Dr Hongqi Sun is Director of the UWA Centre for Future Catalysis, University Professor of Chemistry, and an ARC Future Fellow (Level 3) in the School of Molecular Sciences at The University of Western Australia. He is UWA Lead for the Critical Metals for Critical Industries CRC, Co-Chair of the School Research Committee, and Node Leader (Chemicals for Space) at the International Space Centre, UWA. He serves on the ARC College of Experts (since 2022), is a Board Director of the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA), and Editor-in-Chief of Cleaner Chemical Engineering (Elsevier).

His research addresses frontier challenges in catalysis, spanning novel catalytic paradigms, solar energy utilisation, terrestrial and extraterrestrial resources, and sustainable mining. He has published over 350 refereed journal articles, with more than 49,000 citations and an h-index of 122 (Google Scholar, May 2026). He has secured over $15 million in competitive funding from ARC, CRC, and industry sources, supporting an extensive international research program.

He has contributed to national and international initiatives, including as an Australian Delegate to the Innovating Southeast Asia’s Energy Transition Mission (June 2025), the Green Economy Mission to Thailand (October 2025), and the Australia-USA Hydrogen Research Partnerships (DCCEEW-CSIRO, Aug 2022).

He was awarded Mid-Career Scientist of the Year at the 2023 WA Premier’s Science Awards and named among Australia’s Top 40 Research Superstars (Lifetime Achiever; Top 5 in Chemical & Materials Science) by The Australian’s Research Magazine (2020). He has delivered over 20 plenary, keynote, and invited presentations at national and international conferences.