Where are they now: Junguo Liu

© Junguo Liu

Currently Chair Professor in the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in China, Junguo Liu is also a senior guest researcher at IIASA and an alumnus of the 2005 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP). His main research interests include hydrology and water resources, global environmental change, and ecological restoration.

“As a scientist, I am interested in answering critical questions such as how water resources, water quality, and water scarcity are affected by climate change and socioeconomic activities, how they vary among regions and how they may evolve in the future, and what management strategies could effectively mitigate water scarcity,” notes Liu.

To answer these questions, he is interested in working on an integrated water scarcity assessment framework or the three-dimensional water scarcity assessment framework that incorporates water quantity, quality, and environmental flow requirements. In this regard, Liu has collaborated on developing several simulation tools for assessing water resources and water scarcity, including the Water and Ecosystem Simulator (WAYS) model, and the GIS-based Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (GEPIC) model.

“A novel aspect of my research is to develop an integrated hydro-economy approach, which enables tracing the water flows among economic sectors and across regions,” explains Liu. "A unique aspect of this is the emphasis on translating scientific research results into water policies and solving critical problems of societal relevance."