Dr. Lan Wu | Emerging Research Trends – University of Technology Sydney (UTS) | Australia
Dr. Lan Wu is a highly accomplished Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), with a dynamic profile in environmental biotechnology, wastewater treatment, and industrial collaboration. Since 2025, she has contributed to both academia and industry through her concurrent roles as a guest lecturer at UNSW, an emissions and decarbonisation analyst at GHG Analytics Pty Ltd, and an active collaborator with prominent companies such as The Kanoo Group and TasWater. Her multifaceted contributions are centered around optimizing emissions reporting strategies and innovating energy-efficient environmental systems, bridging academic research and industrial impact.
Professional Profile
Education
Dr. Wu’s educational journey reflects academic excellence and international reach. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in 2023. Prior to this, she completed her Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering in 2018 and a Bachelor’s degree in the same field in 2014 from the Ocean University of China. Her academic formation laid a robust foundation for a research-intensive and innovation-driven career in environmental sustainability and resource recovery.
Experience
Her professional experience spans research, teaching, and industrial consultancy. Between 2023 and 2025, Dr. Wu served as a postdoctoral researcher at UTS, where she co-supervised Ph.D. students and forged vital industry-academic partnerships. Concurrently, she has been involved in teaching across various capacities since 2019, delivering core environmental engineering subjects such as Renewable Energy Technologies, Sanitation Engineering, and Capstone Projects. In 2025, she took on new roles at UNSW and GHG Analytics, focusing on emissions management and low-carbon solutions for leading organizations. Her expertise is also actively shared through public seminars and international collaborations, marking her as a nexus of scientific research and practical application.
Research Interest
Dr. Wu’s research revolves around transformative environmental technologies and processes. Her interests include wastewater and sludge management, anaerobic digestion, biowaste-to-energy conversion, micro/nanoplastics toxicology, environmental material innovation, and bioprocess modeling. She is particularly engaged in developing integrated systems that convert organic waste into valuable biofuels, as evidenced by her leadership in major collaborative projects and pitch competitions. Additionally, she contributes to policy-relevant topics like emissions reduction and sustainable wastewater practices.
Awards and Recognition
Recognized both nationally and internationally, Dr. Wu has received multiple prestigious awards. These include being a finalist in the 2024 CISRO On Acceleration Program and the UTS Research Translation Competition, both placing her in the top 5% of participants. She has also earned accolades such as the UTS Post Thesis Award (2023), the HDR Students Excellence Award (Top 2%, 2022), and the WiEIT Award (Top 5%, 2022). Her earlier achievements include competitive Chinese national scholarships, such as the Roberto Rocca Education Program Scholarship and the China Scholarship Council Award for Ph.D. study abroad. These honors collectively reflect her academic excellence, research leadership, and social contribution.
Publication
Liu, X., Wei, W., Chen, Z., Wu, L., Duan, H., Zheng, M., Wang, D., & Ni, B.J. (2025). “The threats of micro- and nanoplastics to aquatic ecosystems and water health” in Nature Water (Cited by 12).
Qian, J., Bai, S., Wu, L., Geng, M., Chen, G., & Jiang, F. (2025). “Energy recovery from corn straw-based biochar@MIL-88A(Fe)-mediated anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge under norfloxacin: metabolism and antibiotic resistance gene fates” in Journal of Environmental Sciences (Cited by 3).
Xu, W., Wu, L., Geng, M., Zhou, J., Bai, S., Nguyen, D.V., Ma, R., Wu, D., & Qian, J. (2025). “Biochar@MIL-88A(Fe) accelerates direct interspecies electron transfer and hydrogen transfer in waste activated sludge anaerobic digestion: Exploring electron transfer and biomolecular mechanisms” in Environmental Research (Cited by 5).
Wang, Y., Wu, S.-L., Wei, W., Wu, L., Huang, S., Dai, X., & Ni, B.J. (2025). “pH-dependent medium-chain fatty acid synthesis in waste activated sludge fermentation: Metabolic pathway regulation” in Journal of Environmental Management (Cited by 8).
Wang, C., Wei, W., Wu, L., Liu, X., Duan, H., Chen, Z., Hou, Y.-N., Chen, X., & Ni, B.J. (2024). “Electron Donor-Driven Microalgae Upgrading into High-Value Fatty Acids via a Microbial Platform” in ACS ES&T Engineering (Cited by 10).
Wu, L., Wei, W., Ni, B.J. (2023). “Microplastics inhibition in waste-to-energy conversion: understanding biochemical barriers” in Bioresource Technology (Cited by 22).
Wu, L., Wei, W. (2019). “Syngas fermentation for biofuel production from organic waste streams” in Renewable Energy (Cited by 19).