Dr Bing XUE (China)

Bing’s research interests mainly focus on the interactions analysis on human-environmental system and climate change governance, based on the techniques of urban and environmental computing and employing the transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. For his PhD thesis, he studied the mechanisms of regional circular economy development.

PhD in Geography

Current position: Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Research focus: industrial ecology, human-nature relationship, and sustainability governance in climate change and environment

Bing is currently serving as a Professor in Industrial Ecology and Sustainability Management as well as the Principal Investigator of the Research Center for Industrial Ecology & Sustainability at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also the Director of the Key Lab for Environmental Computation and Sustainability of Liaoning Province, China. Thus, he is a Research Fellow/Associate at the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam, Germany. He is also voluntarily serving in various organisations and scientific communities, and as a consulting expert for Chinese local governments.

2015 Selected as a member of the Youth Innovation Association at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
2013 International Climate Protect Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation


CV as submitted for the Green Talents award (2011):

Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang City, China

Research focus: regional industrial ecosystems

Xue Bing, an associate professor at the Institute of Applied Ecology in Shenyang City, China, has focused his research on building regional industrial ecosystems based on waste recycling and proposing targeted policies for local governments to meet sustainable development.

An industrial ecosystem is an example of the circular economy, one of Dr Xues areas of expertise. He has been involved in more than 20 projects designed to provide master planning of the circular economy for both industrial parks and at the provincial/municipal level. One of the projects he worked on was a master plan for the Gansu province. The plan was approved by the Chinese government in December 2010 and made Gansu province the first national demonstration province in China for developing the circular economy.

Dr Xue, who earned a doctorate in human geography, has also published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers on the circular economy, two of which became journal cover articles. One paper discussed the challenges and opportunities for developing a community circular economy in China and the other analysed the principles, patterns and structural framework of the regulating system. In addition, Dr Xue is leading four projects on regional sustainable development planning in China with the hopes of helping China build a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly society.

The jury described Dr Xues work as important for balancing Chinas growth with sustainable development and said the number and quality of the projects he has participated in was impressive. It also noted with interest his work in consulting when new industrial zones are created.

Dr Xue considers Germany to be one of the leading locations in the world for the circular economy, since it has made manufacturers responsible for the entire life cycle of a product, from the moment its materials leave the ground to the time it is recycled. While in Germany, I want to analyze the material flow at different levels and to seek the opinion of experts on developing the circular economy in China, said Dr Xue.