Lonnie G. Thompson

USA

Prof. Dr. Lonnie G. Thompson (born in July 1948), a distinguished professor of the Ohio State University, USA, has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA since 2005 and foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2009. He is a world-renowned glaciologist and ice core paleo-climatologist. He initiated the study of ice core palaeoclimatology in the tropical alpine region. Apart from ten papers in Science and one in Nature, each of which has been cited over 300 times, he has also published hundreds of influential research papers in other top-notch journals. Among his high-impact publications, there are quite a few written together with Chinese scientists, which help promote the Tibetan Plateau environmental research in the international academic community. He has rich experience in young talents cultivation, and supervised several young Chinese scientists who later become very successful in glaciological and Tibetan plateau environmental research, thus contributing to the development of the Chinese geo-scientific community. He has acted as the deputy director of the academic advisory committee of the newly founded Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS) since 2003. He also advocates the Third Pole Environment (TPE) Program, a program initiated by Chinese scientists, and thus helps significantly in promoting the program world-wide.

Shin-ichi Kurokawa

Japan

Prof. Dr. Shin-ichi Kurokawa (born in June 1945) is a world-famous particle accelerator expert. He has chaired several international organizations on accelerator science, and received the 2011 Rolf Wideröe Prize, a top international award in particle accelerator field. Since the 1980s, he has made more than 50 visits to China to actively promote collaborations with the Institute of High Energy Physics, Tsinghua University, Peiking University, University of Science and Technology of China and other Chinese research institutions. He has initiated the collaboration between Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the field of particle accelerators and served as the coordinator for the Japanese side. He has made great efforts in promoting personnel exchanges and cooperative researches. He has successfully brought the application of superconducting technology to the high energy accelerators in China, and to the experimental physics and inductral control system as well. He has successfully organized several accelerator schools to train young researchers in China. He has served as a member of the International Machine Advisory Committee for the upgrading project of the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider, and has played an important role in enhancing the international collaboration of the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility. He has made significant contributions to the construction of large-scale accelerator facilities in China and to their catching-up with the world-class level.

Michael R. Phillips

Canada

Prof. Dr. Michael R. Phillips (born in Sep. 1949), Director of the Suicide Research and Prevention Center of the Shanghai Mental Health Center which is part of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, is an internationally recognized expert in psychiatry and mental health. As a permanent resident of China since 1985, he has actively taken the lead in supporting the establishment of psychiatric research centers and in promoting international collaborative research projects that have greatly advanced the field of public mental health in the country. In collaboration with relevant institutes around the country, he has undertaken national epidemiological studies of the prevalence of mental illnesses and ‘psychological autopsy’ studies of suicide. His work on suicide has identified the unique characteristics of suicide in China, described the factors that influence suicidal behavior, and stimulated the creation of an innovative multi-factorial model for suicide appropriate to the Chinese setting. This research has greatly benefited the work on suicide prevention in the country by supporting policies (such as the appropriate storage of pesticides) that have significantly contributed to the reduction of suicidal deaths in the country. He has also been a key player in the translation and adaptation of internationally recognized diagnostic instruments in mental health that have been extremely useful in improving the scientific understanding of the prevalence, characteristics and course of all types of mental illnesses in the country. This work has received wide international recognition and has provided scientific evidence for the Chinese government to develop mental health policies and programs.