Recruitment & Admissions

Professor Yuli Shan's research group in the CEADs team is recruiting one PhD student in climate change and sustainable development for autumn 2025 entry. The project will focus on the environmental, economic, and social impacts of outward foreign direct investment. Interested applicants should send an English CV to studentapps.y.s@outlook.com by August 10, 2025. Email subject: PhD Application - Your Name.

Application Requirements

1. A relevant master’s degree in climate change, environmental science, geography, economics, or a related discipline, with an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK 2:1 honours degree or an international equivalent;

2. IELTS 6.5 with no component below 6.0, or an equivalent language qualification. Please refer to the University of Birmingham admissions website for details;

3. Experience with multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models or computable general equilibrium (CGE) models is preferred;

4. Publication experience in relevant fields and proficiency in at least one programming language (Matlab / Python / R) are preferred;

5. An understanding of interdisciplinary research across the natural and social sciences, and strong ability to collaborate across disciplines.

Scholarship Support

1. Tuition fees are waived at the UK Home Fee rate. International students are responsible for covering the difference between home and international tuition fees. Please refer to the University of Birmingham admissions website for details;

2. A PhD stipend will be provided at the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) rate (£20,780 for the 2025/26 academic year);

3. Dedicated funding may be available to support academic training and career development.

Application Process

Interested applicants should send an English CV to studentapps.y.s@outlook.com by August 10, 2025. Email subject: PhD Application - Your Name.

Supervisor Profile

Professor Yuli Shan

Professor at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Highly Cited Researcher, a contributing author to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, and a lead author of China’s Fifth National Assessment Report on Climate Change. He has led or participated in major projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Royal Society, and EU Horizon programs, and has received more than 20 academic honors, including the German Green Talents Award and the International Society for Industrial Ecology Chinese Chapter Rising Star Award. His long-term research focuses on interdisciplinary studies of climate change mitigation and regional sustainable development. He has published more than 180 SCI/SSCI papers in leading domestic and international journals, including CNS sister journals, Science Bulletin, and National Science Review. Among these papers, 32 have been selected as ESI Hot Papers and 19 as ESI Highly Cited Papers. His work has received more than 20,000 citations on Google Scholar, with an h-index of 65. He serves as the first overseas executive council member of the National Input-Output and Big Data Research Association, a board member of the Sustainable Urban Systems section of the International Society for Industrial Ecology, and an editor for journals including Science Bulletin and Sustainable Futures.

Personal website: www.shanyuli.com

Professor Hisham Farag

Professor of Finance and Director of Research at Birmingham Business School, and Founding Director of the Sustainable Financial Innovation Centre (SFIC). His research areas include sustainable finance, green finance, financial technology, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, and behavioral finance. His work has been published in journals including British Journal of Management, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Corporate Finance, The European Journal of Finance, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, Journal of Business Ethics, International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, and Corporate Governance: An International Review.

Personal webpage:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/business/farag-hisham#staffdetails

University Overview

The University of Birmingham was founded in 1825 and is located in Birmingham, the second largest city in the United Kingdom. It is a global top-100 university, ranked 76th in the 2026 QS World University Rankings and 94th in the 2025 U.S. News Best Global Universities Rankings. It was ranked the university most targeted by top UK employers in 2024 by the High Fliers Research report, and received Gold in the UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) assessment in 2017. The University of Birmingham is one of the UK red brick universities and received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1900. It is a founding member of the Russell Group, Midlands Innovation, the Universitas 21 global university network, and other major alliances. By the end of 2017, the University had educated 11 Nobel Prize winners, 3 British prime ministers, and 5 heads of foreign governments. Notable alumni include British prime ministers Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, and Robert Anthony Eden; Nobel Prize winner and inventor of the mass spectrometer Francis Aston; and Chinese scholars and scientists including Li Siguang, the father of modern Chinese geology, Yao Tongbin, a Two Bombs, One Satellite meritorious scientist, and Ke Jun, a founder of metal physics and metallurgical history in China.