Recruitment & Admissions

CEADs Honor

The CEADs team brings together scholars from research institutions in China, the United Kingdom, and other countries. The team has long focused on the characteristics of carbon emissions and emission-reduction pathways in China and other emerging economies, providing theoretical foundations and technical support for green and low-carbon development in emerging economies. Recently, at the 2022 World Young Scientist Summit, the new Asia Pacific list of MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 was announced. Dr. Jing Meng of CEADs stood out from many applicants and was selected for the Asia Pacific Innovators Under 35 list in recognition of her research. This is the second time that a CEADs member has received this honor, following Dr. Zhu Liu in 2019.

The global Innovators Under 35, or TR35, was launched by MIT Technology Review in 1999, the centennial year of the magazine. It aims to identify top young innovators from multiple frontier fields of technology and industry each year and to accelerate global technological innovation. In 2014, Innovators Under 35 launched its first independent Asia Pacific selection, focusing on one of the most dynamic and diverse regions in the world and providing an international platform for outstanding young science and technology talent in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Jing Meng is a tenured Associate Professor at University College London and a fellow of the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance. She received her PhD in environmental geography from Peking University in 2016. Her work has long focused on interdisciplinary research, including climate-change mitigation policy, integrated assessment models driven by low-carbon technology innovation, and the socioeconomic impacts of coordinated emission reduction. Over the past five years, Dr. Meng has published more than 50 papers as first author or corresponding author, including co-authored corresponding author papers, in leading journals such as PNAS, Nature Energy, Nature Climate Change, Nature Geoscience, Nature Communications, Nature Sustainability, and One Earth. She was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in cross-field research in 2022, 2021, and 2020; received the 2020 Future Sustainability Leader Award; received a 2018 Nature Communications Earth and planetary sciences Top 50 paper award; and received the 2017 Environmental Research Letters Best Early Career Paper Award.

Personal Homepage:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/construction/people/dr-jing-meng

Dr. Meng currently focuses on two key scientific questions: carbon emission pathways, and how to reduce emissions and manage costs. For carbon emission pathways, her team mainly studies how developing countries can achieve low-carbon transition while maintaining sustainable economic development, and has recently made important progress. Based on multi-source data fusion, the CEADs team has developed a modular framework for compiling input-output models that represent global production sectors and production supply chains, with near real-time updates. The related paper, Full-scale, near real-time multi-regional input-output table for the global emerging economies (EMERGING), was published online in the Journal of Industrial Ecology.

For carbon neutrality pathways and costs, Dr. Meng has systematically improved forecasting models to analyze the evolution of technologies and their costs, providing key model support and scientific evidence for assessing the economic costs and feasibility of carbon-neutral pathways. The related study, Comparing expert elicitation and model-based probabilistic technology cost forecasts for the energy transition, was published in PNAS.

Dr. Meng will continue to focus on technical and economic cost analysis for low-carbon transition pathways. Her research combines economic development, energy demand, and industrial structure across countries and regions, explores the role of technological innovation and development, and gradually builds carbon-neutral roadmaps at different scales.

CEADs Recruitment

Led by Dr. Jing Meng, the CEADs team will recruit PhD students through The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at University College London for entry in September 2023. Research directions include but are not limited to low-carbon technology innovation, climate change and disaster economics, and the compilation and application of environmental input-output tables.

Requirements

1. Relevant academic background, such as economics, environmental science, geography, or other related disciplines.

2. A master degree, to be obtained before August 2023.

3. IELTS 6.5, with no component below 6.0, or an equivalent score in another language test.

4. Proficiency in at least one programming language, such as Python, Matlab, or R.

Application deadline: 16 December 2022.

Funding Opportunities

1. Full scholarships are available for outstanding candidates, including tuition waiver and an annual living allowance of GBP 19,000.

2. China Scholarship Council program, providing monthly living allowance and medical insurance; for outstanding candidates, the university will cover four years of tuition fees.

Application Materials

Interested applicants should send the following materials to the relevant supervisor as early as possible. Email addresses are listed in the supervisor profiles.

1. Curriculum vitae in Chinese and English.

2. Research interests and research proposal, two pages.

3. Proof of language test results.

About the University

University College London, or UCL, was founded in London in 1826. It is a world-leading public research university and one of the United Kingdoms long-established universities with a top global reputation. UCL ranked eighth in the 2022 QS World University Rankings. It is the founding college of the University of London and is often grouped with the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and the London School of Economics as one of the G5 elite universities. UCL is also a member of the Golden Triangle, the Russell Group, the China-UK University Engineering Education and Research Alliance, and SES-5. UCL is known for its diverse and frontier disciplines. The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment is widely regarded as one of the worlds leading and most influential built environment faculties. Climate change and sustainable development are among the most important strategic priorities of The Bartlett.

Supervisors

In addition, Professor Xi Liang, Dr. Zaihan Gao, and Dr. Heran Zheng of the CEADs team are also recruiting PhD students through The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at University College London. Research directions include but are not limited to low-carbon technology innovation, climate change and disaster economics, climate-change finance and investment, and the compilation and application of environmental input-output tables.

The recruitment requirements are the same as those listed above. Interested applicants should send the required materials to the relevant supervisor by 16 December 2022.

Professor Xi Liang

Professor Xi Liang is Professor of Sustainable Infrastructure Transitions at University College London and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He also serves as Secretary General of the UK-China Guangdong CCUS Centre, Standing Committee Member of the Climate Investment and Finance Association of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, and Deputy Director of the CCUS Committee. Before joining UCL, he was Associate Professor of Energy Finance at the University of Edinburgh Business School and Director of the Centre for Business and Climate Change, where he taught infrastructure finance, energy finance, and climate finance and led the universitys business and climate centre. He currently leads the Asian Development Bank urban climate investment and financing roadmap project, the ADB climate finance accelerator project including carbon market digital innovation research, the international component of the ADB CCS Centre of Excellence in Guangdong, the World Bank networked carbon market project in China, and several strategic programme fund projects of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Professor Liang has published more than 50 academic papers, more than 30 reports, and five patents related to climate investment and finance, regional emissions accounting, and CCUS. He has led climate-change related research projects totaling GBP 6.2 million and has developed multiple CCUS projects.

Personal Homepage:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/construction/people/professor-xi-liang

Email: xi.liang@ucl.ac.uk

Dr. Zaihan Gao

Dr. Zaihan Gao is Assistant Professor in Sustainable Construction and Investment at The Bartlett, University College London. He received his PhD in finance from Durham University Business School. His research covers corporate finance, green finance, climate investment and finance, sustainable development, and transport economics. He has published several papers in related fields and has led or participated in multiple research projects, including studies on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality for Chinese central state-owned financial institutions and projects on high-efficiency motors supporting Chinas dual carbon goals.

Email: zaihan.gao@ucl.ac.uk

Dr. Heran Zheng

Dr. Heran Zheng is a tenured Assistant Professor in Infrastructure Low-Carbon Transition at The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London. He received his PhD in climate change economics from the University of East Anglia and was a postdoctoral researcher in the Industrial Ecology Programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research covers industrial ecology, climate change economics, national economic accounting, sustainable investment, and other interdisciplinary fields, with a focus on compiling input-output tables for countries at small scales, regional industrial-chain environmental impact analysis, and sustainable production and consumption. In recent years, he has published numerous research outputs, including papers in leading journals such as Nature Climate Change, Nature Sustainability, and One Earth.

Email: heran.zheng@ucl.ac.uk