Associate Professor Shihu Hu

Researcher biography
A/Prof Hu is an environmental scientist and engineer. He has a track record in both undertaking ground-breaking research works and applying fundamental research to develop practical solutions. A/Prof Hu's research and discoveries help established previously unrecognised links between the global carbon, nitrogen and metal cycles, as shown by his publications in Nature and The ISME Journal, which have significant implications in methane emissions from aquatic environments. A/Prof Hu has also been working intensively with water industry partners in developing novel water technologies. A/Prof Hu has worked as a CI and project manager of many industry projects (total cash budget > $12 M) in collaboration with Australian and international water utilities on sulfide control and carbon and nutrients removal and recovery in wastewater, resulting in many publications including in Science, Water Research, Environmental Science and Technology.
A/Prof Hu is an Executive Committee member of UQ's Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, which is one of the top three water research centres in the world. He has played a leadership role in the joint establishment and management of the Urban Utilities Innovation Centre since 2014, which is now regarded as the best platform for demonstration and translation of novel water treatment technology in Australia.
As an expert in new technology scale-up, he has won 10+ awards for collaborative R&D projects:
- Australian Water Association (AWA) Queensland R&D Excellence Award 2022 for project 'Transforming wastewater treatment in regional Australia', as a CI
- UQ Awards for Excellence 2022 - Promoting Industry Engagement in Graduate Research, as program leader
- AWA Queensland Infrastructure Project Innovation Award 2021 for project 'Australia's first municipal sidestream anammox treatment facility', as the UQ representative
- AWA Qld R&D Excellence Award 2020 for project 'Zero-energy sewage treatment, harnessing the power of biogas', as a CI and project co-leader
- Finalist for AWA Qld R&D Excellence Award 2020 for project 'Urban Utilities algae research project/program', as a project CI
- AWA Qld R&D Excellence Award 2019 for project 'An integrated approach to iron salt use in urban water systems', as a team member
- UQ Awards for Excellence - Partners in Research Excellence Awards 2017
- Queensland Urban Utilities Research Innovation Award 2017
- AWA National R&D Excellence Award 2017 for project 'Nitrogen removal from wastewater while maximising resource recovery potential', as project co-leader
- Advance Queensland Research Fellowship 2016
- AWA Qld R&D Excellence Award 2016 for project 'Affordable and sustainable water recycling through optimal technology integration', as project co-leader
- Finalist for AWA Qld R&D Excellence Award 2015 for project 'Queensland Urban Utilities Innovation Centre', as project co-leader
- International Water Association (IWA) Global Project Innovation Award 2014 for Project 'Sewer Corrosion and Odour Research (SCORe) - Putting Science in Sewers', as a team member
Teaching
WATR 7103: Advanced Wastewater and Biosolids Treatment (Course Coordinator and lecturer)
WATR 6105: Integrated Urban Water Management (lecturer)
Lecturer for UQ IWES program
Featured projects | Duration |
---|---|
Dissolved methane-supported denitrification to enable mainstream bioenergy recovery from wastewaster Australian Research Council |
2020–2023 |
Fundamental understanding and application of the metabolic pathway for VFA/electricity production through Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane (AOM) Australian Research Council |
2018–2021 |
MERINO: Maximizing energy recovery through innovative nitrogen removal | 2016–2021 |
An innovative nitrogen removal process by coupling anammox and methane-dependent denitrification Australian Research Council |
2009 |
Water Cycle Management for NEOM | 2019–2022 |
Production of valuable chemicals from gaseous waste Australian Research Council |
2022–2024 |
Revolutionising sludge management turning costly waste into a safe product | 2021–2024 |
Transforming Regional Treatment in Australia - A CRC-P Project | 2019–2023 |