Qian is a professor at the School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, she is a Young Water Professionals Chapter Coordinator, and she was a Managing Committee member of the IWA Young Water Professionals China Chapter (2020-2022), Overseas Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). She mainly engages in academic research and engineering applications in the field of sewage/waste treatment and energy recovery, with a special focus on anaerobic digestion and Anammox.