Peking University, September 25, 2025: The Global University Deans Forum on Materials Science took place at the Yingjie Overseas Exchange Center, hosted by the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Peking University, with support from the School of Advanced Materials at the Shenzhen Graduate School and the PKU Zhengzhou Advanced Research Institute of New Materials.

The forum brought together more than 300 participants, including deans and professors from over 90 leading universities worldwide such as Stanford University, the National University of Singapore, the University of Tokyo, and Tsinghua University alongside representatives from Peking University and entrepreneurs.

Zhang Jin, Executive Vice President of Peking University; Gong Weimi, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission; and Ren Jiarong from Ministry of Industry and Information Technology delivered opening remarks. 

Zhang outlined four expectations for the future of the discipline: deeper integration of industry and education, stronger interdisciplinary collaboration, paradigm innovation, and expanded international cooperation. 

Gong emphasized the importance of openness, global collaboration, and AI-driven research paradigms, while Ren highlighted accelerating the transformation of research results into industrial applications.



The forum also featured the launch of National Materials, a new international English-language journal co-led by Zhang Jin and Nobel Prize laureate Konstantin Novoselov. The journal aims to become a high-level, cross-disciplinary platform focused on advanced functional and structural materials.



In addition, the School of Materials Science and Engineering signed strategic cooperation agreements with several enterprises, pledging collaboration in talent training, research, and discipline development. 

Zou Ruqiang, Dean of School of Materials Science and Engineering delivered a keynote address outlining the school’s reforms and achievements under China’s “New Engineering” initiative.

A roundtable session further explored key themes such as AI integration with materials science, teaching reform in the AI era, international evaluation standards, and strategies for nurturing young faculty, resulting in broad consensus on future directions.

Commemorating the 20th anniversary of Peking University’s materials discipline and the 5th anniversary of its School of Materials Science and Engineering, the forum stood as both a milestone of reflection and a global platform to shape the future of materials science.

Written by: Sean Elijah Tan
Edited by: Chen Shizhuo
Source: PKU News (Chinese)