International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Kaizhong YANG

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 2020, Professor Kaizhong Yang is a distinguished Chinese regional economist whose research and professional work have focused on regional science, spatial economics, urbanisation, regional development, and ecological civilisation. Born in 1962 in Changde, Hunan Province, he received his B.A. in Geography from Hunan Normal University in 1983, his M.S. in Physical Geography from Peking University in 1985, and his Ph.D. in Economics from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1988, followed by postdoctoral research at Peking University from 1988 to 1990. After visiting research at Cornell University, he joined Peking University in 1992, where he served as Head of the Department of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Director of the Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems, and Secretary-General of the University. He subsequently served as Vice President of Capital University of Economics and Business, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, and Party Secretary of the Institute of Ecological Civilization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is currently a Member of the Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Dean of the School of Applied Economics and Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Peking University, and Director-General of the National Future Cities Laboratory. He is President of the Regional Science Association of China and the China Society of Urban Economics, and a recipient of the State Council Special Allowance.

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Professor Yang’s research has centred on regional science and spatial economics, with particular emphasis on urbanisation, regional development, sustainable development, and the economics of ecological civilisation. His studies of China’s regional development contributed to the development of regional-science research and provided analytical perspectives for regional policy from the 1990s onwards. He has also conducted sustained research on the development of the Zhongguancun Science Park, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, metropolitan-area integration, and the spatial implications of converting counties into municipal districts. His work has informed academic and policy discussions concerning regional development, urbanisation, and spatial planning. Professor Yang has served on national expert committees concerning development planning, territorial spatial planning, and climate change, and has led more than 100 national and ministerial research projects, including projects under the National Key Research and Development Programme and major projects funded by the National Social Science Fund of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published more than 400 papers and books and supervised more than 200 master’s and doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. His work has received a Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the First Prize of the China Development Research Award, and the China Economic Theory Innovation Award. Through sustained research at the intersection of economics and geography, policy advisory work, and academic institution building, Professor Yang has contributed to connecting spatial-economic analysis with China’s regional development practice and to the advancement of regional science, urbanisation studies, and ecological-civilisation research.