Dr. Yang Chen is an Associate Professor at International Business School Suzhou (IBSS), Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Director of the Research Center of Excellence Cluster of Sustainability and ESG, and former Programme Director of the Economics and Finance Programme (2016–2019) and Director of XJTLU's Research Institute of Economic Integration (2015–2017). She earned her PhD in Economics from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Her research spans urban and regional economics, public finance, environmental and energy economics, innovation and productivity, banking and finance, and Chinese economic development, with recent focus on China's green, safe, and innovation-driven transformation, individual inventors' patenting strategies, culture–innovation synergy at home and abroad, international business, global value chain sustainability, and global strategy. She has published in leading ABS 3* and ABDC A*(A) journals, including Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Business Strategy and the Environment, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Economics Letters, Energy Economics, International Journal of Finance & Economics, Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Environmental Management, Oxford Economic Papers, and Urban Studies. Her research has been funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for innovation networks, the Lincoln Institute for fiscal decentralization, and the Jiangsu Provincial Government's Dual Innovation PhD Talent Agglomeration Program, and she has published a monograph and multiple book chapters with Palgrave Macmillan. She has also organized XJTLU's flagship Conference of Asia and Pacific Economies (CAPE) with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) for 12 years and collaborated with Tsinghua University on the 11th International Conference on Chinese Economy: The Past, the Present, and the Future. Her core contribution lies in bridging rigorous economics with sustainability, ESG, innovation, finance, and global strategy, building international academic platforms, and generating evidence that informs sustainable, innovation-led, and globally connected development.

Banking and Finance

Environmental and Energy Economics

Innovation Economics

International Business

Urban Development Economics

2022-Present, Associate Professor, International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

2020-2023, Adjust Senior Research Fellow at the XIPU Institution (No. 202028), Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

2016-2022, Assistant Professor, International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

2012-2016, Lecturer, International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University

2013-2017, Research Committee Member, Institute of Leadership and Education Advanced Development (ILEAD), Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

2013-2014: Research Fellow, Peking University-Lincoln Insitiute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy

2012-Present, Board Member, Jiaxing Feizhi Information Technology

2011-2012, Lecturer, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore

2008-2011, Research Fellow, Lien Chinese Enterprise Research Center, Naynag Technological University, Singapore

ECO004 Trends in Economics and Finance

ECO102 Principles of Macroeconomics

ECO104 Economy Principles for Business and Marketing

ECO105 Introduction to Business and Economics

ECO118 Maths for Economics and Business

ECO120 Principles of Macroeconomics

ECO205 Econometrics I

ECO219 Theory of the Firm

ECO220 Microeconomics II

ECO224 Intermediate Macroeconomics

MAN303 Final Year Project

ECO304 International Trade

ECO405 Managing the Economic Context (Executive Education)

INS 413 Master Supervision

ECO415 Master Supervision

ECO601 PhD Supervision

Summer School Module: Doing Business in a Changing China

2025: Nominated as member of Academic Expert Pool for Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology (苏州市工业和信息化局相关领域辅导专家）

2023-2024: Expert in the National Undergraduate Thesis (Design) Sampling Assessment Expert Database, Ministry of Education, China 

2024: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowip (SURF) Student-nominated Winner Project

2023: Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Excellent Project, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

2022: Excellent Paper Award Finalist in the 6th Thougt Leaders' Conference of Marketing Science and Innovation (MSI 2022) and Technological Forecasting and Social Change Special Issue Academic Conference

2017: Fellow in the Higher Educaion Academy (FHEA)

2014: Jiangsu Province Talent Agglomeration Plan (江苏省双创博士集聚计划）

2013: The best business project awarded by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) (Honored by Weiwei Song), Institute of Chartered Accountants

2006-2010: Postgraduate Research Scholarship, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

2006: Excellent Graduate (given to top 1% students in China), Henan Province

2005: National-Level First Prize (Henan Division), National English Competition for College Students

2004: Outstanding Student Leader, Henan University

2003: Excellent Investigator in Social Training Program, Henan University

2003-2006: First-Tier Academic Excellence Scholarship, Henan University