College of Global Change and Earth System Science (CGCES)

College of Global Change and Earth System Science (CGCES) at Beijing Normal University was found in January 2008. The College builds on existing programs of research and education in the School of Geography, School of Environment, College of Resources Science & Technology, College of Water Science and Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management

The mission of CGCES is to build an international scientific research center and innovative talents foster base. Firstly, we should combine the characteristic that earth science development pay attention to interdisciplinary and integrated study today. Secondly, we should take the earth system model and key scientific problems as the basis, take integrated observation data platform of global change as a support, take the interaction between global change and human activities as a link, and take economics on global change as key breakthroughs direction. Then by combining the request of earth science from Chinese national economic and social development, enhancing the forecast capacity of global and regional climate and environmental change, we should take servicing to the national economy as the goal and research the integration of global change and the Earth System Science effectively.

CGCES adopts a new organization model and operational mechanism in accordance with international convention. Its management system is composed by the Council, Scientific Steering Committee and Institutional Administration Committee. The Council is the highest policy-making organization and the chairman is Liu Chuansheng, the chairman of Beijing Normal University. The Scientific Steering Committee is the agency of evaluating teacher troop construction, scientific research and research results. Xu Guanhua, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the director of the Scientific Steering Committee. The Institutional Administration Committee is the executive management agency of routine work, and Pan Yaozhong, Professor of Beijing Normal University, is the first administrator. CGCES has responsibility system of president under the leadership of the Council and scientific research organization of project team under the leadership of chief scientist.
Disciplinary construction
Since the establishment of CGCES, we called on a series of discussion on discipline construction and get suggestion widely from experts in the field of global change, finally we determined four key directions of disciplines development, including earth system model, the interaction between global change and human activities, economics on global change, integrated global change observation platform for data collection.

1. Earth system model

As the basic tool for the Earth System Science research, the earth system model play an important role to integrate multiple disciplines, by which scientists can carry out further study on the mechanisms and reasons of global change, to predict the variation trend of future and to formulate corresponding measures. The main research directions include for main directions as following: (1) further evaluation and improvement of physical climate system model (2) modeling and coupling of the biogeochemical process (3) research of the Earth's climate system model (4) relevant scientific problems in global change research.

2. The interaction between global change and human activities

Regional geographical factors were affected by global climate change, while the force of elements of the regional environmental change on global climate is also growing. In recent 30 years the East Asian region has become the strongest region with global human activities. So, it is significant to understand the influence of human activities on regional and global climate in this region, as well as the response to global change. The main research directions include: (1) land use / land cover changes and changes in terrestrial ecosystems (2) human activities and regional carbon cycle process (3) human activities and aerosol (4) the East Asian Monsoon and environmental change (5) research water cycle and water issues (6) the interaction between the nature and human activity in the edge of transition belt of land and sea.

3. Economics on global change

We should consider comprehensively economic problems and evaluate the current model and protocol of economic on global changes during the research of economics on global change. Simultaneously, we should analysis the pressures and challenges faced in global change in connection with Chinese practical situation. CGCES focuses on the impact of global change on human activities from the perspective of opportunities and potential, set sustainable development as the objectives and proposes the corresponding socio-economic measures. Main research directions include: (1) research the impacts and adaptation of global change on the economic society (2) the impacts of different development modes in economic society on global change (3) relationship between Globalization and global change (4) economic, social and environmental assessment about international carbon emission reduction agreement.

4. Integrated observation data platform of global change

By use of aviation, space flight remote sensing technology, combined with modern technology means of spatial information acquisition and processing such as information network communications, GIS, GPS and so on, we can provide a sharing platform of integrated data, composed of remote sensing data of Earth observation, measuring data from instrument, field observation network integrated data. It is favorable for understanding and simulating the solid Earth system, the fluid Earth system, the ecological Earth system and interaction between these systems in different temporal-spatial scales, as well as revealing the laws of global change and interactions between human activities and combination of resources, environment and ecology. Main research directions include: (1) needs analysis of global change on Earth observation data (2) satellite data integration (3) acquisition and processing technology of ground-based observations data (4) extraction technology and capacity assessment of multi-source data faced to global change research (5) assimilation platform construction of Earth observation data and model (6) sharing platform construction of Earth observation system and simulation data.
Teachers and personnel training

Under the direction of the key subject development, CGCES set up around 10 technological innovation teams and a number of visiting fellows. Each team usually composed of five people, including a chief scientist, two senior researchers and two general researchers. To expand research and development team, CGCES will recruit above researchers from home and abroad.

CGCES has the qualifications to grant doctor’s degree and master's degree and set up a post-doctoral station. Making full use of advantages in multidisciplinary of Beijing Normal University, CGCES takes geography, ecology, atmospheric science, environmental science as disciplines basis, takes basic mathematics, theoretical physics, systems science, computing science as the methods and means, and takes social sciences (economics) as the decision-making tools. The purpose is to innovate in the personnel training system and establish creative talents training mode of multi-interdisciplinary fusion.
Scientific research
Taking State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, Scientific Computing center of BNU, as well as a number of the ministry (city) level key laboratories and engineering centers as scientific research supporting platform, CGCES set up innovative team by cooperation with high-level scientific research institutions and scientists at home and abroad. The goal is to form an international-class research and teaching groups, and train more research and application talents who are interdisciplinary and full of innovative capacity. The laboratories and research center above are equipped with independent laboratory and corresponding test equipments. They have solid theoretical foundation and strong technical team, which has laid a good foundation for teaching and scientific research. Furthermore, they have undertaken some great national project and acquired much Scientific or Technical award and scientific and technological progress award of the provincial and ministerial level.
Contact Information:
TelePhone: 010-58805750
E-Mail: yangxq88@ires.cn
Website: http://www.bnu.edu.cn/gces/index.htm