LSE and Tsinghua University award twelve joint projects advancing global sustainability
LSE and Tsinghua University have announced twelve projects selected for funding under the inaugural LSE-Tsinghua University Sustainability Research Fund - a flagship initiative supporting cutting-edge academic collaboration between two of the world's leading institutions.
Following the Fund's launch in July 2025, this announcement marks the culmination of a competitive call for proposals addressing urgent global sustainability challenges. The twelve winning projects have been awarded seed funding to support long-term collaborations and deliver policy-relevant research across six thematic areas: generating sustainable growth and energy transitions; creating sustainable finance and business; mobilising political, legal and governance systems; protecting and enhancing nature and biodiversity; building sustainable societies; and promoting sustainability in public health and well-being.
The selected projects reflect the depth of expertise at both institutions and a shared determination to address the world's most urgent sustainability challenges through ambitious, interdisciplinary research.
Mobilising Political, Legal and Governance Systems
- Global Sustainability Governance in an Age of International Fracture
LSE team: Professor Peter Trubowitz (International Relations), Professor Robert Falkner (International Relations)
Tsinghua team: Professor Bin Li (Institute of International Relations), Professor Sun Xuefeng (Institute of International Relations) - Assessment of Flood Risks and Organisational Change for Adaptation Strategies in Africa
LSE team: Professor Declan Conway, Dr Kate Gannon, Jing Zhao (Grantham Research Institute)
Tsinghua team: Professor Fei Teng (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy)
Promoting Sustainability in Public Health and Well Being
- Valuing Urban Green Spaces Using Big Data
LSE team: Dr Christian Krekel (Psychological & Behavioural Science)
Tsinghua team: Associate Research Professor Dong Li (Institute for Urban Governance and Sustainable Development) - Sustainable Pathways to Global Access for Innovative Medicines
LSE team: Professor Ken Shadlen (International Development)
Tsinghua team: Associate Professor Guanqiao Li (Vanke School of Public Health) - Sustaining Quality of Life in the Face of Cognitive Decline: Dementia and Alzheimer’s Care in China and England
LSE team: Professor Andrew Street, Huixuan Gao (Department of Health Policy)
Tsinghua team: Associate Professor Yue Qiu (School of Healthcare Management), Xinyue Fang, Paula Li (Institute for Hospital Management)
Building Sustainable Societies
- Building Sustainable Societies Through Fostering Engagement of Higher Education Students
LSE team: Dr Giannis Efthymiou (International Inequalities Institute)
Tsinghua team: Associate Professor Kai Kuang (School of Journalism and Communication) - Comparative Analysis of Climate Change Narratives and Politics in China and Indonesia
LSE team: Professor Tim Forsyth (International Development)
Tsinghua team: Professor Fanxu Zeng (School of Journalism and Communication) - Strengthening the Resilience of Food Supply Chains Through International Cooperation
LSE team: Lei (Alice) Bian and Professor Elizabeth Robinson (Grantham Research Institute), Professor Deborah James (Anthropology, advisor)
Tsinghua team: Professor Wenjia Cai, Yujuan Wang, Yihui Liu, Jianxiang Shen, and Hanyi Wu (Department of Earth System Science), Professor Lan Xue (Schwarzman College and the Institute for AI International Governance, advisor)
Generating Sustainable Growth and Energy Transitions
- Beyond Coal: Cross Country Comparison on Pathways for a Just and Feasible Energy Transition
LSE team: Dr Joseph Feyertag, Mengwei Sha, Isabel Lara Miranda, Alia Yusuf, Dr Simon Dikau (GRI)
Tsinghua team: Associate Research Professor Bin Hu, Wenjuan Dong, Wenchuan Zhang (Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development) - Assessing the Technical Feasibility, Economic Viability and Policy Frameworks for Green Methanol Deployment
LSE team: Dr Min Kyeong Cha (Geography & Environment)
Tsinghua team: Associate Research Professor Yu Wang, Associate Research Professors Zhou Jian & Zhou Lingling, Dr Zhang Miaomiao (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy) - Supporting Decarbonisation of the Power Sector in Bali
LSE team: Bob Ward (Grantham Research Institute)
Tsinghua team: Assistant Research Professor Yujuan Fang (Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development)
Creating Sustainable Finance and Business
- The Green Signal: Decoding Venture Capital Sustainability Strategy and Its Influence on Portfolio Firms
LSE team: Dr Juanita Gonzalez Uribe (Finance)
Tsinghua team: Assistant Professor Xiang Yin (School of Economics and Management)
Professor Susana Mourato, LSE Vice-President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research), commented:
"Warm congratulations to the inaugural recipients of the LSE-Tsinghua University Sustainability Research Fund.
“This initiative exemplifies the ambition of LSE’s Global School of Sustainability: connecting world-leading social science with global partners to address pressing environmental challenges through rigorous, policy-relevant research.
“Our collaboration with Tsinghua strengthens the international research networks needed to generate robust evidence and inform policy at scale. I look forward to seeing these partnerships flourish and deliver meaningful impact."
Professor Zheng Li, Dean of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University, added: The Seed Fund provides an effective starting point for joint research and interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainability between our two universities. Through this platform, we look forward to establishing more robust and long-term cooperation mechanisms, generating high-quality research outcomes, and contributing practical solutions to global climate governance.
The LSE–Tsinghua University Sustainability Research Fund is part of a broader partnership between the two institutions, which includes collaborative work through the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC). This partnership builds on a strong and growing history of academic exchange, grounded in shared values of academic excellence and a joint commitment to advancing policy-relevant research that addresses the world's most pressing challenges.