Location: 1. Research Institutes, Laboratories and Centers
The school has seven researh institutes: Institutes of Environmental Sciences, Environmental Policy and Management, Watershed Management, Aquatic Ecology Engineering, Urban and Regional Ecology, Water Quality Control Engineering, and Cross-media Pollution Control. There are three high-profile research laboratories and centers (i.e., the State Key Joint Laboratory for Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, the Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences of Ministry of Education, and Beijing Engineering Research Center for Watershed Environmental Restoration & Integrated Ecological Regulation), and three on-site experimental stations that are respectively located in Baiyangdian of Hebei province, Yellow River delta of Shandong province, and Hanshi Bridge of Beijing. Within the most recent years, two Industry-University-Research Cooperative Stations were established including Jiantao and Xinji Stations of Hebei province. Within the most recent years, two Industry-University-Research Cooperative Stations were established including Jiantao and Xinji Stations of Hebei province.
2. Research Areas and Achievements
Research of the School is particularly targeted to river basins, with water as a focus, wetland-urban nexus as a connector, and eco-system conservation and protection as the ultimate goal. The prominent feature and strength of the research lie in the provision of systematic solutions for dealing with environmental and ecological challenges. Over the past years, a number of key research areas have been formed, including simulation of water environmental processes and effects, modeling of environmental and ecological processes and effects, theory and technology for environmental and ecological restoration, simulation and adjustment of urban ecosystems, and environmental impact assessment and planning, which are respectively playing the leading roles at home and abroad.
During the period of 2009 to 2015, over 100 projects were granted by China’s major funding agencies, including 2 project and 13 sub-projects supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (i.e., 973), 1 project supported by US-China Collaborative Research in Environmental Sustainability (NSFC-NSF); 6 projects supported by the Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, over 110 projects supported by the Regular Fund and the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, as well as a number of projects supported by key and/or major funding programs at provincial and local levels. The school published more than 1,800 peer-reviewed articles, 1,300 of which were in Science Citation Index journals, such as ES&T, Water Res., and Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. Furthermore, it was awarded 124 national patents and published 61 scientific monographs. The school’s achievements have evidenced by the many awards it has won. These include the Second-class National Natural Science Award (2015), second prize of National S&T Progress Award (2008, 2012, 2014), first prize in the Natural Science Award from the Ministry of Education (2005), first prize in the S&T Progress Award from the Ministry of Education (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015), first prize in the Technological Invention Award from the Ministry of Education (2012), second prize in S&T Progress Award from the Ministry of Education (2008, 2011, 2012), second prizes in the natural science and patent awards from the Ministry of Education (2014), first prize (2010) and second prize (2002, 2005) in the Beijing S&T Award and the Higher Education Teaching Achievement Award granted by the Beijing Municipal Government (2004, 2008, 2012).
3. Domestic and International Influences
According to the ESI report, the Environment/ Ecology programme of Beijing Normal University (BNU) was respectively among 0.1% (no. 60th) and 0.3% (no. 200rd) of the total 792 research institutes (i.e., top 1% of worldwide research institutes) in terms of the total number of published papers, and the total number of citations. BNU’s environmental science programme was ranked in the top 101~150 in the 2016 QS World University Rankings and BNU‘s Earth and Environmental sciences programme was ranked in 84 in the Nature Index ranking.
The School of Environment also has been enhancing its capabilities in meeting China's major strategic needs and playing a leading role in relevant research areas. Major contributions include: Promotion of theoretical and practical development of water environmental remediation and ecological recovery and restoration. The integrated technologies for point- and non-point-source pollution control and eco-restoration and protection for watersheds and regions have been piloted or applied in seven major watersheds and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in China. A number of ecological planning reports for sustainable watershed management have been implemented by the State Council of the People's Republic of China; Provision of guidance to the stipulation and implementation of major environmental management and planning strategies. The developed Technical Rules for Environmental Planning and Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment have been applied around China; Establishment of international professional societies and peer-reviewed academic journals, and host of core international conferences, which is exerting a pioneering role for relevant research. As the founding institution, the Society for Environmental Ecology (ISEE) and the China Node for the International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research (ISAER) were established in Beijing Normal University. The school currently hosts two journals: Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management (L&H Scientific Press), and Energy, Ecology and Environment (Springer).