Ms Tianze Sun
Senior Research Officer & Affiliate of National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research
National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research
Researcher biography
Tianze Sun is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at The University of Queensland.
Her research focuses on evaluating and optimising public health policies to minimise the harm associated with youth substance use. Tianze's work employs a multidisciplinary approach, combining co-design with young people, working with generative AI, analysis of large-scale epidemiological data, and social media data mining to address these complex challenges. She is passionate about leveraging cutting-edge technologies and collaborating with diverse stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that have a positive impact in the lives of young people.
Tianze has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals such as JAMA Paediatrics, Addiction, and Tobacco Control. Her work has attracted significant national and international attention, with features in outlets like The Guardian, Forbes, and ABC News. In 2019, Tianze received her Bachelor of Psychological Science with first-class honours and later in 2024, her PhD investigating the public health benefits and costs of vaping products in Psychology from UQ.
She works with an exceptionally talented team of researchers from various disciplines and is always keen to work with motivated students and collaborators who share her passions.
Journal Articles
Chan, Gary C. K., Sun, Tianze, Stjepanović, Daniel, Vu, Giang, Hall, Wayne D., Connor, Jason P. and Leung, Janni (2024). Designing observational studies for credible causal inference in addiction research—Directed acyclic graphs, modified disjunctive cause criterion and target trial emulation. Addiction, 119 (6), 1125-1134. doi: 10.1111/add.16442
Sun, Tianze and Tattan-Birch, Harry (2024). Sports, Gigs, and TikToks: Multi-Channel Advertising of Oral Nicotine Pouches. Qeios. doi: 10.32388/uirp1o
Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C. W., Rutherford, Brienna N., Johnson, Benjamin, Connor, Jason, Gartner, Coral E., Hall, Wayne D., Leung, Janni and Chan, Gary (2023). Changes in patterns of youth multiple tobacco and/or e-cigarette product use in the US between 2014 and 2020: a multiple-group latent class analysis. Tobacco Control, 33 (1), 21-29. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2022-057266
Rutherford, Brienna N., Lim, Carmen C.W., Cheng, Brandon, Sun, Tianze, Vu, Giang T., Johnson, Benjamin, Ashley, Daniel Paul, Chung, Jack, Huang, Sandy, Leung, Janni, Stjepanović, Daniel, Connor, Jason P. and Chan, Gary C.K. (2023). Viral vaping: a systematic review and meta analysis of e-cigarette and tobacco-related social media content and its influence on youth behaviours and attitudes. Addictive Behaviors, 147 107828, 107828. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107828
Stjepanović, Daniel, Phartiyal, Preeti, Leung, Janni, Lim, Carmen C. W., Sun, Tianze, Chung, Jack Yiu Chak, Gartner, Coral E., Hall, Wayne D. and Chan, Gary C. K. (2023). Efficacy of smokeless tobacco for smoking cessation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Tobacco Control, 32 (6) 057019, 1-12. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-057019
Sun, Tianze, Vu, Giang, Lim, Carmen C.W., Johnson, Ben, Stjepanović, Daniel, Leung, Janni, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Chan, Gary C.K. (2023). Longitudinal association between exposure to e-cigarette advertising and youth e-cigarette use in the United States. Addictive Behaviors, 146 107810, 1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107810
Leung, Janni, Sun, Tianze, Vu, Giang, Dawson, Danielle and Chan, Gary Chung Kai (2023). Promotions of vaping products near schools and central business district: a descriptive cross‐sectional study. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. doi: 10.1002/hpja.791
Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C.W., Chung, Jack, Cheng, Brandon, Davidson, Lily, Tisdale, Calvert, Leung, Janni, Gartner, Coral E., Connor, Jason, Hall, Wayne D. and Chan, Gary C.K. (2023). Vaping on TikTok: a systematic thematic analysis. Tobacco Control, 32 (2), 251-254. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2021-056619
Shanmuga Anandan, Aathavan, Leung, Janni, Chan, Gary C. K., Sun, Tianze, Connor, Jason P., Hall, Wayne D. and Stjepanović, Daniel (2023). Common adverse events of electronic cigarettes compared with traditional nicotine replacement therapies: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Drug and Alcohol Review, 42 (5), 1278-1287. doi: 10.1111/dar.13674
Vu, Giang T, Stjepanović, Daniel, Sun, Tianze, Leung, Janni, Chung, Jack, Connor, Jason, Thai, Phong K, Gartner, Coral E, Tran, Bach Xuan, Hall, Wayne D and Chan, Gary (2023). Predicting the long-term effects of electronic cigarette use on population health: a systematic review of modelling studies. Tobacco Control tc-2022-057748, 1-8. doi: 10.1136/tc-2022-057748
Johnson, Benjamin, Sun, Tianze, Stjepanović, Daniel, Vu, Giang and Chan, Gary C. K. (2023). “Buy high, sell low”: A qualitative study of cryptocurrency traders who experience harm. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20 (10) 5833, 1-16. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20105833
Lim, Carmen C. W., Leung, Janni K. Y., Gravely, Shannon, Gartner, Coral, Sun, Tianze, Chiu, Vivian, Chung, Jack Y. C., Stjepanović, Daniel, Connor, Jason, Scheurer, Roman W., Hall, Wayne and Chan, Gary C. K. (2023). A latent class analysis of patterns of tobacco and cannabis use in Australia and their health‐related correlates. Drug and Alcohol Review, 42 (4), 815-826. doi: 10.1111/dar.13614
Sun, Tianze, Anandan, Aathavan, Lim, Carmen C. W., East, Katherine, Xu, Steve S., Quah, Anne C. K., Rutherford, Brienna N., Johnson, Benjamin, Qi, Yaqi, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Leung, Janni, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D., Vu, Giang and Chan, Gary C. K. (2023). Global prevalence of heated tobacco product use, 2015‐2022: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Addiction, 118 (8), 1430-1444. doi: 10.1111/add.16199
Lim, Carmen C. W., Sun, Tianze, Gartner, Coral, Connor, Jason, Fahmi, Marco, Hall, Wayne, Hames, Sam, Stjepanović, Daniel, Chan, Gary and Leung, Janni (2023). What is the hype on #
MedicinalCannabis
in the United States? A content analysis of medicinal cannabis tweets. Drug and Alcohol Review, 43 (1), 28-35. doi: 10.1111/dar.13618
Johnson, Benjamin, Stjepanović, Daniel, Leung, Janni, Sun, Tianze and Chan, Gary C. K. (2023). Cryptocurrency trading, mental health and addiction: a qualitative analysis of Reddit discussions. Addiction Research and Theory, 31 (5), 345-351. doi: 10.1080/16066359.2023.2174259
Johnson, Benjamin, Co, Steven, Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C.W., Stjepanović, Daniel, Leung, Janni, Saunders, John B. and Chan, Gary C.K. (2023). Cryptocurrency trading and its associations with gambling and mental health: a scoping review. Addictive Behaviors, 136 107504, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107504
Lim, Carmen C. W., Chan, Gary C. K., Wadsworth, Elle, Stjepanović, Daniel, Chiu, Vivian, Chung, Jack Y. C., Sun, Tianze, Connor, Jason, Leung, Janni, Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne and Hammond, David (2022). Trends and socio-demographic differences of cannabis vaping in the USA and Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (21) 14394. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114394
Rutherford, Brienna N., Lim, Carmen C. W., Johnson, Benjamin, Cheng, Brandon, Chung, Jack, Huang, Sandy, Sun, Tianze, Leung, Janni, Stjepanović, Daniel and Chan, Gary C. K. (2022). #TurntTrending: a systematic review of substance use portrayals on social media platforms. Addiction, 118 (2), 206-217. doi: 10.1111/add.16020
Sun, Tianze and Hall, Wayne (2022). Commentary on Beard et al.: Using survey data to test the hypothesis that e‐cigarettes are a gateway to cigarette smoking in youth. Addiction, 117 (8), 2294-2295. doi: 10.1111/add.15945
Rutherford, Brienna N., Sun, Tianze, Johnson, Benjamin, Co, Steven, Lim, Tong Liang, Lim, Carmen C. W., Chiu, Vivian, Leung, Janni, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Connor, Jason P. and Chan, Gary C. K. (2022). Getting high for likes: exploring cannabis‐related content on TikTok. Drug and Alcohol Review, 41 (5), 1119-1125. doi: 10.1111/dar.13433
Chan, Gary C. K., Lim, Carmen, Sun, Tianze, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Connor, Jason, Hall, Wayne and Leung, Janni (2022). Causal inference with observational data in addiction research. Addiction, 117 (10), 2736-2744. doi: 10.1111/add.15972
Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C W, Rutherford, Brienna N., Johnson, Benjamin, Connor, Jason, Gartner, Coral E, Hall, Wayne D, Leung, Janni and Chan, Gary (2022). Changes in patterns of youth multiple tobacco and/or e-cigarette product use in the US between 2014 and 2020: a multiple-group latent class analysis. Tobacco Control, 33 (1) tobaccocontrol-2022-057266, tobaccocontrol-2022. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2022-057266
Chan, Gary, Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen, Stjepanović, Daniel, Rutherford, Brienna, Johnson, Benjamin, Hall, Wayne and Leung, Janni (2022). Did the under‐reporting of meth/amphetamine use increase in a general population survey in Australia as negative media coverage increased?. Addiction, 117 (6), 1787-1793. doi: 10.1111/add.15783
Chan, Gary C. K., Gartner, Coral, Lim, Carmen, Sun, Tianze, Hall, Wayne, Connor, Jason, Stjepanović, Daniel and Leung, Janni (2022). Association between the implementation of tobacco control policies and adolescent vaping in 44 lower‐middle, upper‐middle, and high‐income countries. Addiction, 117 (8), 1-10. doi: 10.1111/add.15892
Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C.W., Rutherford, Brienna N., Johnson, Benjamin, Leung, Janni, Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D., Connor, Jason P. and Chan, C. K. Gary (2022). Is smoking reduction and cessation associated with increased e-cigarette use? Findings from a nationally representative sample of adult smokers in Australia. Addictive Behaviors, 127 107217, 1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107217
Chan, Gary, Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen, Yuen, Wing See, Stjepanović, Daniel, Rutherford, Brienna, Hall, Wayne, Johnson, Ben and Leung, Janni (2022). An age-period-cohort analysis of trends in psychedelic and ecstasy use in the Australian population. Addictive Behaviors, 127 107216, 107216. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107216
Rutherford, Brienna N., Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C. W., Chung, Jack, Cheng, Brandon, Davidson, Lily, Tisdale, Calvert, Leung, Janni, Stjepanović, Daniel, Connor, Jason P. and Chan, Gary C. K. (2022). Changes in viewer engagement and accessibility of popular vaping videos on TikTok: a 12-month prospective study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (3) 1141, 1141. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031141
Chan, Gary, Chiu, Vivian, Sun, Tianze, Connor, Jason P., Hall, Wayne D. and Leung, Janni (2021). Age-related trends in cannabis use in Australia. Findings from a series of large nationally representative surveys. Addictive Behaviors, 123 107059. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107059
Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C. W., Stjepanović, Daniel, Leung, Janni, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Chan, Gary C.K. (2021). Has increased youth e-cigarette use in the USA, between 2014 and 2020, changed conventional smoking behaviors, future intentions to smoke and perceived smoking harms?. Addictive Behaviors, 123 107073, 107073. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107073
Lim, Carmen C. W., Sun, Tianze, Leung, Janni, Chung, Jack Y. C., Gartner, Coral, Connor, Jason, Hall, Wayne, Chiu, Vivian, Stjepanovic, Daniel and Chan, Gary C. K. (2021). Prevalence of adolescent cannabis vaping: a systematic review and meta-analysis of US and Canadian studies. JAMA Pediatrics, 176 (1), 42-51. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.4102
Lim, Carmen C. W., Leung, Janni, Chung, Jack Yiu Chak, Sun, Tianze, Gartner, Coral, Connor, Jason, Hall, Wayne, Chiu, Vivian, Tisdale, Calvert, Stjepanović, Daniel and Chan, Gary (2021). Content analysis of cannabis vaping videos on YouTube. Addiction, 116 (9), 2443-2453. doi: 10.1111/add.15424
Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C.W., Gartner, Coral, Connor, Jason P., Hall, Wayne D., Leung, Janni, Stjepanović, Daniel and Chan, Gary C.K. (2021). Reactions on Twitter towards Australia's proposed import restriction on nicotine vaping products: a thematic analysis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 45 (6) 1753-6405.13143, 1-3. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.13143
Chan, Gary C. K., Stjepanović, Daniel, Lim, Carmen, Sun, Tianze, Shanmuga Anandan, Aathavan, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Leung, Janni (2021). A systematic review of randomized controlled trials and network meta-analysis of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. Addictive Behaviors, 119 106912, 106912. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106912
Lim, Carmen C.W, Leung, Janni K.Y, Connor, Jason P., Hall, Wayne D., Gartner, Coral, Cheng, Brandon H.C, Scheurer, Roman W., Sun, Tianze and Chan, Gary C.K (2020). Availability of substances for use in personal vaporisers on three online cryptomarkets. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 217 108254, 108254. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108254
Chan, Gary C. K., Stjepanovic, Daniel, Lim, Carmen, Sun, Tianze, Shanmuga Anandan, Aathavan, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Leung, Janni (2020). Gateway or common liability? A systematic review and meta‐analysis of studies of adolescent e‐cigarette use and future smoking initiation. Addiction, 116 (4) add.15246, 743-756. doi: 10.1111/add.15246
Conference Papers
Sun, Tianze, Vu, Giang, Lim, Carmen C. W., Johnson, Ben, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Leung, Janni, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Chan, Gary C. K. (2023). Longitudinal association between exposure to e-cigarette advertising and youth e-cigarette use in the United States. APSAD 2023 Conference, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 12–15 November 2023. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. doi: 10.1111/dar.13749
Leung, Janni, Lim, Carmen C. W., Sun, Tianze, Vu, Giang, McClure-Thomas, Caitlin, Bao, Yanping, Santo, Thomas, Tran, Lucy T., Fausiah, Fitri, Farassania, Ghea, Chan, Gary Chung Kai and Sebayang, Susy Katikana (2023). The burden of preventable deaths attributable to second-hand smoke in Southeast Asia - Analysis of the global burden of disease study 2019. APSAD 2023 Conference, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 12-15 November 2023. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. doi: 10.1111/dar.13749
Vu, Giang T., Stjepanovic, Daniel, Sun, Tianze, Leung, Janni, Qiu, Yaqi, Thai, Phong, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Chan, Gary Chung Kai (2023). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between smoking and intelligence measures. APSAD 2023 Conference, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 12–15 November 2023. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
Johnson, Benjamin, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Sun, Tianze, Vu, Giang and Chan, Gary (2023). 'Buy High, Sell Low': A qualitative study of cryptocurrency traders who experience harm. 8th International Conference on Behavioral Addictions (ICBA 2023), Incheon, South Korea, 23–25 August 2023. Budapest, Hungary: Akademiai Kiado Rt.
Lim, Carmen C. W., Leung, Janni, Gravely, Shannon, Gartner, Coral, Chiu, Vivian, Sun, Tianze, Chung, Jack, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Connor, Jason, Scheurer, Roman, Hall, Wayne and Chan, Gary (2022). Patterns of tobacco and cannabis use in Australia: a latent class analysis and health-related correlates. The College on Problems of Drug Dependence, Minneapolis, MN USA, 11-15 June 2022.
Sun, Tianze (2021). Media representations of youth vaping: a corpus-based analysis of US newspaper coverage from 2014 to 2021. The Research Bazaar, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 24-26 November 2021.
Lim, Carmen C.W., Sun, Tianze, Leung, Janni, Chung, Jack Y.C., Gartner, Coral, Connor, Jason P., Hall, Wayne, Chiu, Vivian, Stjepanovic, Daniel and Chan, Gary (2021). Prevalence of adolescent cannabis vaping: a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from the US and Canada. APSAD Scientific Drug and Alcohol Conference, Virtual, 7-10 November 2021. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lim, Carmen C.W., Leung, Janni, Sun, Tianze, Chiu, Vivian, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Chung, Jack Y.C., Connor, Jason P., Hall, Wayne, Scheurer, Roman, Gartner, Coral and Chan, Gary (2021). Patterns of cannabis and tobacco use in Australia: latent class analysis and health-rated correlates. APSAD Scientific Drug and Alcohol Conference, Virtual, 7-10 November 2021. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
Stjepanovic, Daniel, Leung, Janni, Lim, Carmen C. W., Sun, Tianze, Chung, Jack Y. C., Phartiyal, Preeti, Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Chan, Gary C. K. (2021). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of smokeless tobacco for smoking cessation. APSAD 2021 Conference, Virtual, 7-10 November 2021. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Chan, Gary C. K., Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C. W., Morphett, Kylie, Stjepanovic, Daniel, Chung, Jack Y. C., Chiu, Vivian, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Leung, Janni (2021). Symposium: epidemiology and potential public health benefits and harms of vaping - implication to tobacco control policies. APSAD 2021 Conference, Virtual, 7-10 November 2021. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Stjepanovic, Daniel, Chan, Gary C. K., Lim, Carmen C. W., Sun, Tianze, Anandan, Aathavan Shanmuga, Connor, Jason P., Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D. and Leung, Janni (2021). A network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation. APSAD 2021 Conference, Virtual, 7-10 November 2021. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Sun, Tianze, Lim, Carmen C. W., Leung, Janni, Gartner, Coral, Hall, Wayne D., Connor, Jason P. and Chan, Gary C. K. (2021). The changing patterns and correlates of adolescent polytobacco use among nationally representative samples of US youth spanning 6 years: a latent class analysis. . APSAD Scientific Drug and Alcohol Conference, Virtual, 7-10 November 2021.
Lim, Carmen, Leung, Janni, Cheng, Brandon, Connor, Jason, Hall, Wayne, Gartner, Coral, Scheurer, Roman, Sun, Tianze and Chan, Gary (2020). Availability of substances for use in personal vaporisers on three online cryptomarkets. APSAD EMCR virtual showcase , Online, 4-25 November 2020.