Dr. Cheng Xu focuses on digital and AI-driven transformations of socioeconomic systems, examining how trust, ethics, sustainability, and governance are reshaped among enterprises, consumers, investors, and policymakers. Through a multidisciplinary lens, this research offers theoretical and empirical insights to foster a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable socio-economic ecosystem. A core member of the Big Data Analytics and Modelling Research Centre at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and an adjunct lecturer at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dr. Xu engages students in examining the sweeping changes precipitated by AI in contemporary markets and corporate landscapes.

His scholarship, including work recognized as an ESI Global Highly Cited publication, appears in leading international journals such as Social Science and Medicine (ABS 4), Journal of Business Ethics (FT 50), International Review of Financial Analysis (ABS 3), Journal of Business Research (ABS 3), International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (CCF B), Business Strategy and the Environment (ABS 3), Pacific-Basin Finance Journal (ABDC-A), Journal of Innovation and Knowledge (ABDC-A), Global Finance Journal (ABDC-A), and Journal of Economic Psychology (ABDC-A).

Dr. Xu actively serves in editorial capacities that bridge the social and natural sciences, including Associate Editorships at Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (CAS Humanities Q1 & JCR Q1), Annals of Precision Medicine, and Embodied Intelligence and Robotics. He contributes to the Neuroeconomic Management Committee as an executive member under the China Society of Technology Economics, a leading academic society in China.

Prior to his Ph.D., Dr. Xu accumulated extensive industry experience, acting as a strategy manager and CEO’s special assistant at Beijing Science Park Development Group—operator of the Zhongguancun Science Parks—and as a senior investment manager for multinational real estate funds. He was involved in multimillion-dollar M&A and investment projects, and as a strategy and management consultant he advised firms such as Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Beijing Tourism Development Committee, China Communications Construction Group, and Beijing Airport Economic Development Co., Ltd. Earlier in his career, Dr. Xu worked part-time in luxury retail at Tokyo, New York, London and Shanghai, gaining cultural insight and consumer knowledge that inform his research. His Google Scholar Profile can be found here: https://scholar.google.com.hk/citations?hl=zh-CN&user=AP7sdYUAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&gmla=AJsN-F6Cuo-7kj2lVhuZoXNCkf9cT4AJ_NuJ12XKUEDQccNDV3x3NfGCBBLD4iE3hwftbFqpCo3iHzgc53NOTF2abNfH7I6hZclA2mzXZ2ptEyDFgpk8ML0.

Technology-Driven Socioeconomic Transformation and Ecological Sustainability

Assistant Professor, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 2021.07 - present.

Senior Investment Manager, PALM Fund,Hong Kong SAR, 2015- 2017.

Strategy Manager Special Assistant to the CEO, Beijing Science Park Development (Group) Co., Ltd., Beijing, 2011- 2014.

Event Planning and Execution Manager, Fashion Division, Publicis Groupe, Beijing, 2010-2011

IOM421 Dissertation / Capstone consultancy project

SMO102 Introduction to Human Resource Management

MAN413 Dissertation (MSc MAN)

MAN303 Final Year Project

IOM425 Strategic Business Analysis

2022 Mao Lixiang Family Business Research Best Paper Award, Zhejiang University Mao Lixiang Foundation, 2022.

Emerging Scholar Award, Peking University Economics Forum, 2020.

2020 Mao Lixiang Family Business Research Best Paper Award, Zhejiang Univeristy Mao Lixiang Foundation, 2020.