President of YNU selected as academician of Academia Europaea

The official website of Academia Europaea recently announced its list of new academicians for this year. Fang Jingyun, president of Yunnan University (YNU), was elected as its foreign academician.

Fang Jingyun [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]

Academia Europaea was established in 1988, initiated by the Royal Society of the United Kingdom and the national academies of European countries, and is headquartered in London, UK.

Since its establishment, the academy has elected nearly 5,500 academicians, including nearly 90 Nobel Prize winners. A small number of scientists outside EU countries can be elected as foreign academicians, which make up less than five percent of all academicians.

Fang was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005, an academician of the Third World Academy of Sciences in Italy in 2008, and was appointed as the president of Yunnan University by the Yunnan Provincial People's Government in 2019.

Fang is the initiator of China's terrestrial carbon cycle research and a leader in ecology. He has presided over scientific research projects such as the National Major Scientific Research Program on Global Change Research, the National Key R&D Program, and the Pilot Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has published more than 430 academic papers at home and abroad.

In addition, Fang has submitted policy advice to the Party Central Committee and the State Council on China's climate change policy, ecological development in arid areas, grassland protection and utilization, the scientific and technological evaluation index system, and talent team building, which has been highly valued.