Position: Vice Dean of UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development

Academic Title: Distinguished Researcher/Tenured Associate Professor, Doctoral Supervisor

Phone: 021-65983125

Email: jingsun@tongji.edu.cn

Personal Profile

Dr. Sun Jing graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, Australia. She was selected for the national-level high-level young talent program and Shanghai Oriental Talent (Youth Project). Dr. Sun has long been engaged in research on water pollution control and resource utilization, achieving innovative results in areas such as anaerobic biological treatment and resource recovery from sewage sludge, microplastic and other emerging pollutant controls, safe operation of sewage systems, and greenhouse gas reduction. Her research findings have been cited multiple times in environmental policy documents released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

She has led or participated in over 20 research projects including the National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program, Major National Science and Technology Projects on Water Pollution Control, and the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRC for Water Sensitive City) in Australia. She has published more than 60 SCI papers with an H-index of 33. Among these, she authored or co-authored 30 first/corresponding author SCI papers, including 16 papers in top-tier journals Environmental Science & Technology and Water Research, with 5 papers being highly cited by ESI and one paper cited over 800 times. She also holds 18 patents.

Dr. Sun was listed among the world's top 2% scientists in 2022 and 2023. She received awards such as the Young Australia China Alumni of the Year Award, IWA Global Project Innovation Award, and Shanghai Technical Invention Second Prize. Courses taught by her have been recognized as national first-class undergraduate courses, Shanghai university quality courses, and Tongji University ideological and political demonstration courses.

Professional Affiliations

Dr. Sun serves as a young member of the Management Committee of the International Water Association (IWA) Modelling and Integrated Assessment Expert Group, editorial board member or young editorial board member for several JCR Q1 journals including Environmental Research, Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Frontiers in Microbiology, Sustainable Horizons, and Chinese Journal of Water Supply and Drainage. She is also a reviewer for more than 20 SCI journals and international conferences including Water Research, ES&T, CEJ. Under her guidance, many graduate students have won national scholarships, outstanding master's theses at Tongji University, and other honors.

Research Interests

• Biological Treatment and Resource Utilization of Sewage Sludge

• Optimization and Management of Drainage Networks

• Environmental Impact and Control of Emerging Pollutants

• Simulation and Modeling of Sewage Systems

Teaching and Research

(I) Courses Taught

• Industrial Wastewater Pollution Prevention and Control    

• Environmental Literature Search and Thesis Writing    

• Graduation Internship    

• Environmental Monitoring (Fully English-taught)

(II) Research Projects

1. National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program (52270092), PI, Ongoing  

2. National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program (51978492), PI, Ongoing  

3. National Natural Science Foundation of China Young Scientists Fund (51608374), PI, Completed  

4. Independent Project, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (PCRRE20005), Ongoing

5. Tongji University Outstanding Young Talent Training Action Plan (2016KJ012), PI, Completed  

6. Independent Project, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (PCRRY15011), PI, Completed 

7. Sub-project, National Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control (2017ZX07202003-07), Participant, Ongoing  

8. National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program (51578391), Participant, Completed  

9. Shanghai Environmental and Ecology IV Peak Discipline Construction Innovation Team, Participant, Ongoing

10. Australia Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRC WSC), Participant, Completed

(III) Selected Publications

1. Tang, Y., Sun, J.*,Dong, B., Dai, X.,* (2022) Thermal Hydrolysis Pretreatment-Anaerobic Digestion Promotes Plant-Growth Biostimulants Production from Sewage Sludge by Upregulating Aromatic Amino Acids Transformation and Quinones Supply. Environmental Science & Technology,56(3) 1938-1950

2. Sun, J., Zhu, Z.-R., Li, W.-H., Yan, X. Wang, L.-K., Zhang, L., Jin, J., Dai, X., Ni, B.-J., (2021) Revisiting Microplastics in Landfill Leachate: Unnoticed Tiny Microplastics and Their Fate in Treatment Works. Water Research, 190, 116784

3. Tang, Y., Xie, H., Sun, J.*,  Li, X., Zhang, Y., Dai, X.*, (2022) Alkaline thermal hydrolysis of sewage sludge to produce high-quality liquid fertilizer rich in nitrogen-containing plant-growth-promoting nutrients and biostimulants. Water Research, 211, 118036

4. Ni, B.-J., Yan, X., Dai, X., Liu, Z., Wei, W., Wu, S.-L., Xu, Q.,Sun, J.*(2020) Ferrate effectively removes antibiotic resistance genes from wastewater through combined effect of microbial DNA damage and coagulation,Water Research, 185, 116273

5. Ni, B.-J., Zhu, Z.-R., Li, W.-H., Yan, X., Wei, W. Xu, Q., Dai, X.,Sun, J.* (2020) Microplastics Mitigation in Sewage Sludge through Pyrolysis: The Role of Pyrolysis Temperature. Environmental Science & Technology Letters,  7(12), pp. 961–967

6. Yan, X.,Sun, J.*Kenjiahan, A., Dai, X., Ni, B.-J.*, and Yuan, Z.(2020) Rapid and strong biocidal effect of ferrate on sulfidogenic and methanogenic sewer biofilms,Water Research, 169,115208

7. Wu, S.-L.#,Sun, J.，#，*Chen, X., Wei, W., Song, L., Dai, X., and Ni, B.-J*. (2020) Unveiling the mechanisms of medium-chain fatty acid production from waste activated sludge alkaline fermentation liquor through physiological, thermodynamic and metagenomic investigations.Water Research,169, 115218

8. Sun, J., Dai, X., Wang, Q., van Loosdrecht, M.C.M., and Ni, B.-J. (2019) Microplastics in wastewater treatment plants: Detection, occurrence and removal. Water Research,152, 21-37.(ESI热点论文，前0.1%)

9. Wei, W., Huang, Q.-S.,Sun, J.*, Dai, X., and Ni, B.-J*.,(2019) Revealing the Mechanisms of Polyethylene Microplastics Affecting Anaerobic Digestion of Waste Activated Sludge. Environmental Science and Technology,53(16) 9604-9613

10. Sun, J., Ni, B.J. Sharma, K.R., Wang, Q., Hu, S., Q Wang, and Yuan, Z. (2018) Modelling the long-term effect of wastewater compositions on maximum sulfide and methane production rates of sewer biofilm. Water Research, 129, 58-65.

11. Sun, J., Hu, S., Sharma, K.R., Ni, B.J. and Yuan, Z. (2015), Degradation of methanethiol in anaerobic sewers and its correlation with methanogenic activities. Water Research,69, 80-89.

12. Sun, J., Pikaar, I., Sharma, K.R., Keller, J. and Yuan, Z. (2015), Feasibility of sulfide control in sewers by reuse of iron rich coagulation sludge. Water Research, 71, 150-159.

13. Sun, J.,Hu, S., Sharma, K.R., Keller-Lehmann, B. and Yuan, Z., (2014), An efficient method for measuring dissolved VOSCs in wastewater using GC–SCD with static headspace technique,Water Research, 52, 208-217.

14. Sun, J., Hu, S., Sharma, K.R., Ni, B.J. and Yuan, Z. (2014), Stratified microbial structure and activity in sulfide- and methane- producing anaerobic sewer biofilms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 80：7042-7052 (期刊亮点论文)

15. Sun, J., Dai, X., Liu, Y., Peng, L., and Ni, B.J. (2017) Sulfide removal and sulfur production in a membrane aerated biofilm reactor: Model evaluation.Chemical Engineering Journal.309, 454-462

16. Sun, J., Dai, X., Peng, L., Liu, Y., Wang, Q. and Ni, B.J. (2017) A biofilm model for assessing perchlorate reduction in a methane-based membrane biofilm reactor.Chemical Engineering Journal, 327, 555-563

17. Ni, B.-J., Yan, X.,Sun, J.*, Chen, X., Peng, L., Wei, W., Wang, D., Mao, S., Dai, X.,and Wang, Q. (2019) Persulfate and zero valent iron combined conditioning as a sustainable technique for enhancing dewaterability of aerobically digested sludge.Chemosphere, 232, 45-53

18. Ni, B.-J., Zeng, S., Wei, W., Dai, X., and Sun, J.*.(2020) Impact of roxithromycin on waste activated sludge anaerobic digestion: Methane production, carbon transformation and antibiotic resistance genes.Science of The Total Environment,134899,

19. Dong, B., Xia, Z.,Sun, J.*,Dai, X. Ni, B.-J* (2019) The Inhibitory Impacts of Nano-Graphene Oxide on Methane Production from Waste Activated Sludge in Anaerobic Digestion.Science of The Total Environment,646, 1376-1384

20. Sun, J., Hu, S., Sharma, K.R., Bustamante, H. and Yuan, Z. (2015), Impact of reduced water consumption on sulfide and methane production in rising main sewers.Journal of Environmental Management. 154, 307-315.

(IV) Major Awards and Honors

1. National High-Level Young Talent Program  

2. Shanghai Eastern Scholar (Young Scholar) Program  

3. Shanghai Technological Invention Award, Second Class  

4. National First-Class Undergraduate Course  

5. Tongji University Teaching Achievement Award, First Class  

6. Shanghai Municipal High-Quality Course 'Industrial Wastewater Pollution Prevention and Control'  

7. IWA Project Innovation Award  

8. Water Young Investigator Award  

9. Young Australia China Alumni of the Year Award

10. Business/Higher Education Round Table Award

(V) Academic Appointments

• Young Committee Member, IWA Modelling and Integrated Assessment Specialist Group Management Committee  

• Editorial Board Member / Youth Editorial Board Member for journals including Environmental Research (JCR Q1), Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (JCR Q1), Frontiers in Microbiology (JCR Q1), Sustainable Horizons, and China Water & Wastewater  

• Reviewer for over 20 SCI journals (e.g., Water Research, Environmental Science & Technology, Chemical Engineering Journal) and international conferences