Research Station:
A Liberal Academic Environment Inspires Interdisciplinary Inspiration
On April 22, 2026, the Civil Engineering Postdoctoral Research Station of Shantou University welcomed its first postdoctoral fellow to complete his research: Dr. Tariq Ali from Pakistan.
Over the past two years, he has conducted research related to municipal engineering, publishing and submitting several high-level papers on wastewater treatment and sustainable hydrogen production. He noted that the
liberal academic atmosphere at STU has inspired his interdisciplinary research.
Treating Waste with Waste: A Win-Win between Wastewater Treatment and Clean Energy
In May 2024, Dr. Tariq Ali joined the Civil Engineering Postdoctoral Research Station of Shantou University as its first-ever postdoctoral researcher, under the supervision of Professor Xiao Yeyuan.
Prior to his appointment, he had published numerous high-quality papers in top international journals such as
Advanced Science and
ChemSusChem, and received multiple honors including the
Chinese Government Scholarship for Outstanding International Students, demonstrating strong research potential.
During his two years at STU, Dr. Tariq Ali carried out systematic and in-depth research on the application of functional nanomaterials in wastewater treatment and sustainable hydrogen production, forming two distinctive research directions: photocatalytic degradation and electrochemical hydrogen production.
In response to the dense printing and dyeing industry and complex wastewater composition in eastern Guangdong, Tariq developed a series of novel heterojunction photocatalysts. He successfully constructed two heterojunction systems — CoAl-LDH/CoOx and TiO₂/CoAl-LDH — achieving highly efficient decolorization of complex printing and dyeing wastewater assisted by UV light and hydrogen peroxide.
Relevant achievements, with Shantou University as the first affiliation, were published in
Journal of Materials Chemistry C and
Journal of Water Process Engineering.
This research systematically revealed the interfacial charge transfer mechanism and structure-activity relationship, providing important theoretical support for the optimization of practical wastewater treatment processes.
Building on this, Tariq further shifted his focus from
pollutant degradation to
simultaneous energy recovery.
He innovatively proposed an Fe-driven surface reconstruction strategy for Ni₃S₂ nanosheet electrodes and developed a highly efficient and stable urea-assisted water electrolysis system for hydrogen production.
This work has been submitted to
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy and is expected to open a new avenue for the resource utilization of nitrogen-containing waste liquid, embodying the circular economy concept of “treating waste with waste”.
A Liberal Atmosphere Sparks Interdisciplinary Inspiration
“The academic atmosphere here is very free and very relaxed,” Tariq said with enthusiasm.
He earned his doctoral degree at Soochow University and completed his first postdoctoral fellowship at Zhejiang Normal University, but STU offered him a distinctive experience — more inspiration, fewer constraints.
He described his supervisor, Professor Xiao Yeyuan, as “a very nice, thoughtful and encouraging mentor”, who cared for his family and encouraged him to test every creative idea in the laboratory.
Tariq’s research is not confined to traditional environmental engineering.
During his postdoctoral tenure, he actively participated in interdisciplinary collaborative research, including work related to nanomedicine, and co-authored several SCI papers.
In addition, he completed a review paper on cutting-edge advances in photocatalytic wastewater treatment, comprehensively summarizing technical challenges and future directions from complex wastewater to clean water, reflecting his broad vision in interdisciplinary fields.
Such exploration spanning environment, materials, biomedicine and other disciplines vividly reflects STU’s encouragement of cross-disciplinary innovation.
First to Complete, Yet More Than Just a “First”
Tariq’s research achievements benefited from the platform support accumulated over years by the Civil Engineering discipline at STU.
Since 2003, the discipline has established a complete education system covering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, and was approved for a postdoctoral research station in 2023.
Supported by multiple research platforms including the
Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology (Ministry of Education), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Structure and Wind Tunnel, and Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Structural Safety and Monitoring, the discipline has formed distinctive strengths in structures, bridges, geotechnics, new materials and municipal engineering, providing ideal equipment and funding support for postdoctoral research.
Tariq’s successful completion of his postdoctoral research validates the effectiveness of STU’s training mechanism for high-level innovative talents in civil engineering.
From a small village in Mardan to laboratories in Suzhou, and then to the beautiful campus of Shantou University, Dr. Tariq Ali has pursued his scientific research dream in China over more than a decade as a young Pakistani scholar.
As the first graduate of the Civil Engineering Postdoctoral Research Station at STU, he is both a witness and a participant-builder of the discipline’s development.
Today, more young scholars like him are joining, enabling the Civil Engineering discipline at Shantou University to embrace broader prospects in the interdisciplinary development of coastal smart cities.
This is also a vivid example of Shantou University attracting outstanding young scholars worldwide and serving the
Belt and Road Initiative.
Written by Yang Xueyu, Yu Yijing
