Curriculum vitae

Professional title

• October 2025 Assistant Researcher (助理研究员)
  Guangdong Province / Guangzhou University research-series title evaluation committee The research-track equivalent of Assistant Professor.

Appointments

• 2023.06 – presentPostdoctoral Researcher, Guangzhou University
• 2021.02 – 2023.03Postdoctoral Researcher, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen
• 2020.09 – 2020.12Junior Research Staff, CAS Institute of Urban Environment, Xiamen

Education

• 2016 – 2020 Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Dissertation research at the CAS Institute of Urban Environment, Xiamen, under Prof. Chang-Ping Yu. Defence announcement, CAS IUE
• 2014 – 2016 M.E., Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Supercritical Fluid Laboratory, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, under Prof. Jun Li. Lab team page
• 2008 – 2012 B.S., Applied Chemistry, University of Rwanda

Research mentoring

• 2022 – present Co-supervisor, MSc candidates
  Guangzhou University and Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen Two MSc candidates: one at HIT on selective catalytic reduction systems, completed 2023; one ongoing at Guangzhou University on functionalised adsorbent design for rare-earth recovery. Day-to-day experimental guidance, literature support and manuscript mentoring.
• 2023 – present Laboratory mentor and research trainer
  Guangzhou University Training junior researchers and students on XRD, BET, FT-IR, XPS, SEM-EDX and ICP-MS.

Classroom teaching

• 2012 – 2014 Science teacher
  Mibilizi Complex School, Rusizi, Rwanda Full curriculum delivery in chemistry, mathematics and biology; prepared students for the Rwandan national certificate examination.

Funding as Principal Investigator

Patent

Method for selective recovery of rare earth elements from industrial wastewater and sludge using functionalized β-cyclodextrin polymer composites

Q. Sun, F. Nkinahamira, C.-P. Yu · Granted · ZL 2020 1 1201861.8

Editorial and review service

• Editorial Board Member, Discover Sustainability (Springer Nature), 2026–present
• Early Career Editorial Board Member, Processes (MDPI), 2026
• Guest Editor (with Dr. Lijie Zhang, New Jersey Institute of Technology), collection "Interdisciplinary: Recovery of Critical Raw Materials from Secondary Sources: Selective Separation and Circular Strategies" — Discover Applied Sciences (Springer Nature), IF 3.8, open access. Open for submissions; deadline 27 May 2027.

Around 60 reviews across 27 international journals, spanning all four major publishers — Springer Nature, Elsevier, Wiley and MDPI. Fifty-two reviews across twenty journals are verified on ORCID.

Selected presentations

• 10th Industrial & Research Conference on Microalgae — China Algae Industry Association, Nanchang, 2024
• 5th IWA Resource Recovery Conference — Shenzhen, 2023
• 3rd Youth China Students' Forum — oral presentation, “Detection and Recovery of REEs from Wastewater and Sludge”, Xiamen, 2019
• UCAS Summer School on Frontier & Interdisciplinary Sciences — oral presentation, “Recovery of REEs from Industrial Wastewater and Sludge”, Beijing, 2019
• Urban Environment & Health Forum, Environmental Technology Summit — Xiamen, 2017

Methods and capabilities

Synthesis

COFs, β-CD polymers, magnetic composites, dendritic fibrous nanosilica, core-shell catalysts, ionic-liquid-grafted mesoporous materials.

Characterisation

XRD, BET, FT-IR, XPS, SEM-EDX, TEM, ICP-MS, TGA, zeta potential.

Process engineering

Flow reactor systems, adsorption columns, leaching–separation–recovery workflows; techno-economic modelling with sensitivity analysis.

Collaboration

Joint projects across more than ten institutions in China, Africa and the United States; co-supervision of MSc candidates.

Languages

• English — proficient, medium of instruction
• French — fluent
• Kinyarwanda — native
• Chinese (Mandarin) — basic

Elsewhere

56 publications and the full list are on the publications page. Editorial boards, peer review and awards are on editorial & service.