A delegation from IIASA visited Beijing in March 2016 to enhance current collaborations. During this trip, a workshop took place that included a Public Lecture by Dr. Pavel Kabat, IIASA's Director General and CEO, which brought together many former YSSPers and their former supervisors.
Among them were Siyuan Yang and Hongmei Zheng, who share their impressions from the event below. Siyuan is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Environment at Beijing Normal University and was a 2015 YSSPer in the Advanced Systems Analysis Program. Hongmei is also currently at the School of Environment at Beijing Normal University and was a 2014 YSSPer in the Advanced Systems Analysis Program.
"I was so excited when I heard that a delegation from IIASA will visit Beijing, China. Chinese YSSPers gathered together in Peking University from all over the country to attend this public lecture that was given by Pavel Kabat, IIASA’s Director General and CEO. This workshop focused on the tradeoff between economy and environment. Since human activities have caused tremendous impact on the environment, people have been facing climate change, diminishing natural resources and irreversible environmental deterioration. A promising solution to achieve sustainable environment and prosperous economy is to think systematically, which is based on cross-sectoral and integrative synergies. After the workshop, we shared memories from IIASA and talked about our future plans. It was a very emotional meeting for me, and I felt like it was a reunion with my family.
It was an extraordinary and unforgettable time that I spent at IIASA as a YSSPer in 2015. This short period of time left many positive impressions with me. During my time at IIASA, I met many ambitious young scientists and experienced senior research fellows coming from different countries and working in various fields. It really broadened my perspective and inspired my further research. The seminars and presentations held at IIASA really shared different points of view and gave me new perspectives on my research." - Siyuan Yang
“Last month, IIASA Director General and CEO, Professor Pavel Kabat had a lecture in Peking University. He talked current environmental problems and introduced some research on proposing countermeasures, in order to reconcile economic development with environmental sustainability. He also emphasized sustainable development is close to human life. Finally, Prof. Kabat analyzed how to solve some problems specifically for Chinese cases. This workshop provided us (YSSPers) a great opportunity to meet again. We were so excited to see each other, recalled our memories from time spent together at IIASA, and talked about our work and family.
I was so lucky to be selected as a YSSPer in 2014. During those three months, I could talk with young scientists and experts from very similar research areas as mine and this significantly influenced my Ph.D. research. Then the interdisciplinary concept advocated by IIASA broadened my horizon from natural science. Also, after my YSSP experience, I had a lot of friends from other countries, and we even meet at some conferences or discuss online." - Hongmei Zheng
