Professor Xia Huang receives the 2025 IWA Membrane Technology Specialist Group Award

International Water Association (IWA) is pleased to announce that its Membrane Technology Specialist Group (MTSG) has awarded Professor Xia Huang of Tsinghua University the 2025 IWA MTSG Membrane Technology Award.

The prestigious prize was presented by the group during the Gala Dinner of the 11th IWA Membrane Technology Conference held in Daegu, South Korea on 16 September 2025.

The IWA MTSG Membrane Technology Award is given to a member of the IWA Specialist Group in recognition of his/her exceptional contribution to research, education and dissemination of membrane technology worldwide. This award was launched in 2009. The previous awardees are Prof. Kazuo Yamamoto (2009), Prof. Roger Ben Aim (2011), Prof. Anthony G Fane (2013), Prof. Chung-Hak Lee (2017), Prof. Miriam Balaban (2019), and Prof. Menachem Elimelech (2023).

The 2025 IWA MTSG Membrane Technology Award was presented to Professor Huang in recognition of her pioneering contributions in membrane technologies for wastewater treatment and reclamation, as well as her transformative leadership in research, standardisation, and mentoring that have shaped the field worldwide.

Xia Huang is a Professor at School of Environment in Tsinghua University, China, titled the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and the Yangtze River Scholar. Her academic journey began with BS degree from Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering, China, and MS degree from Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan, followed by a PhD in Environmental Chemistry and Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. She was Director of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control. She is currently leading a research team on wastewater treatment and resource recovery. 

Professor Huang has made ground-breaking contributions to membrane fouling mechanisms and comprehensive control strategies, hybrid membrane-bio/chemical processes, and integrated membrane technologies for engineering applications. She has published 5 books and over 500 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Nature Sustainability, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Environmental Science Technology, Water Research, and others. She is an Elsevier Highly Cited Chinese Researcher. She established the IWA Membrane Technology Specialist Group China Working Group, founded two industry-academia Research & Development centers and initiated training programmes nurturing hundreds of industry leaders. Her standardisation leadership, including authoring the Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) chapter in Biological Wastewater Treatment (IWA, 2nd Ed.), two books on membrane technology, and two technical guidelines on MBR treating municipal wastewater, accelerated the adoption of the technology. 

Professor Huang has received many outstanding awards, including 2009 Environmental Science & Technology Best Paper, 2018 Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Best Paper, and the 2nd Class of the State Science, and Technology Progress Award from the Chinese Government, three times.

Beyond her research accomplishments, Professor Huang has demonstrated outstanding commitment to teaching and mentoring. Over the years, Professor Huang has advised more than 80 graduate students and more than 40 postdoctoral researchers, many of whom now hold leading positions in academia, industry, and government. As an IWA Distinguished Fellow and former Chair of its Membrane Technology Specialist Group, she has advanced the field globally.

Further information about Professor Xia Huang can be found at HUANG Xia-School of Environment.