On October 9, 2023, the Department of Social Sciences (DSS) had the honor of hosting Dr. Yu Le, Associate Professor of Land Systems Science at Tsinghua University who delivered a lecture on land system change and sustainable development.

Land system constitutes a link between human activity and environment. Dr. Yu’s research uses geographic information technology to map global land-use change, especially in regard to arable land, works with satellite-based methods to quantify spatiotemporal changes in land use in order to understand their ecological, environmental and socio-economic consequences for sustainable development. His work promises to contribute to fostering biodiversity as well as food security, and it represents a development of current land modelling systems

Dr. Wu Shuang, Assistant Professor of GAD, presided over this lecture.

Dr. Yu elaborated on the impact and potential solutions of land system change from multiple perspectives, and further discussed the spatiotemporal patterns of global land use and land cover change, as well as how these changes affect ecosystems.

Dr. Yu Le patiently and thoroughly answered multiple questions raised by teachers and students of the Department of Social Sciences.

GAD junior student Tan Muyao asking a question of Dr. Yu

DGS sophomore student Kang Yaozhi asking a question

Department of Social Sciences Professor Adrian Bailey contributing to the discussion

Acting Director and Associate Professor of the Department of Social Sciences Dr. Edoardo Monaco joining the debate

GAD Assistant Professor Dr. Wu Shuang giving her comments

The Globalisation and Development (GAD) thanks Dr. Yu for taking the valuable time to present a wonderful lecture on land systems and sustainable development to all faculty and students in the Department of Social Sciences.