"Research Fronts 2022”, an annual report jointly developed by the Institutes of Science and Development of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASISD), the National Science Library of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Clarivate, was released on December 27 at a joint online forum in Beijing.

Prof. LI Wei, director of GPL Photonics Laboratory at Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics was named in the latest list of Innovators Under 35 compiled by MIT Technology Review Asia. According to the magazine, released in mid-November, “Prof. LI achieved many fundamental breakthroughs in multifunctional integrated photodetection devices, photonic and thermodynamic control of thermal radiation, radiative cooling, and energy harvesting.”

Prof. CHEN Jin of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was awarded the prestigious Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) Medal on November 23 for his great contribution to biodiversity conservation over 30 years. This is the first time this Medal was ever conffered to a Chinese researcher.

A submersible pilot from China and a New Zealand scientist have become the first women to dive to Scholl Deep in the Kermadec Trench, 10 km below sea level. The dive was undertaken by NIWA marine biologist Dr. Kareen Schnabel and submersible pilots DENG Yuqing and YUAN Xin from the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Think tanks have been emerging rapidly in China in the last decade and have been entering a new stage of growth in recent years. The number of specialized think tanks in China currently ranks among the top in the world, and its pool of full-time researchers and specialized research teams continues to expand.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) on October 24, under the auspices of UNESCO and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ICCROM), to advance collaboration on applying space technologies to monitor, conserve and protect World Cultural Heritage sites.

Lately, researchers at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have successfully assembled and tested the prototypes of key components for the High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF).

The 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves (WCBR) and the 37th session of the UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) International Co-ordinating Council will be held in China in 2025, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) which holds the MAB China secretariat. This will be the first time that the WCBR is held in China, and also in the Asia-Pacific region.

Typhoon Noru landed in the northeast of Thailand on the afternoon of September 28, 2022, causing floods in 30 provinces, affecting more than 40,000 families, and causing agricultural losses of 3 billion baht (about 600 million yuan). Responding to requests from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) on October 1, China GEO Secretariat activated its Disaster Data Response (CDDR) Mechanism to provide high-resolution satellite imagery in support of disaster response.

The construction of a fully steerable 110-m aperture radio telescope, also known as the QiTai radio Telescope (QTT), kicked off on September 21 in Qitai County of China's northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The QTT project will build a 110-m aperture fully steerable radio telescope with superior performance and highly reliable operating states that combines highly efficient observation parameters.

The Report on Big Earth Data in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals (2022), prepared by the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was released by the Chinese side at the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) held in New York on September 20 local time.

At the ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) held in New York on September 20, China announced that the data acquired by the Sustainable Development Science Satellite-1, or SDGSAT-1, will be open and available globally to provide support science-based decision-making for the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda.