Yang Fujia

Biography

Yang's ancestral hometown is Zhenhai County (current Zhenhai District), Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. He was born in Shanghai, graduated from Shanghai Ge-Zhi High School 上海格致中学 and obtained a degree in physics from Fudan University. He was a lecturer and professor of physics at Fudan, serving as President of the university from 1994 to 1999.

Yang was Director of the Shanghai Institute of Nuclear Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1987 to 2001, was Chairman of the Shanghai Science and Technology Association (1992–1996), and he was the first president of the Association of University Presidents of China (1997–1999).

Yang has held visiting professorships at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark; Rutgers University, New Jersey, U.S.; the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA; and the University of Tokyo, Japan. He holds honorary degrees from Soka University, Tokyo, Japan; the State University of New York, USA; the University of Hong Kong; the University of Nottingham, England; and the University of Connecticut, USA.

Professor Yang Fujia was formally installed as The University of Nottingham's sixth Chancellor on 4 July 2001, the first time that a Chinese academic has become Chancellor of a UK university. He stepped down as Chancellor on 1 January 2013, being replaced by Sir Andrew Witty.

In 2004, Yang was one of the 3 prime movers behind the creation of University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China - along with Sir Colin Campbell and Madame Xu Yafen. He continues to hold the office of President at UNNC, presiding at Graduation Ceremonies and engaging closely with students who have followed Yang's original dream of moderating and reforming China's higher education space..

Other roles which Professor Yang has held include:

Notable Research