Yuheng Li received his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) and did post-doctoral research at the Stockholm School of Economics. He joined the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences as a rural geographer in 2012. Dr Li's research focuses on rural transformation, rural resilience and poverty alleviation. To date, he has published 104 academic papers, half of which have appeared in world-renowned journals such as Nature, Land Use Policy and Applied Economics, etc. He initiated and co-founded the International Geographical Union Commission on Agricultural Geography and Land Engineering, Alliance of Poverty Reduction and Development. He is the Secretary General of both organisations. Besides, Dr Li also serves as the Associate Editor of Journal of Rural Studies, which is the top journal in rural research field across the world.