Water crisis, soil pollution, haze and ecological degradation are reported globally. Human development is now facing unprecedented environmental challenges. In this context, environmental protection has become China's basic national policy, and environmental science and environmental engineering majors have gradually become a matter of human survival and development.

School of Environment，Nanjing Normal University can be traced back to the establishment of the Institute of Environmental Science of Nanjing Normal University approved by the Jiangsu Provincial Education Commission in 1987. After that, under the support of geography, chemistry, energy, biology, ecology and other disciplines, it has gradually recruited undergraduate and postgraduate students of Environmental Science and Environmental Engineering. In 2010, the Ministry of Education approved the establishment of a master's degree program in the first-level discipline of "Environmental Science and Engineering"; in 2012, it approved the establishment of a doctoral degree program in the first-level discipline of "Ecology"; in 2015, after the dynamic adjustment and selection of disciplines, a doctoral degree program in the first-level discipline of "Environmental Science and Engineering" was established. In 2016, the first-level discipline of "Environmental Science and Engineering" was successfully promoted as a key discipline at the provincial level, and was rated as excellent in the assessment of key disciplines of the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan". In 2017, as a member of the discipline cluster, the school entered the first-class discipline construction of geography. In 2019, the school was approved for the master's degree program of "Resources and Environment", and became a member of the "Belt and Road Alliance of Environmental School"; moreover, the discipline of environmental science and ecology entered the top 1% of the ESI world ranking. In 2021, the "Environmental Science" program was selected as one of the first-class undergraduate programs in Jiangsu Province, and the first-level discipline of "Environmental Science and Engineering" was successfully selected as one of the key disciplines of Class A of the 14th Five-Year Plan, which became the priority academic program of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions in 2023.

The construction of teaching and research platforms has been continuously improved. Since the "Tenth Five-Year Plan", "Environmental Evolution and Ecological Construction" has been listed as a key project of the national "211 Project". Relying on the "Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Virtual Geography and Environment", the research direction and research platform of environmental disciplines has improved steadily. Approved by the Education Department of Jiangsu Province, "Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Evolution and Ecological Construction" and "Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Material Recycling and Pollution Control" were established. In addition, we are pioneering the establishment of the first domestic " Pilot Platform for Ecological Remediation of Water Environment ". Approved by Jiangsu Provincial Development and Reform Commission, "Jiangsu Provincial Key Engineering Laboratory of Ecological Remediation of Water and Soil Environment" was established in 2011 and "Jiangsu Provincial Engineering Research Center of Environmental Risk Prevention, Control and Emergency Response Technology" in 2021. To summarize, the school is equipped with advanced facilities, with excellent teaching and research conditions.

The features of scientific research have been continuously manifested. On the basis of traditional environmental studies, and relying on the key laboratories and related key disciplines, we are actively engaged in the frontiers and research hotspots of environmental disciplines. We focus on the integration of disciplines and the cultivation of new growth points, and distinctive features and advantages are formed in the theoretical study and engineering demonstration in ecological remediation, multiscale processes and mechanisms in environmental evolution, remote sensing for environmental dynamic monitoring, regional environmental protection and management, for which the theory of environmental science, technology and method have been enriched and developed. In recent years, we undertook over 100 national level projects from National Science and Technology Support Program, 863 Program, National Key Research and Development Program, National Science Foundation of China, etc., as well as hundreds of provincial and ministerial projects, local and enterprise-commissioned projects, which have strongly supported the construction of the environmental disciplines and the cultivation of talents.

The faculty is constantly growing. In recent years, the school has attracted many high-level talents from home and abroad, with most of the full-time teachers from 985 and 211 universities and Chinese Academy of Sciences. In total, there are 74 faculty members, with 62 full-time teachers (among which 22 are professors and 33 are associate professors). We have 1 special professor under the " Chang Jiang Scholars Program" of the Ministry of Education, 1 person awarded the Outstanding Youth Fund of Jiangsu Province, 1 person selected as the young academic leader of the QingLan Project of Jiangsu Province, 1 person awarded the Jiangsu Provincial Excellent Youth Fund, 5 persons supported by Jiangsu Provincial "333 Project", 6 persons selected as high-level talents of "Six Talent Summits" of Jiangsu Province, 10 persons awarded the "Jiangsu Provincial Double-Innovation Doctor", 1 person funded by Jiangsu Association for Science and Technology's "Young Talent Lifting Project", and 1 person who is an excellent young backbone teacher in Jiangsu Province. At present, 94.9% of the teaching and research staff have doctoral degrees, and 67.9% of the full-time faculty have overseas study experience, which has formed a team of talents with high academic level, high development potential and good academic relationship.

Holding the spirits of forging ahead, pioneering innovatively, being responsible and willing to fulfill the responsibilities, the School of Environmental will continue taking effort for the vital demand of China's environmental protection and sustainable development. We aim at disciplinary frontiers, adhere to the "combination of science and technology, and fusion of liberal arts and sciences" educational philosophy, follow the mode of "cooperation, innovation, pragmatic, open" for school-running, and persist in the fundamental task to cultivate the compound talents for environmental protection and related fields. We emphasize feed backing teaching with fundamental, forward-looking and strategically innovative research in environment, to cultivate first-class innovative talents in environmental disciplines, and to strive for improvement of environmental quality for human survival and development, and for promotion of the construction of ecological civilization!

The School of Environment sincerely welcome outstanding scholars and students from all over the world to join us!

Clean water, healthy soil, crystal blue sky and beautiful land. Our dream can be realized surely!

With best wishes,

 

Prof. Huan He

Dean of School of Environment