BIOGRAPHY

Dr Woon advocates achieving transformative resilience for environmental sustainability and is passionate about utilizing systems-analytical approaches on issues related to the environment-economic-social well-being nexus. He has over 10 years of academic and industrial experience in environmental management and green city planning. During the United Nations Conference of the Parties Marrakech 2016 (COP22), he presented a speech at Malaysia Pavilion on behalf of Malaysia under the invitation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.  He is the First-Prize Winner of the Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development by the Global Development Network through the World Bank, Fulbright Young Leader under the U.S.'s government signature program - the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, CrossCulture Programme Fellow by the German Federal Foreign Office, UNFCCC-GIR-CASTT Fellow, HKPFS Scholar, and Vebleo Fellow (Jr). He is a Professional Technologist of the Malaysia Board of Technologists and a GreenRE Accredited Professional of REHDA Malaysia.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Carbon footprint analysis, life cycle assessment and life cycle costing, predictive climate modelling, artificial neural network, eco-efficiency, solid waste management, waste to energy, green building, and energy optimization.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

• PhD (Environmental Engineering), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong (2015)

• BEng (Chemical Engineering), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia (2010)

WORKING EXPERIENCE  

• Associate Professor, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Malaysia (2022 – Present)

• Assistant Professor, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Malaysia (2019 – 2022)

• Assistant to CEO, President's Office, Lippo Group, Indonesia (2018 –2019)

• Head of Smart Urban Sustainability, Strategy Department, Country Garden CGPV, Malaysia (2015 – 2018)

• Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (2011 – 2015)

• Project Analyst, Department of System Integration, Accenture, Malaysia (2010 – 2011)

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE / GRANTS

• Project title: Integrated Life Cycle Sustainability and Spatial Analysis of Plastic Waste Management in Malaysia

  Funding Source: Xiamen University Malaysia Research Fund

  Starting and finishing time: 2023-2025

  Amount of budget: MYR 60,000

  Role: Project leader

• Project title: Life cycle assessment of embodied and operational carbon in high-rise office buildings

  Funding Source:GreenRE Sdn. Bhd. 

  Starting and finishing time: 2022-2023

  Amount of budget: MYR 20,000

  Role: Project leader

• Project title: Development of a multi-objective life cycle eco-efficiency optimization model for formulating a sustainable municipal solid waste management policy framework

  Funding Source: Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan

  Starting and finishing time: 2021-2022

  Amount of budget: MYR 122,000

  Role: Project leader

• Project title: Developing an artificial neural network life cycle eco-efficiency model for formulation of municipal solid waste management policy framework

  Funding Source: Ministry of Higher Education (FRGS)

  Starting and finishing time: 2020-2023

  Amount of budget: MYR 148,752

  Role: Project leader

• Project title: Life cycle evaluation of food waste management system for energy recovery, environmental sustainability, and optimized cost

  Funding Source: Xiamen University Malaysia Research Fund

  Starting and finishing time: 2019-2021

  Amount of budget: MYR 59,300

  Role: Project leader

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS (IF = Impact factor, * = corresponding author)

1. Woon, K. S., Phuang, Z. X., Taler, J., Varbanov, P. S., Chong, C. T., Klemeš, J. J., & Lee, C. T.* (2022). Recent Advances in Urban Green Energy Development Towards Carbon Neutrality. Energy, 126502. (IF: 8.857, SCI Q1);

2. Chew, Z. L., Tan, E. H., Palaniandy, S., Woon, K. S.*, Phuang, Z. X., 2023.An integrated life-cycle greenhouse gas protocol accounting on oil palm trunk and empty fruit bunch biofuel production. Sci. Total Environ. 856 (Part 1), 159007 (IF: 10.753, SCI Q1);

3. Chin, M. Y., Lee, C. T., & Woon, K. S.*, 2022. Policy-driven municipal solid waste management assessment using relative quadrant eco-efficiency: A case study in Malaysia. J. Environ. Manage., 323, 116238. (IF: 8.910, SCI Q1)

4. Ng, W. L., Chin, M. Y., Zhou, J., Woon, K. S.*, Chin, A. Y., 2022. The Overlooked Criteria in Green Building Certification System: Embodied Energy and Thermal Insulation on Non-Residential Building with a Case Study in Malaysia. Energy, 259, 124912 (IF: 8.857, SCI Q1);

5. Wong, K. J., Ooi, J. K., Woon, K. S.*, Mong, G. R., Shadman, S., Ng, W. L., 2022. A Country-level Pareto-optimal Palm Waste Utilisation Network for Economic and Environmental Sustainability. Energy, 260, 125007 (IF: 8.857, SCI Q1);

6. Chin, M. Y., Phuang, Z. X., Woon, K. S.*, Hanafiah, M. M., Zhang, Z., Liu, X. M., 2022. Life Cycle Assessment of Bioelectrochemical and Integrated Microbial Fuel Cell Systems for Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery. J. Environ. Manage. 320, 115778. (IF: 8.910, SCI Q1)

7. Hoy, Z. X., Woon, K. S.*, Chin, W. C., Hashim, H., & Fan, Y. V., 2022. Forecasting Heterogeneous Municipal Solid Waste Generation via Bayesian-Optimised Neural Network with Ensemble Learning for Improved Generalisation. Comp. & Chem. Eng., 107946. (IF: 4.130, SCI Q2)

8. Sebastian, K. M., Zhou, J., Phuang, Z. X., Laner, D., Woon, K. S.*, 2022.A systematic review of life cycle assessments of solid waste management: Methodological trends and prospects. Sci. Total Environ. 831, 154903 (IF: 10.753, SCI Q1);

9. Phuang, Z. X., Lin, Z., Liew, P.Y., Hanafiah, M. M., Woon, K. S.*, 2022. The dilemma in energy transition in Malaysia: A comparative life cycle assessment of large scale solar and biodiesel production from palm oil. J. Clean Prod. 350, 131475 (IF: 11.072, SCI Q1);

10. Lin, Z., Ooi, J. K., Woon, K. S.*, 2022. An integrated life cycle multi-objective optimization model for health-environment-economic nexus in food waste management sector. Sci. Total Environ. 816, 151541. (IF: 10.753, SCI Q1).

11. Chew, Z. T., Hoy, Z. X., Woon, K. S.*, P.Y., 2022. Integrating greenhouse gas reduction and waste policy targets to identify optimal waste treatment configurations via carbon emission pinch analysis. Process Saf Environ Prot. 160, 661-675. (IF: 7.962, SCI Q1).

12. Ooi, J. K., Woon, K. S.*, Hashim, H., 2021. A multi-objective model to optimize country-scale municipal solid waste management with economic and environmental objectives: A case study in Malaysia. J. Clean Prod., 316, 128366. (IF: 11.072, SCI Q1);

13. Phuang, Z. X., Woon, K. S.*, Wong, K. J., Liew, P. Y., Hanafiah, M. M., 2021. Unlocking the Environmental Hotspots of Palm Biodiesel Upstream Production in Malaysia via Life Cycle Assessment. Energy, 121206 (IF: 8.857, SCI Q1);

14. Woon, K. S.*, Phuang, Z. X., Lin, Z., Lee, C. T., 2021. A novel food waste management framework combining optical sorting system and anaerobic digestion: A case study in Malaysia. Energy, 12109 (IF: 8.857, SCI Q1);

HONORS/AWARDS

• UNFCCC-GIR-CASTT Fellowship, Partnership on Transparency in the Paris Agreement, 2022;

• UN Summer Academy Fellowship, German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2022;

• Vebleo Fellow (Jr), Vebleo Scientific Academy, 2022;

• Fulbright YSEALI Academy Seminar Fellowship, U.S. Department of State, 2021;

• CrossCulture Programme Fellowship, German Federal Foreign Office, 2021;

• Best Oral Presenter of 2nd World Conference on Waste Management, 2021;

• First Prize of Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development, Global Development Network through the World Bank, 2020;

• Young Researcher Award in Solid Waste Management, Venus International Foundation, 2020;

• Best Oral Presenter of International Conference on Low Carbon Conference & Beyond, 2020;

• Book Prize Award, Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, 2015;

• Best Environmental Paper Award (1st Runner Up), Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, 2015;

• Best Presenter Award, Asian Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and Education (ASPIRE) League Forum in South Korea, 2012;

• Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme, Hong Kong Research Grant Council, 2011-2015;

• Royal Education Award, Malaysia Council of Rulers, 2010.