ESR7 – Zhongda Liu

Zhongda Liu is a chemical engineer from China who specializes in the environmental issues. He is now a PhD researcher at the University of Patras, in Greece.

Zhongda obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the Wuhan University of Technology in 2016. Later, he continued his master’s study in the same department and specialized in the heterogeneous catalysis for wastewater treatment, exploring novel carbon materials and ultrasound-assisted advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). During his master’s study, he participated in two research projects, published three journal articles, and made two oral presentations at the international conferences. He was also awarded the First-class Scholarships and received the Merit Student Award in his university.

After the graduation in 2019, he was hired as a research assistant in his group for six months. Afterwards, he worked in the semiconductor industry for four months as an etch process engineer for wafer manufacturing.

Now, he is an early stage researcher in the MSCA-ETN InnovEOX project, taking the role of ESR7 focusing on the non-faradaic electrochemical modification of catalytic activity (NEMCA effect) for wastewater treatment, under the supervision of Prof. Alexandros Katsaounis (UPatras) and co-supervision of Dr. Achim Ried (Xylem) and Prof. Frédéric Lynen (UGent). This will be the first systematic study of NEMCA effect in wastewater treatment.

Apart from research, Zhongda also has a passion for basketball and table tennis. He also enjoys challenging his brain with chess and Rubik’s cube.