The 12th International Conference on Water Resource and Environment (WRE 2026)

Biography: Dr. Zhimin Qiang is a distinguished professor at the School of Environmental Science & Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and had served as the director of Drinking Water Science and Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the director of Sate Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry of China. His research covers advanced treatment, green disinfection, and safe distribution of water and wastewater. Prof. Qiang has led over 40 research projects, published about 250 SCI papers (H index = 62) and 120 Chinese papers, and been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Elsevier in China. He holds 20 innovation patents and has received 8 national/provincial honors and awards.

Biography: Dr. Jia is a professor of School of Environment in Tsinghua University. He currently acts as the Director of Center for Urban Runoff Control & Stream Restoration, Co-Editor-In-Chief of Water Energy Nexus and Co-Chair of International Working Group on Urban Streams (IWGUS), IWA/IAHR JUCD. Dr. Jia has completed 110+ research projects in areas of sponge city and resilience city, urban runoff control, water quality simulation modelling, urban river rehabilitation and water resources management. He has engaged in collaborative research extensively with international colleagues: such as served as a Visiting Professor in Korea, USA, UK, Germany and Netherlands. He is also very active in participating in international academic activities and international organizations, including ASCE/EWRI, IWA, IAHR, etc. in addition, he served as Member of Chinese National Sponge city construction technical committee, Vice Director of Sponge city construction committee of China Urban Water Association, Director of Academic Board of Suzhou Sponge City Research Institute. He also was appointed by many municipal government as consultant expert for sponge city construction and water environment protection, include Shanghai, Nanping, Shantou, Foshan, Qingyang, Hohhot, etc.

Biography: Dr. Hyunook Kim is Professor at Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Korea, and Director of R&D Center of Core Technologies for Water Treatment. Professor Kim earned his B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Yonsei University, Korea in 1994, and an M.S. degree in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1997, and a Ph.D. from University of Maryland at College Park in 2000. Before he joined the faculty member at University of Seoul in 2002, he worked as Environmental Engineer for US Dept. of Agriculture, MD, USA. Professor Kim’s research in the area of water pollution control includes a number of projects on process control and operation of water and wastewater treatment plants. Especially he is interested in monitoring and control of contaminants of emerging concern. He has published numerous journal papers and made conference presentations. He has been received a few awards for his academic and research achievements.

Abstract: Monitoring emerging contaminants in aquatic environments increasingly requires approaches that go beyond concentration measurements alone. This is particularly true in dynamic urban water systems, where contaminant occurrence can vary rapidly and where complex mixtures, transformation processes and changing environmental conditions complicate the interpretation of conventional targeted measurements. Moving from simple detection toward a better understanding of contaminant sources, persistence and transformation therefore requires complementary analytical perspectives.
Stable isotope analysis provides such a process-oriented perspective by tracking changes in the isotopic composition of contaminants during transformation. Examples from pesticide and pharmaceutical studies show how isotope fractionation can help identify degradation pathways and distinguish between processes that may produce similar concentration trends or transformation products. For the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole, the combination of carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements with controlled photochemical and sediment-water experiments revealed the strong influence of environmental conditions on contaminant persistence and transformation. Characterization of aquatic organic matter using optical indices and fluorescence-based approaches provides complementary information on the environmental matrix and its evolution, helping to place contaminant behaviour within its broader biogeochemical context.
High-resolution mass spectrometry adds another dimension by extending monitoring beyond predefined target compounds. Suspect and non-target screening can reveal metabolites, transformation products and previously overlooked chemical signals, providing a broader view of contaminant dynamics and complementing isotope-based interpretation. Together, these approaches can help bridge the gap between identifying what is present and understanding the processes that control its evolution.
Finally, translating such analytical strategies to highly variable field conditions remains challenging. Emerging smart-monitoring approaches, including automated and event-responsive sampling platforms such as the developing FLOWSCANNER smart system, may help improve the temporal resolution of environmental observations and better connect advanced chemical analyses with short-lived contamination events.
By combining isotope tracing, characterization of the environmental matrix, non-target screening and improved sampling strategies, environmental monitoring can progressively move beyond contaminant detection alone toward a more process-informed understanding of contaminant occurrence, sources, transformation and fate in urban aquatic systems. These approaches are now being extended to illicit drugs and their metabolites, for which highly variable inputs, complex transformation pathways and mixed sources make conventional monitoring particularly challenging. Combining event-responsive sampling, high-resolution mass spectrometry and isotope-based information may provide new opportunities to better characterize their occurrence, sources and fate in urban waters.

Biography: Dr. Jérémy Masbou is an Associate Professor at the National School for Water and Environmental Engineering of Strasbourg (ENGEES), France, and a researcher at the Institut Terre et Environnement de Strasbourg (ITES, UMR 7063, University of Strasbourg-CNRS-ENGEES). His research focuses on innovative monitoring strategies for emerging contaminants in aquatic environments, with particular emphasis on urban water quality, illicit drugs, pesticides, and microplastics. He develops advanced environmental monitoring approaches combining automated high-frequency sampling, wastewater-based epidemiology, compound-specific isotope analysis, and state-of-the-art analytical chemistry to better understand pollutant sources, transport, and transformation. His work aims to support sustainable water resource management and evidence-based environmental decision-making. He has coordinated and contributed to several national and international research projects dedicated to urban water monitoring, contaminant source tracking, and the development of innovative tools for water quality assessment.