Prof. Kenneth M. Y. LEUNG

Publications

Professor Leung is passionate about finding ways to protect the marine environment and conserve biodiversity. His long-term career goal is to improve environmental quality through science and education. He trained eight MPhil and 37 PhD graduates. His research interests encompass marine pollution, ecotoxicology, environmental risk assessment, environmental quality benchmarks, marine ecology, biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration using eco-engineering. So far, he has published over 320 peer-reviewed articles in these areas (for more details, please visit his webpage: https://www.aquatictox.com/). Some examples of his recent publications are shown below (*corresponding author):

• Mao, X.M., Yin, X., Yang, Y., Gao, F.Z., Li, S.X., Shi, X.H., Deng, Y., Li, L.G., Leung, K.M.Y.*, Zhang, T.* (2025). Longitudinal metagenomic analysis on antibiotic resistome, mobilome, and microbiome of river ecosystems in a sub-tropical metropolitan city. Water Research 274: 123102
• Ip, J.C.H., Loke, H.X., Yiu, S.K.F., Zhao, M.H., Li, Y.X., Lin, Y.T., How, C.M., Yan, M., Cheng, J.P., Lai, V.C.S., Chan, L.L., Leung, K.M.Y.*, Qiu, J.W.* (2024). Bottom trawling and multi-marker eDNA metabarcoding surveys reveal highly diverse vertebrate and crustacean communities: a case study in an urbanized subtropical estuary. Environmental DNA 6: e70031.
• McLellan, S.L.*, Chariton, A.*, Condello, A., McClary-Gutierrez, J.S., Schussman, M.K., Marzinelli, E.M., O'Neil, J.M., Schott, E.J., Bowen, J.L., Vineis, J.H., Maignien, L., Lemonnier, C., Perennou, M., Gibb, K.S., Zhou, G.J., Leung, K.M.Y., Kirs, M., Griffith, J.F., Steele, J.A., Swearer, S.E., O'Brien, A.L., Song, D., Liang, S., Li, J., Airoldi, L., Mancuso, E.P., Salomon, P.S., Silva-Lima, A.W., Boehm, A., Lim, E.W.X., Wuertz, S., E., Fernández, Teira, E., Liao, M., Dong, Y.W., Steinberg, P. (2024). Universal microbial indicators provide surveillance of sewage contamination in harbours worldwide. Nature Water 2: 1061–1070, https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-024-00315-5
  • This paper was reported by Nature news as "Sewage lurks in coastal waters — often unnoticed by widely used test: Global survey finds human faecal contamination in at least one sample from all 18 cities tested": https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03205-8
  • It was also reported by Nature Water news & views as "Lindner, B.G., Konstantinidis, K.T. Faecal contamination of the world’s harbours": https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00333-3
• Xu, S.P., Wang, Q., Lao, J.Y., Cao, Y.R., Hong, P., Chen, C., Lam, E.Y., Fang, J.K.H., Lee, S., Leung, K.M.Y.* (2024). Tire additives in water: Leaching, transformation, and environmental risk assessment. Environmental Science & Technology 58: 18940–18949
• Mei, L., Sun, M., Yang, R.J., Zhang, Y.Q., Zhang, Y.F., Zhang, Z., Zheng, L., Chen, Y., Zhang, Q.H., Zhou, J., Zhu, Y., Leung, K.M.Y., Zhang, W.J., Fan, J., Huang, B., Zeng, X.C., Shin, H.S., Tang, C.Y., Gu, L., Voiry, D., Zeng, Z.Y.* (2024). Metallic 1T/1T′ phase TMD nanosheets with enhanced chemisorption sites for ultrahigh-efficiency lead removal. Nature Communications 15: 7770
• Adedipe, D., Chen, C.*, Lai, R.W.S., Xu, S.P., Luo, Q., Zhou, G.J., Boxall, A., Brooks, B.W., Doblin, M., Shen, Y., Wang, J.Y., Leung, K.M.Y.* (2024). Occurrence and potential risks of pharmaceutical contamination in global estuaries: A review. Environment International 192: 109031
• Zhao, R.J., Kang, B., Chen, Y.F., Lam, V.T.T., AFCD Officers, Leung, K.M.Y.*, Yan, M.* (2024). Multifaceted biological indicators reveal a rational conservation scheme for marine protected areas. Ecological Indicators 166: 112389
• Lao, J.Y., Huang, G.L., Wu, R.B., Liang, W.H., Xu, S.P., Luo, Q., Zhang, K., Ruan, Y.F.*, Leung, K.M.Y.*, Lam, P.K.S. (2024). Aggravating pollution of emerging aryl organophosphate esters in urban estuarine sediments of South China. Environmental Science & Technology 58: 13415–13425
• Ip, J.C.H., Leung, P.T.Y., Ho, K.K.Y., Qiu, J.W., Leung, K.M.Y.* (2024). Transcriptomic analysis reveals the endocrine toxicity of tributyltin and triphenyltin on the whelk Reishia clavigera and mechanisms of imposex formation. Environment International 190: 108867
• Wu, R.B., Sin, E.Y.Y., Cai, L., Wang, Y.J., Hu, M.H., Liu, X.S., Xu, W.Z., Kwan, K.Y., Goncalves, D., Chan, B.K.K., Zhang, K., Chui, A., Chua, S.L., Fang, J.K.H.*, Leung, K.M.Y.* (2024). Pharmaceutical residues in edible oysters along the coasts of the East and South China Seas and associated health risks to humans and wildlife. Environmental Science & Technology 58: 5512–5523
• Lao, J.-Y., Xu, S.P., Zhang, K.*, Lin, H.-J., Cao, Y.R., Wu, R.B., Tao, D.Y., Ruan, Y.F., Leung, K.M.Y.*, Lam, P.K.S. (2023). A new perspective to understand and prioritize the ecological impacts of organophosphate esters and transformation products in urban stormwater and sewage effluents. Environmental Science & Technology 57: 11656-11665
• Zhang, K., Xu, S.-P., Zhang, Y., Lo, Y.K., Liu, M.-Y., Ma, Y., Chau, H.S., Cao, Y.-R., Wu, R.-B., Lin, H.-J., Lao, J.-Y., Tao, D.-Y., Lau, F.T.K., Chiu, S.C., Wong, G.T.N., Hui, K.W.K., Lee, K., Leung, K.M.Y.*, Lam, P.K.S.* (2022). A systematic study of microplastic occurrence in the urban water networks of a metropolis. Water Research 223: 118992
• Wilkinson, J.L.*, Boxall, A.B.A., Kolpin, D., Leung, K.M.Y., Lai, R.W.S. et al. (2022). Pharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 19(8): e2113947119
  • This paper was awarded the 2022 Cozzarelli Prize of PNAS (in the Category VI: Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences) on 30 April 2023. The annual Cozzarelli Prize aims to recognise the best paper in PNAS for each of the six subject categories (https://www.pnas.org/post/update/2022-cozzarelli-prize-recipients). This work also received the “2022 International Collaboration of the Year” Award from The Times Higher Education.
• Tao, D.-Y., Zhang, K.*, Xu, S.-P., Lin, H.-J., Liu, Y., Kang, J.-L., Yim, T.W., Giesy, J.P., Leung, K.M.Y.* (2022). Microfibers released into the air from a household tumble dryer. Environmental Science & Technology Letters 9: 120-126
  • This paper was specially mentioned in a Focus article in Environmental Health Perspectives "An Ill Wind? Growing Recognition of Airborne Nano- and Microplastic Exposures" https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP12662  (EHP Vol. 131, No. 4) [April 2023]​
  • It was also featured in the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) Review 23(2): 16-21 [March 2023].
• Yang, Y., Zhang, X.-R.*, Jiang, J.-Y., Han, J.-R., Li, W.-X., Li, X.-Y., Leung, K.M.Y., Snyder, S.A., Alvarez, P.J.J. (2022). Which micropollutants in water environments deserve more attention globally? Environmental Science & Technology 56: 13-29
  • This paper was selected as one of the recipients of the 2022 ES&T Best Paper Award in April 2024.
• Mak, Y.K.Y., Tao, L.S.R.*, Ho, V.C.M., Dudgeon, D., Cheung, W.W.L., Leung, K.M.Y.* (2021). Initial recovery of demersal fish communities in coastal waters of Hong Kong, South China, following a trawl ban. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 32: 989-2007
• Wang, Z., Leung, K.M.Y.*, Sung, Y.H., Dudgeon, D., Qiu, J.W.* (2021). Recovery of tropical marine benthos after a trawl ban demonstrates linkage between abiotic and biotic changes. Communications Biology 4: 212
• Leung, K.M.Y.*, Yeung, K.W.Y., You, J., Choi, K.H., Zhang, X.W., Smith, R., Zhou, G.J., Yung, M.M.N., Arias-Barreiro, C., An, Y.J., Burket, S.R., Dwyer, R., Goodkin, N., Hii, Y.S., Hoang, T., Humphrey, C., Iwai, C.B., Jeong, S.W., Juhel, G., Karami, A., Kyriazi-Huber, K., Lee, K.C., Lin, B.L., Lu, B., Martin, P., Nillos, M.G., Oginawati, K., Rathnayake, I.V.N., Risjani, Y., Shoeb, M., Tan, C.H., Tsuchiya, M.C., Ankley, G.T., Boxall, A.B.A., Rudd, M.A., Brooks, B.W. (2020). Towards sustainable environmental quality: Priority research questions for Asia. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 39: 1485-1505

Awards and Honours

• Dayu Water Conservancy Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Class) of China for the project "Key Technologies and Applications for Enhancing Urban Seawall’s Defence Capability and Ecological Function in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" (2024)
• Silver Medal in Creating Invention on Artificial Mussels - A New Universal Tool for Monitoring Heavy Metals and Radionuclides in Aquatic Environments, at the 49th Geneva International Exhibition of Invention, Geneva, Switzerland (2024)
• Gold Award of the Hong Kong Green Innovations Award for “Enhancing Intertidal Marine Biodiversity on Artificial Seawalls by Novel Eco-tiles” (i.e., the top prize among the 80 entries), as part of the 2022 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence, Organised by the Environmental Campaign Committee of the Hong Kong SAR Government, China (2023).
• Gold Medal of the Asia International Innovative Award for the Eco-tile Invention at the Asia International Innovative Invention Exhibition, organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Innovative Technologies and Manufacturing Industries (FITMI) (2023).
• Special Prize (Prize of the Korean Invention Promotion Association) and Gold Medal with Congratulations from the Jury for Excellent Efforts in Creating Invention on Eco-tiles for Enhancing Marine Biodiversity, at the 48th International Exhibition of Invention Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland (2023).
• The President's Award of the City University of Hong Kong (2022).
  [This award recognizes faculty who have made exemplary contributions to research and professional education that have helped CityU achieve local and global distinction.]
• Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2022)
• Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2022)
• Recognized as One of the Top 2% Scientists in Marine Biology & Hydrobiology in the world by the Stanford-Elsevier Indicators (since 2021).
• Appointed as a Justice of the Peace by the Hong Kong SAR Government (2018).
• Selected as One of the Top 100 Asian Scientists by the Asian Scientist Magazine [The Asian Scientist 100 – 2018 Edition] (2018).
• The SETAC Fellows Award by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (2017).
• The 19th Biwako Prize for Ecology by the Ecological Society of Japan (2017).
• Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award 2015-2016 by the University of Hong Kong (2016).
• Selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons by Junior Chamber International Hong Kong (2010).