His research focuses on development of innovative solutions for urban water management and environmental biotechnology through effective integration of fundamental science and applied engineering. He won over AUD50M in government, industry, and university research funding, mostly as the Lead Investigator. Prof Yuan was one of the founding members of the AUD117M Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities in Australia (2012-2021).

He is a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. He has, till Feb 2023, published over 550 papers in peer reviewed journals including Nature, Science, Nature Microbiology, Nature Communications, PNAS, Energy and Environmental Science, Water Research (>170) and Environmental Science and Technology (>60). His papers have been cited for >42,000 times giving an h-index of 115 (Google Scholar, 02/2023).

His research achievements and leadership have been recognized through prestigious awards including the 2015 ATSE Clunies Ross Award (a top technology award in Australia) and the 2014 IWA Global Project Innovation Award (Applied Research Category). Prof Yuan was named as one of Engineers Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers for 2015. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), an IWA Distinguished Fellow, and was awarded the highly prestigious ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2017. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2019. He is Editor-in-Chief of Water Research X, and was one of the Editors of Water Research (2017-2022).