Recently, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) released the Notice on the Review Results of Projects Accepted through the Concentrated Application for the 2025 National Natural Science Foundation, and the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences publicly announced the list of approved annual projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China (NSSFC) for 2025. Our School has been awarded a total of 7 national-level research projects, including 1 NSFC Young Scientists Fund Project (Class B), 1 NSFC Young Scientists Fund Project (Class C), 1 NSFC General Program Project, and 4 NSSFC General Program Projects.

In recent years, the School has attached great importance to the application for the NSFC. Particularly, to address the pain points, difficulties, and bottlenecks faced by young faculty in their research development, the School has established communication platforms and other support mechanisms to effectively assist young researchers in achieving better and faster growth with high quality. Professor Gong Shiyang, supported by the School’s Young Top Talent Program, has yielded fruitful research outcomes. Following the approval of his NSFC General Program Project in 2024, he has now been awarded an NSFC Young Scientists Fund Project (Class B) this year. The School will further explore effective pathways for the development of disciplinary research, strive to create better research conditions and an enabling atmosphere for its faculty, and push the School’s research capabilities to new heights.

List of Approved National-Level Research Projects for 2025

(Sorted by project type and the Pinyin of project leaders’ surnames)

Faculty Profiles

Gong Shiyang is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Economics and Business Administration, Beijing Normal University (BNU). He holds a PhD in Management from Tsinghua University, a Bachelor of Management degree from BNU, and has served as a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. His research interests focus on the intersection of marketing models and emerging technologies. He mainly adopts quantitative research methods to help enterprises develop and optimize marketing strategies, with specific interests in digital content, social networks, artificial intelligence, and genetic science. He has presided over 4 NSFC projects (1 Young Scientists Fund Project Class B, 2 General Program Projects, and 1 Young Scientists Fund Project Class C) and published more than 20 papers in domestic and international academic journals, such as Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Psychological Science, Acta Psychologica Sinica, Nankai Business Review, and Guangming Daily. His research outcomes have been included in the “Most Read Articles” list of Management Science and selected as a “Featured Article” by Journal of Marketing Research, and have received coverage from media outlets including Harvard Business Review, the Marketing Science Institute (USA), and MIT News.

Introduction to NSFC Young Scientists Fund Project (Class B) [Former Excellent Young Scientists Fund Project]: Social interaction is the core of marketing. With the advancement of the new round of technological revolution, multi-dimensional interactions—including those between “enterprises ↔ consumers”, “consumers ↔ consumers”, and “consumers ↔ technologies/platforms”—jointly shape consumers’ cognition, attitudes, and behaviors, and exert a profound impact on enterprises’ marketing strategy formulation. Focusing on the core research direction of “technology-driven interactive marketing theories and methods”, this project explores how emerging technologies reshape the interaction models and marketing strategies between enterprises and consumers. Its basic research paradigm is: based on theories of economics, sociology, and psychology, it investigates the interaction structure and behavioral mechanisms among “enterprises, consumers, and technologies/platforms” in the context of new technologies. By doing so, it provides a theoretical basis and empirical evidence for enterprises to develop and optimize marketing strategies, ultimately promoting the growth of consumer demand and the improvement of social welfare.

lCai Hongbo is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at BNUBS. He also serves as the Director of the Finance Department of BNU and the Director of the Free Trade Zone Research Center at the School. He has worked as a visiting scholar at Stanford University, USA, and is a member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the 8th Tariff and Classification Committee of the State Council. He is the chief expert of a Major Program of the NSSFC and the Chinese chief expert of a project under the European Union’s Horizon Program. He has published over 160 papers in academic journals such as Economic Research Journal, Management World, World Economy, China Industrial Economy, and Journal of World Business, and has won the An Zijie International Trade Research Award.

Cao Siwei is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, BNUBS. He obtained Bachelor’s degree from the School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University in 2008, and PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, USA in 2015. His research fields include regional economics and innovation economics. He has published numerous papers in authoritative domestic and international economic journals, such as Economic Research Journal, World Economy, Nankai Economic Studies, and Journal of Regional Science. He has presided over or participated in 4 national-level projects funded by the NSFC or NSSFC. He serves on the editorial board of Management and Organization Review (an ABS 3-star journal) and has long been a reviewer for journals including Journal of Regional Science, Research Policy, Technovation, Journal of Technology Transfer, Management and Organization Review, China Economic Review, and Economic Science.

Wang Haicheng is an Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor in the Department of International Economics and Trade, BNUBS. He previously served as an Associate Researcher at the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission. His main research areas include industrial chain and supply chain security, industrial policies, and foreign direct investment. In recent years, he has published more than 50 papers in authoritative journals, such as Economic Research Journal (4 papers), Management World, World Economy (3 papers), China Economic Quarterly, People’s Daily (Theory Edition), Economic Daily (Theory Edition) (7 articles), and Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. Many of his papers have been reprinted by Xinhua Digest, China Social Sciences Digest, and Renmin University Copied Materials. He has presided over an NSSFC Young Program Project, an NSSFC General Program Project, a key project of the National High-Level Think Tank commissioned by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, and 2 sub-projects of Major Programs of the NSSFC.

Yang Dan is an Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor in the Accounting Department, BNUBS. She is currently on secondment as the Deputy Director of the Audit Department of BNU, and also holds positions as the Vice Chair of the Trade Union of the School, Secretary of the Party Branch of Accounting Faculty, Director of the MPAcc Program, and Researcher at the Policy Research Office of the Development and Planning Department of BNU. She obtained her PhD in Management from the University of Aberdeen, UK (funded by the China Scholarship Council) and has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University, USA (supported by the “China Scholarship Council Faculty Overseas Training Program”). She was selected into the National Accounting Leading Talents Program (Academic Track) by the Ministry of Finance. Her research interests include accounting information, financial management, cognitive-behavioral accounting, and corporate governance. She has published nearly 40 papers in authoritative domestic and international journals and has presided over projects funded by the NSFC and the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education.

Yang Juan is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at BNUBS. She also serves as the Director of the Academic Planning Research Center, President of the Family Education Committee of the China Private Education Association, Vice Chair of the BNU Branch of the China National Democratic Construction Association, Researcher at the Capital Education Economics Research Base, and Director of the China Education Strategy Society. She has previously held positions as the Assistant Dean of the School, Director of the Department of Economics, Deputy General Manager of Beijing Jinyu Trading Co., Ltd., and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Education Economics Review. She is a Deputy to the 16th and 17th People’s Congress of Haidian District, Beijing, and a member of the Financial and Economic Committee of Haidian District. Her main research focus is educational economics, with a particular emphasis on educational inequality, intergenerational mobility in education, and the impact of non-cognitive skills on academic performance. She has authored 10 books, including Research on Optimal Education Choices, Economic Analysis of Intergenerational Mobility, A Guide to Score Improvement for Middle School Students, and Academic Planning for Middle School Students. She has also published more than 40 papers in core domestic and international journals such as China Economic Review, Economic Research Journal, and China Economic Quarterly, and has presided over numerous commissioned projects by the World Bank, the NSFC, the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education, and various provincial and ministerial-level authorities.

Tian Yingying is a Postdoctoral Researcher (2023 cohort) at the BNUBS, who engaged in research on land resources and regional development. She is a recipient of the National Postdoctoral Program for Excellent Researchers (Grade B). She has participated in a number of research projects funded by the NSFC, NSSFC, and social service programs, and has published several papers in internationally renowned journals such as Land Use Policy and Journal of Rural Studies.