International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Shaoqi ZHOU

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 2020, Professor Shaoqi Zhou is a Chinese environmental engineer whose research and professional work have focused on biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal, electron-stoichiometric theory, and the engineering application of environmental biotechnology for water pollution control. Born in Yiyang, Hunan Province, in April 1964, he received his bachelor’s degree in chemical machinery, master’s degree in engineering mechanics, and doctorate in biochemical engineering from Dalian University of Technology between 1983 and 1993. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research in fermentation engineering at South China University of Technology and in environmental engineering at The University of Hong Kong. He joined the faculty of South China University of Technology in 1995, where he became Professor and Doctoral Supervisor and headed its Department of Municipal Engineering and Institute of Solid-Waste Resource Utilisation and Environmental Biotechnology. He was a Royal Society Visiting Professor at Middlesex University in the United Kingdom in 2002 and a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Waterloo in Canada in 2009. In 2013, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Guizhou Academy of Sciences and subsequently served as Vice President of Guizhou University from 2021. He is currently Second-Level Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Guizhou University and Director of the Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Environment Protection and Treatment. He has also served as an expert on the Science and Application Expert Committee of China’s national lunar exploration programme. His honours include the Guizhou Highest Science and Technology Award for 2019 and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Scientific and Technological Innovation. His academic career has combined environmental biotechnology and water pollution control with research in karst ecological protection and the training of more than

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Professor Zhou’s research has centred on the biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater, particularly the theoretical basis and engineering optimisation of processes for controlling eutrophication. In 1998, he proposed an electron-flow conservation principle and an electron-stoichiometric methodology for biochemical reactions, establishing quantitative models for the simultaneous removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic matter through analysis of electron transfer. He subsequently applied molecular biological approaches to investigate denitrifying phosphorus-accumulating organisms and identified new microbial species with flexible electron-acceptor pathways, providing additional evidence for the design of biological wastewater treatment processes. Building on this theoretical and microbiological research, his team developed biological treatment technologies and equipment for applications including industrial effluent, landfill leachate, and municipal and rural wastewater. His work has followed a continuous pathway from mechanism-based research through process development, equipment, intellectual property, engineering implementation, and industrial application, with more than 150 domestic and international patents licensed for use in multiple regions of China. His achievements have received a National Science and Technology Progress Award, China Patent Awards, a Ministry of Education Science and Technology Progress Award, and other national and provincial honours. He has published more than 340 SCI/EI papers and ten monographs. Through sustained theoretical research and its translation into engineering practice, Professor Zhou has contributed to the development of environmental biotechnology, biological nutrient removal, and water pollution control in China.