Dr. Qian (Chayn) Sun
Details
Department: School of Science
Campus: City Campus Australia
chayn.sun@rmit.edu.au
Open to
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
- Industry Projects
- Media enquiries
- Collaborative projects
- Technical support
- Career advice
About
Dr. Qian (Chayn) Sun is an Associate Professor of Geospatial Science within the School of Science.
Associate Professor Qian (Chayn) Sun is a researcher specializing in quantitative geography, environmental and urban informatics, and the impacts of urbanization and human movements across spatial and temporal scales. With expertise in developing spatial and statistical algorithms, she focuses on modeling patterns and investigating factors contributing to complex human-environment interactions. Currently exploring the integration of cloud computing, big Earth observation data, and AI with social-ecological theories, Associate Professor Sun aims to address climate change challenges facing both people and the environment. Through an interdisciplinary approach, she seeks to derive spatially explicit insights to inform strategies for mitigating these challenges. Committed to advancing understanding and finding solutions to real-world problems, Sun strives to make significant contributions to society and the environment.
She has authored 80+ peer-reviewed journal publications (by May 2026), with approximately 90% in SJR Q1 journals and around 60% in the top 10% tier of CiteScore. Her work is published in leading journals across urban studies, environmental science, and the built environments, including CEUS (Computers, Environment and Urban Systems), Landscape and Urban Planning, Cities, UFUG (Urban Forest and Urban Greening), Journal of Building Engineering, Urban Climate, and Sustainable Cities and Society, typically ranked within the top global percentiles (95th–99th). A significant proportion of her publications are co-developed with undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students, demonstrating strong integration of research and education and sustained capacity building in the field.
Industry experience:
Chayn had previously worked in governments and engineering consultancies in both New Zealand and Australia.
Research fields
- 330412 Urban informatics
- 401302 Geospatial information systems and geospatial data modelling
- 461010 Social and community informatics
- 440611 Transport geography
- 3304 Urban and regional planning
UN sustainable development goals
- 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
- 13 Climate Action
- 10 Reduced Inequalities
- 3 Good Health and Well Being
- 15 Life on Land
Supervisor projects
- GeoAI Framework for Sustainable Transportation Planning: Enhancing Spatial-Temporal Analysis for Low-Carbon Urban Development
- 28 Oct 2025
- Enhancing Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) for urban bird conservation: Methodological refinement and application in Melbourne's public reserves
- 30 Sep 2025
- Climate Change Scenario-Based Urban Heat Resilience Assessment in Vietnam
- 25 Aug 2025
- Spatial Data Provenance Modelling for Next-Generation Spatial Knowledge Infrastructure
- 23 Jul 2025
- Responsive Digital Twin Technologies from the Geospatial Perspective for Urban Flood Resilience
- 20 Dec 2024
- A satellite-based drought monitoring and forecasting system for Indonesia
- 4 Sep 2024
- The dynamic linkage of climate extremes to urban heat island in Melbourne: Evaluation using mesoscale and microscale models
- 14 Feb 2024
- Suburban employment in the sprawling city: A comparative analysis of planning interventions into office development in established suburbs
- 14 Nov 2023
- GNSS Atmosphere Sounding for Climate and Environment Studies
- 5 May 2023
- Spatial framework for smart cities for leveraging digital twins, IoT and AR
- 10 Jan 2023
- Modelling of Spatio-Temporal Variability of Extreme Rainfall Events and Improving Model Forecast using Data Assimilation
- 3 Oct 2022
- Apartment Living, Green Views, and Mental Wellbeing
- 5 Sep 2022
- Building a multi-hazard TC Early Warning System from forecasted TC tracks and existing hazard models for Pacific Island countries.
- 24 May 2022
- Sustainable building affordances of Three-Dimensional Visualized Urban Landscape Planning and Design
- 23 May 2022
- The application of Disaster Risk Analyses for indicating disaster risk and informing resilient risk management in Pacific Island Countries
- 5 Apr 2021
- An Adaptable and Open-source Approach to Merging Satellite and Gauge Data over Australia
- 17 Mar 2021
- Drought Early Warning Systems for Disaster Risk Reduction in Pacific Island Countries
- 9 Feb 2021
- Energy, Economic and Environmental Performances of BIPV Facade in Urban Environment: A Machine Learning Based Urban Morphology Method
- 28 Jan 2021
- Evaluation of Ecotourism Opportunities for Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Approach and Ecotourism Opportunity Index for Alula, Saudi Arabia
- 2 Sep 2019
- Improving Distributed Renewable Energy Performance and Urban Sustainability with Virtual Power Plants
- 19 Oct 2018
- Investigating the Association Between the Spatial Patterns of Vegetation Coverage and Urban Thermal Environment
- 20 Sep 2018
Teaching interests
Cloud-based Open-source GIS Solutions
GIS Fundamentals
Professional Scientists
Professional Practice
Advanced GIS
Distributed Mapping
Work Integrated Learning (WIL)
Research interests
Urban informatics; Spatial Modelling; GeoAI; Health Informatics; Spatial Planning Intervention
Research Output and Impact (by May 2026):
-> 25 external funded projects, including competitive national grants
-> 90+ peer-reviewed publications; ~90% SJR Q1; ~60% top 10% journals in CiteScore including top 1% journals; 33 Q1 journal publications in the past three years; ~60% lead/senior author
-> ~2,400 citations | H-index: 26 | i10-index: 52
-> 16 policy citations
-> 180+ international co-authors
-> 20+ publications with Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) >2.0; 5 publications with FWCI >5.0
