Peking University, September 20: On September 14, 2021, Springer Nature, a world-renowned academic institution, announced the winners of the China New Development Awards in recognition of important research contributions by Chinese scholars to promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The winners are 10 English-language academic books selected from nearly 820 books and conference papers published in 2020 by Springer and Palgrave Macmillan under Springer Nature, with each book edited or authored by at least one Chinese scholar. Two of the winning books are authored respectively by Professor Yu Miaojie of PKU National School of Development, and Professor Wang Fang of PKU College of Architecture and Landscape.
Professor Yu Miaojie at the awards ceremony
Professor Yu Miaojie's winning monograph China-US Trade War and Trade Talk explores the Sino-US trade disputes and negotiations amid trade frictions. The book is divided into two parts: the first part analyzes the current situation of Sino-US trade relations and describes the underlying impact of Sino-US trade frictions; The second part discusses China's possible response and development strategy amid deglobalization, summarizes the three stages of China's reform and opening-up policy over the past 40 years, and discusses future tasks in the new stage of development. Finally, the book reviews the role of global value chains, trade liberalization and corporate performance in propelling China's economic growth.
Professor Yu Miaojie’s monograph and the affiliated award
Professor Wang Fang and Professor Martin Prominski from Leibniz University Hannover in Germany co-authored Water-Related Urbanization and Locality: Protecting, planning and designing urban water environments in a sustainable way. They were funded by the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion.
Professor Wang Fang at the awards ceremony
The book addresses issues of water resource protection and sustainable development against the backdrop of environmental development and urbanization. It explores SDGs concerning the environment, economy and society, and encourages Sino-German exchange regarding sustainable urban and rural construction.
Professor Wang Fang and Professor Martin Prominski’s monograph and the affiliated award
At the award ceremony, Dr. Niels Peter Thomas, president of Springer Nature Greater China, said: “Just as combatting COVID-19 relies on global cooperation, the key to solving global social challenges too lies within teamwork. Global cooperation not only encompasses interdisciplinary cooperation, but also cooperation among countries, as well as collective effort between scientific research, political, business circles. With our publications, we can generate positive changes and encourage greater cooperation.”
Established by Springer Nature in 2019, 2021 marks the third year of the China New Development Awards. With the scientific value and social influence of research as the main selection criteria, close to 820 books shortlisted this year are directly related to one or more of the 17 SDGs of the United Nations, covering popular topics in environmental science, pedagogy, medicine, social science, business and economics.
The trend of scientific cooperation is also fully reflected in the content of the winning books. In comparison with previous years, the winning titles this year incorporated more content related to interdisciplinary research. Moreover, over half of the books were co-authored or co-edited, therefore combining the wisdom of both Chinese and foreign scholars to overcome relevant challenges in the world today.
Two of the winning books focus on China's economic rise and the corresponding Sino-US trade frictions amid globalization. Five books focus on the challenges resulting from urbanization. Three books focus on the development of global education policies, as well as China's wind power industry and circular economy.
Written by: Rose Li
Edited by: Li Wanqi
