Dr. Yu Lizhong is the president of East China Normal University. Dr. Yu was born in Shanghai on September 14, 1949. After graduating from Shanghai Shixi High School, he worked as a farmer in the countryside of Heilongjian, the northernmost and coldest province of China.

In 1978, thanks to the most significant political change in the country since 1949, he was able to move back to Shanghai and was admitted to the Department of Geography of East China Normal University after some of the most competitive academic examinations. Four years later, he graduated as a bachelor of science, but stayed at the university as a teacher.

From 1985 to 1990, he was stationed at the Department of Geography of the University of Liverpool for doctoral and post-doctoral research. In 1989, he earned his doctorate from the University of Liverpool and returned the following year to work at ECNU as an associate professor. In 1994, Yu was promoted to full professor and became a supervisor of doctoral programs. He became vice president of the university and dean of the university’s graduate school in April 1997. Then, in January 2003, he was appointed president of Shanghai Normal University. In November 2006, he returned to ECNU and became president of the university.

Professor Yu Lizhong is specialized in Environmental Magnetism, Environmental Process, Environmental Change, and Sustainable Development, Geographic Information System Application and more.

Professor Yu Lizhong’s academic achievement has been internationally recognized. He has made dozens of academic trips to Britain, Japan, America, Canada, and Hong Kong to give lectures or for cooperative research.