An Runying, a Ph.D. student of the Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research at Beijing Institute of Technology, went to the University of Cambridge in December 2019 for joint doctoral training with the support of CSC. The foreign supervisor is Professor Jonathan Cullen of the Engineering department at the University of Cambridge. An Runying mainly conducts energy-saving and emission-reduction potential analysis and technology simulation research for China’s iron and steel industry. The Use Less Group and the Resource Efficiency Group, where she visited, have long been engaged in research related to the sustainable use of materials, energy, and resources. They have committed to exploring how to minimize the environmental impact while meeting the needs of material services. Concurrently, the Resource Efficiency Group is focusing on the interaction between energy-land-water-material systems. The research areas include metal materials, cement, construction, transportation, and residential sectors.

　　Recently, An Runying has studied the resource recycling of the iron and steel industry. She analyzed on the inter-provincial distribution of Chinese scrap, the future steel demand, and the impact of scrap recycling on the energy consumption of the iron and steel industry. During her study, she participated in the report writing of UK FIRE project by taking responsibility for the energy consumption analysis of the industrial sector. The UK FIRE’s research showed that relying on existing energy-saving technologies, developing renewable energy and electrification could achieve net-zero emissions in the UK by 2050. Among them, emissions from the cement manufacturing process need to be more focused on. She also had in-depth discussions with experts from the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and the University of Bath, and fully understood the future development trend of energy-saving technologies in the industrial sector and the feasible measures to achieve sustainable development. Besides, she collaborated with the University of Cambridge to write the IEA working paper on energy efficiency assessment, with the focus on measures to improve energy efficiency in the industrial sector. Through academic discussions, she learned a lot about the academic dynamics in the research field and enriched her professional knowledge, which laid the firm foundation for further completion of her energy-saving research in the iron and steel industry.

Participate in academic conferences during study abroad