Dr. Congying Li
Dr. Congying Li
Dr. Congying Li is a lecturer of the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University. Congying Li has studied and worked in six countries across China, Europe, and Australia. She received her B.Eng. in Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering from Zhengzhou University, China in 2011. She was then awarded an Erasmus Mundus Grant to pursue her MSc. degree in three European countries (Poland, Netherlands, and Portugal). Congying received two MSc. diplomas from UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and the University of Lodz in 2013, as well as undertaking her summer school at the University of Algarve in 2012. Due to her contribution to sustainable development, Congying won an international award-Green Talents Award in 2013 and was invited for a research stay in Germany in 2014. After that, Congying moved to Australia and received her Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne in 2020.
Dr. Congying Li has strong expertise and passion in water research especially sustainable urban stormwater management through Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) or Sponge City. She has about ten years of research experience on WSUD from lab scale to catchment scale, using both experiments and statistical modeling. Her doctoral project investigated the potential for flow restoration in urban streams, using a long-term catchment-scale experiment in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to that, she co-invented a stormwater infiltration filter in Poland and a rainwater tank in China. She also gained professional experience in groundwater overexploitation assessment, water quality analysis, and water security regulation, through working in China and Germany.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Melbourne, 2020
- Master of Science in Water Science and Engineering (specialization: ecohydrology), UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, 2013
- Master of Science in Environmental Protection (specialization: ecohydrology), University of Lodz, 2013
- Bachelor of Engineering in Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering, Zhengzhou University, 2011
Expertise
- Sustainable urban stormwater management (i.e., urban ecohydrology, water sensitive urban design, sponge city, low impact development, green infrastructure, etc.)
- Applied statistical modeling
- Waterway ecosystem restoration
- Environmental impact assessment
Research Experience and Employment History
2021-present Lecturer, Monash University, Australia.
2015-2020 Doctoral Scholar, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
2014 Invited Visiting Scholar, IWW Water Centre, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
2012-2013 Master’s Scholar, University of Lodz, Poland; European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology, Poland; UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Netherlands.
2011-2015 Research Assistant, Zhengzhou University, China.
2009-2011 Undergraduate Scholar, Zhengzhou University, China.
Selected Awards and Honors
- 2017 The First Place in Melbourne Climathon, Melbourne Climathon Team.
- 2016 Faculty of Science Travelling Scholarship, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
- 2015 Melbourne International Research Scholarship, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
- 2015 Melbourne International Fee Remission Scholarship, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
- 2015 German Chancellor Fellowship Finalist, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.
- 2014 Award for Green Talents-Research Stay in Germany (25 winners worldwide), Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany.
- 2013 Green Talents Award (25 winners worldwide) – International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany.
- 2013 The First-Class Award in Science and Technology Achievement, Department of Education of the Henan Province, China.
- 2011 Erasmus Mundus Grant (Category A; 10 winners worldwide in the Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Ecohydrology Programme), European Union.
Professional Memberships
- Australian Water Association
- Stormwater Australia
- River Basin Management Society (Australia)
- American Geophysical Union
- Erasmus Mundus Association (Europe)
Research Interests
Congying Li’s research interests cover both fundamental and applied research, including sustainable urban stormwater management (e.g., advanced sponge city technologies and their smart management), ecohydrology, hydrology, water resources engineering, and waterway ecosystem restoration. She is interested in interdisciplinary research and research-industrial collaborations, both locally and internationally.
Research Projects
Past projects
Hydrologic Effect of Stormwater Control Measures at the Catchment Scale in Urban Areas
Flow regimes in urban waterways are degraded by urbanization and hydraulically efficient stormwater drainage systems. To return more natural flow regimes, urban stormwater management has, in recent times, increasingly focused on source-control approaches – using Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs). However, experimental evidence of the success of such approaches at the catchment scale is limited, which is a key impediment to the widespread implementation of SCMs.
This project aims to evaluate the effects of SCMs on flow regimes in urban waterways. This project includes both literature reviews and experimental analyses. The literature reviews identified the challenges in the design and analysis of catchment-scale experiments and outlined a series of considerations to address these challenges, which provided practical guidance for future experimental studies and prepared for the methodological development for the experimental part. The experimental analyses were based on an ambitious long-term catchment-scale experiment in Melbourne, Australia, including four Impact catchments (urban with intervention), two Control catchments (urban without intervention), and three Reference catchments (forested, non-urban). Over 700 SCMs were implemented across the four Impact catchments during the study period (October 2009 – September 2017). A suite of flow metrics at different temporal scales and SCM implementation metrics integrating imperviousness and hydrological information were selected, based on literature review and statistical analysis, to facilitate the assessment. The hydrological effects of urbanization were investigated using a space-for-time approach. The hydrological effects of SCMs were investigated using sophisticated statistical models, to identify to what extent have SCMs changed the flow regime over time.
Gravel-Peat Filter for Heavy Metals Removal and Stormwater Infiltration
This project aims to develop a cost-effective stormwater control measure, the gravel-peat infiltration filter. This filter can substantially remove heavy metals from stormwater (removal efficiency 96%-100%) and highly increase the stormwater infiltration for groundwater recharge. In addition, two field designs for its implementation are developed, integrating source control, treatment train, and good urban design concepts, to maximize the ecosystem services of this filter.
National Innovation Experiment Project: Development of An Automatic System “Divided-Flow Roof Rainwater Harvesting Tank”
This project aims to invent a cost-effective automatic stormwater control measure to purify and harvest roof rainwater, after dividing the first flush. This invention is patented.
Assessment Technologies of Groundwater Overexploitation Areas in China
This project aims to provide a national guidance for the assessment of groundwater overexploitation areas in China.
Literature Review for the SIGN Project
The Sino-German research project SIGN aims to improve water quality in the Taihu region, China. I provided some groundwork for this project: collected information on water quality of Taihu Lake; assisted communication between German and Chinese; and produced one report.
Water Security Assessment & Regulation in Zhengzhou City
Multi-Phase Transform Mechanism of Water Quality in Sluice-Controlled River Reaches
Spatio-Temporal Trend Analysis of Climate Change in North-Western Arid Region of China
Refereed journal papers: 9 published, and 4 under internal review
Conference presentations/posters: 6 (Australia, France, Germany, USA).
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0291-0924
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BRz2o_wAAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Congying-Li-2
https://publons.com/researcher/4232515/congying-li/
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=55586297500
Teaching Commitments
- CIV5884 - Water Sensitive Stormwater Design
- CIV5881 - Groundwater Hydraulics
- ENG5005 - Research Methods
- ENG5006 - Research Practice
PhD Student Recruitment
Dr. Congying Li from Monash University is looking for highly motivated Ph.D. students (Suzhou-based) in the area of Water Sensitive Urban Design (or Sponge City). Candidates are required to have a background in ecohydrology, hydrology, water resources engineering, environmental engineering, or civil engineering. Preferred skills include stormwater modeling, ecohydrological experiment, statistical analysis (in R, Python, etc.), GIS, artificial intelligence, etc.
Successful applicants (First Class Honours or equivalent) will work at the Suzhou campus and be funded through a university scholarship including a tuition waiver benefit and living stipends.
To apply, please send your CV, cover letter, and undergraduate & postgraduate (if you have) transcripts to Dr. Li at congying.li@monash.edu. The cover letter needs to describe: (1) your motivation for applying for this position and how this position links to your long-term career goals; and (2) the research topic(s) you would plan to do during your Ph.D., and your related background/experience.