Professor Deng’s research has focused on the socio-economic history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, the relationship between cultural traditions and socio-economic transformation, and the reform of education and talent-development models. His scholarship combines historical analysis with contemporary studies of regional development, innovation policy, and governance. He is the author of the monograph Frontier Governors and Social Change: Pang Shangpeng and His Era (1524–1581) and has contributed to major reference works including Guangdong Provincial Gazetteer: Economic Overview, Catalogue of Rare Ancient Books in the Sun Yat-sen University Library, and China’s Western Region Report. His policy research has contributed to national discussions on new-type urbanisation, rural revitalisation, and the Belt and Road Initiative, and he has led major research projects, including a National Social Science Fund major programme on socio-economic change in western China. He has also published extensively in national newspapers and academic journals, including People’s Daily, Study Times, and Chinese Social and Economic History Studies. Collectively, his work reflects an interdisciplinary approach that connects historical scholarship with contemporary innovation policy, regional development, and governance, with broader relevance to socio-economic transformation across China and the Eurasian region.