Rate My Professor Sonia Liu

Professor Sonia Liu is a Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, at the University of Sydney, where she specializes in poultry nutrition. She holds a PhD in Poultry Nutrition from the University of Sydney, completed between 2011 and 2014, and a Master of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition from the University of Queensland. Notably, she received the Celestino Baiada Post-doctoral Fellowship just two years into her PhD. Her career at the University of Sydney has advanced through roles including Lecturer in Poultry Nutrition, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and most recently, promotion to full Professor in 2026. As a poultry nutritionist, Liu focuses on designing practical diets to address global challenges in food security and sustainability. She serves as Animal Agriculture Theme Leader and is affiliated with the Sydney Institute of Agriculture, Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, and China Studies Centre.

Liu's research interests center on reduced protein diets, digestive dynamics of nutrients, exogenous enzyme applications, and feed grain quality in broiler chickens. She has authored over 117 publications, with key works including 'A consideration of starch and protein digestive dynamics in chickenmeat production' (2015, World's Poultry Science Journal, cited 93 times), 'The Dynamic Conversion of Dietary Protein and Amino Acids into Salable Meat Protein of Broiler Chickens' (2021, cited 55 times), 'Dietary crude protein reductions in wheat-based diets with multicarbohydrase and phytase supplementation' (2023), and 'The impact of canola meal and enzyme supplementation on growth performance and nutrient utilization in broiler chickens' (2026). Her research has accumulated more than 2,260 citations on ResearchGate. Major awards and fellowships include the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), the first awarded in Agriculture at the University of Sydney; ARC Linkage Project funding worth over $1 million (2023); ARC Early Career Industry Fellowship (2024); Australia Award Endeavour Research Fellowship (2018); and the 2015 Australian Department of Agriculture, Science and Innovation Award for Young People. Liu contributes to teaching in animal health, disease, and welfare programs and engages in professional leadership within poultry science associations.