Personal Information

• Associate Professor, Master's Supervisor

• Associate Editor of Environment, Development and Sustainability (ENVI)

• Member, Committee on Resource Flow and Management Research

Dr. Hanwei Liang graduated with a Ph.D. from Nagoya University in Japan. Her research focuses on sustainable urban development, specifically in areas including circular and inclusive cities, resource and energy planning, and urban remote sensing GIS applications. Dr. Liang has led numerous research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, and Jiangsu Higher Education Natural Science Research Programs. She has authored over 50 SCI papers, published two English monographs, and received several awards, including the First Prize for Excellence in Productivity Theory and Practice in Jiangsu Province (as first author) and recognition as one of the “Top Ten Young Scientific Stars” at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology.

Dr. Liang teaches a range of courses, including Green Growth and Sustainability, Academic English for Master Students, Human Geography, Spatial Analysis Techniques for Urban and Rural Planning, Advanced Economic Geography, Economic Geography, and Land Resource Evaluation. Currently supervising 11 Master’s students, Dr. Liang has guided five graduates to completion—two of whom are pursuing doctoral studies, while three are working in state-owned or private enterprises.

Research Areas:

• Urban Resource Use and Metabolism (Resource reduction for zero-waste cities)

• Environmental Impact and Sustainability Assessment

• New-Type Urbanization and Smart City Planning (e.g., high-quality urban cluster development, planning for disposal facilities, job-housing balance, land optimization)

• Applications of Urban Remote Sensing and GIS Technologies

Prospective students with backgrounds in GIS, remote sensing, and planning are encouraged to apply.

Publications:

1. Wang, Y. (Undergraduate), Liang, H.*, Dong, L., et al. (2025). "Comprehensive maps of material stock dynamics reveal increasingly coordinated urban development in the Yangtze River Delta of China." Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 212, 107925. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107925 (SCI Q1)

2. Liang, H., Liu, H., Bian, X., Wang, Y., Dong, L.* (2024). "Supporting zero-waste building: A novel spatial explicit material flow analysis model for construction waste." Journal of Cleaner Production, 456, 142369. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142369. (SCI Q1)

3. Liang, H., Shen, J., Yip, H.-L., MengFang, M., Dong, L.* (2024). "Unleashing the green potential: Assessing Hong Kong's building solar PV capacity." Applied Energy, 369, 123567. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123567. (SCI Q1)

4. Luo, Y., Shen, J., Liang, H., Sun, L., Dong, L.* (2024). "Supporting building life cycle carbon monitoring, reporting, and verification: A blockchain-empowered information management system for Hong Kong." Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 208, 107736. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107736. (SCI Q1)

5. Luo, Y., Shen, J., Liang, H., Sun, L., Dong, L.* (2024). "Carbon Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) for Cleaner Built Environment: Developing a Solar Photovoltaic Blockchain Tool and Applications in Hong Kong’s Building Sector." Journal of Cleaner Production, 471, 143456. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143456. (SCI Q1)

6. Wang, L., Liang, H.*, Wang, S., et al. (2024). "Estimating four-decadal variations of seagrass distribution using satellite data and deep learning in a marine lagoon." Science of The Total Environment, 919, 170936. (SCI Q1)

7. Liang, H., Bian, X., Dong, L.* (2024). "Towards net-zero carbon buildings: Accounting for building embodied carbon and life cycle-based policy design for the Greater Bay Area, China." Geoscience Frontiers, 15(3), 101760. doi: 10.1016/j.gsf.2023.101760. (SCI Q1)

8. Liang, H.*, Xia, H., Chen, S., Dong, L. (2024). "A Study on the Coupling and Coordination of New Urbanization and Sustainable Development at the Provincial Level." Resources and Industries, 26(3), 97-113.

9. Liang, H., Bian, X., Dong, L.*, et al. (2023). "Mapping the evolution of building material stocks in three eastern coastal urban agglomerations of China." Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 188, 106651. (SCI Q1)

10. Liang, H., Wang, L., Wang, S.*, et al. (2023). "Remote sensing detection of seagrass distribution in a marine lagoon (Swan Lake), China." Optics Express, 31(17), 27677-27695. (SCI Q2)

11. Xia, H., Liang, H.*, Chen, S., Wang, Q., Wang, S. (2023). "Spatiotemporal Coupling of Land and Population Urbanization in Central Asia." Arid Land Geography, 46(01), 115-126.

12. Shen, W. (Undergraduate), Liang, H.*, Dong, L., et al. (2021). "Synergistic CO2 reduction effects in Chinese urban agglomerations: Perspectives from social network analysis." Science of the Total Environment, 798, 149352. (SCI Q1)

13. Liang, H.*, Li, N., Han, J., Bian, X., Xia, H. (2021). "Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Human Development Index: Comparative Study on Eastern Hemisphere Countries and Regions." Remote Sensing, 13, 2415. (SCI Q2)

14. Wang, S., Lv, J., Nie, J., Sun, D., Liang, H., Qiu, Z., Yang, W. (2021). "Dynamics of euphotic zone depth in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea." Science of the Total Environment, 751, 142270. (SCI Q1)

15. Liang, H., Ren, J., Liu, Y., Lin, R. (2019). "Alternative-fuel vehicles for sustainable transportation: A fuzzy group decision-supporting framework." Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 140, 33–43. (SSCI)

Books:

• Hydrogen Economy: Supply Chain, Life Cycle Analysis, and Energy Transition for Sustainability. ISBN: 9780128111321, Elsevier, 2017.

• Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future: Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment and Multi-Criteria Decision Making. ISBN: 9780128155813, Elsevier, 2019.

Research Projects:
Principal Investigator:

• National Natural Science Foundation of China, optimizing spatial layout of construction waste disposal facilities for zero-waste cities.

• Key Laboratory of Coastal Development and Protection, Ministry of Natural Resources, evaluating human impact on water transparency in Jiangsu coastal areas.

• Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu, strategies for steel resource recovery in Nanjing’s infrastructure.

• Jiangsu Higher Education Natural Science Research Project, analyzing urban infrastructure material metabolism and environmental effects via GIS.

Team Member:

• National Key R&D Program, hazard assessment and risk prevention technology for meteorological disasters, 2020-2023.

• National Social Science Foundation, emergency management of meteorological disasters using big data, 2017–2022.

Patent Guidance and Innovation Projects:

• Authorized Patents: 4 for undergraduates, 3 for Master’s students.

• Student Projects:

• National Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program, 2024–2025.

• Provincial and University-level innovation and entrepreneurship training programs, 2016–2024.

Awards and Competitions:

• Awards: Jiangsu Provincial Excellence in Productivity Theory and Practice, 1st Prize.

• Competitions: 9th National Undergraduate Life Science Competition, 2024 (2nd Place), 16th National Energy Conservation Competition, 2023 (3rd Place), and more.