Lancaster alumnus, Professor Yu Fang (PhD Polymer Science, 1998) has recently been made one of the new Chinese Academy of Sciences' academicians. Here, his Lancaster friend, Dr Hantang Qi (PhD Management Science, 2001) tells of the achievement.

"The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), one of the country’s top academic institutions, announced on Thursday 18 November 2021 that 65 scientists had been elected as new CAS academicians and one of them is our alumnus Professor Yu FANG who obtained his doctorate from Lancaster in 1998.

With his Lancaster doctorate Dr Fang returned to his Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU) and soon after was promoted to Professor. He served as the President of SNNU from 2004 to 2014. During his Presidency the University, which is located in the ancient city of Xi’an where the UNESCO world heritage site of terracotta warriors is sited, has successfully become one of the nation’s 211 key project universities. (211 stands for top 100 Chinese universities in the 21^st century.)

Yu Fang’s research interests include mainly: (1) development of film-based fluorescent sensors, and (2) development of functionality-led dynamic systems, where the emphases are given to the physical chemistry at the surfaces, interfaces and adlayers of the relevant systems. He has an international reputation as a leading figure in the area of Physical Chemistry at Surfaces and Interfaces with Fluorescence as Main Techniques.

Dr Fang’s family and my family shared the same house in Lancaster town centre when he was a doctoral student in Chemistry and I was doing my doctoral research in the Management School. I am now an honorary professor of SNNU and a frequent lecturer in their International Business School. We both have fond memories of our time in Lancaster."