QUT, is a representative scholar in the fields of smart water systems and environmental big data. His research focuses on the soft sensing, model predictive control, and intelligent operation of wastewater treatment processes. Key research directions include real-time monitoring based on ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, data-driven and mechanistic model-integrated algorithms for precise carbon source dosing, and quantitative image analysis of biofilm morphology. Since returning to China to teach in 2018, he has led national-level projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Program and sub-projects of the National Key Research and Development Program. He has also deeply participated in several major international collaborative research initiatives, including those funded by the Norwegian Research Council, the EU Horizon 2020 program, and the Erasmus+ program. To date, he has published over 30 SCI-indexed papers.

Collaborating Organisations

SWIQ is a member

SWIQ is a member of the Water Harmony educational and research network consisting with over 100 organisations from 54 countries from all continents. The network was initiated and led by the Prof. Harsha Ratnaweera in 2012 to harmonise water related graduate education across the globe; to continuously and collectively improve the global quality of water-related education through sharing of best practices.

https://waterharmony.net/