Alumni Story: Dr Queena K. Qian
Country of origin: Hong Kong
Home organisation: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (during the Endeavour Cheung Kong program 2013)
Host organisation: University of South Australia
Research field: Building Energy Efficiency, green building promotion
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The Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowship programme allows young researchers to dream boldly about the future, and provides wonderful opportunities to work with world famous institutes and professor of your choice. It is a training arena for us to bravely adapt to a new environment, work with an international team and grow in confidence and independence.
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Dr Queena K. Qian aspiring to be an accomplished researcher in the field of sustainable development.
Dr Queena K. Qian is Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands and is particularly interested in green building promotion, improving market incentives and building energy efficiency and transaction costs. Her PhD thesis titled ‘Barriers to promote building energy efficiency - a transaction costs perspective’ was an interdisciplinary research project encompassing contemporary energy and environment issues.
Outcomes of fellowship
Queena took part in several projects, taking the lead on a project measuring resource consumption and waste management in various urban building scenarios.
Her research report, ‘Framework for Low Carbon Precinct Design from a Zero Waste Approach’ was published in the International Journal of Waste Management.
“My Endeavour fellowship experience has facilitated me to adapt into a multi-cultural working environment and I now feel confident about fitting into a new project and leading the international research team with satisfying research outputs, and make a valuable contribution from my research expertise.”
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Highlights of the fellowship
“My Endeavour fellowship experience enabled me to adapt into a multi-cultural working environment and I now feel confident about working on new projects and leading international research teams.”
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Quality professional development opportunities
While undertaking her Endeavour fellowship, Queena worked on projects at the Zero Waste Centre for Sustainable Design & Behaviour, School of Art, Architecture and Design, at University of South Australia (UniSA).
She took part in several research projects, and led the "A building oriented resource model-measuring resource consumption and waste management in various urban building scenarios" project.
As lead and secondary author, Queena has had numerous papers about green building, building energy efficiency and transaction costs published in refereed journals. You can view these at her Google Scholar page.
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Highlights of the fellowship
Queena had the opportunity to work on projects at the Zero Waste Centre for Sustainable Design & Behaviour, School of Art, Architecture and Design, at University of South Australia (UniSA). She took part in leading the research projects including ‘A building oriented resource model-measuring resource consumption and waste management in various urban building scenarios’.
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What opportunities have there been since completing the fellowship?
After completing her fellowship, Queena went back to her home institute, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK PolyU) to continue her postdoctoral research, securing a position as Research Assistant Professor and appointed as Co-Investigator of a joint project of UniSA (Australia), Tianjin University (China), University of Tibet (China) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong), titled, ‘Material flow, resource-efficiency and zero waste management’.
Following these projects she received a tenure-tracked Assistant Professor at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.
“I believe the Endeavour fellowship gave me the skills and experience, and brought me good luck, to pursue my academic career up to this stage and will stay with me all along my academic career.”
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Recommendations for future Endeavour Executive fellows
“It is very important to gain and maintain friendships not only for personal happiness but because it’s these networks that lead to academic and career success.
“Professors and friends you meet will inspire you to learn and train you as an international citizen with the capacity to embrace new environments and new tasks.”
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Alumni Network
After completing the Endeavour programme, participants like Queena become part of an alumni network which enables them to continue to build and develop valuable relationships and network with peers.
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About the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Research Fellowship
The fellowship provides financial support for postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows from participating Asian countries to undertake short-term research (4-6 months) in any field, in Australia and for Australians to do the same in participating Asian countries.
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About the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships
The Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships are the Australian Government’s internationally competitive, merit-based scholarships that provide opportunities for Australians and overseas citizens to undertake study, research and professional development around the world.
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Further information
for further details on how to apply.
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IAJN
International Alumni Job Network
