The Institute of Urban Environment (IUE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, was jointly established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Municipal Government of Xiamen City on July 4 2006.  IUE is a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary institution engaged in fundamental and applied research on the cutting edge of environmental and resource sciences, as well as the development of high-tech for environmental remediation and waste management, encompassing the impacts of urbanization on ecosystems and social economy, the structures, processes, functions and patterns of urban ecosystems, the relationship between urban environmental quality and ecosystem/human health, and innovative integration of technologies and instruments for the control and remediation of water, soil, air, and solid waste pollution.  In addition, IUE also focuses on the integration of technologies and project demonstration for combined pollution control and remediation in regional environments, innovative technologies related to ecological industry, cleaner production and circular economy, risk assessment and management of environmental pollution in urban centers, long-term environmental measurement and field studies, theories and technologies of urban environmental planning, ecological function and regional safety in urban centers, and the theory and application of environmental management and policy.  Our aims include not only the ways of solving or mitigating urban environmental problems, but also the ways of achieving co-existence of a rich natural environment and the urban environment, in cooperation with the local communities.

At present, IUE is composed of four Research Centers for Urban Ecology and Health, Urban Pollution Control and Restoration, Urban Environmental Engineering and Circular Economy, and Urban Environmental Planning and Management.  In addition, IUE has a Technical Support Center consisting of Divisions of Scientific Instruments, and Advanced Centre for Computation and Environmental Modelling, a Library, a Network Center.  Meanwhile, IUE intends to host a key laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in relation to urban environment and health.

The strength of IUE lies in recruiting high calibre scholars from various disciplines. IUE will be home to more than 760 people working in research, technical support and administration, including 150 permanent positions, 260 temporary positions, 300 postgraduate students, 50 postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars. IUE plans to recruit 100 postgraduate students every year.  IUE offers various postgraduate programs in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Ecology, Environmental Economics and Management.  IUE also has a well-furnished postgraduate dormitory.

The institute houses many state-of-the-art facilities and services to support the diverse group of IUE scientists and their research programs. It costs more than 150 million RMB (about 20 million USD) to equip these modern facilities, including GC, HLPC, ICP-MS, ICP-AES, HPLC-MS, GC-MS, SEM/TEM, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with double crystals, Laser spectrometer, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, DTA/DSC thermal analyser, Atomic Force Microscope, and a research platform for molecular cell biology etc.  These facilities in IUE are also available for individuals and external organizations to utilize for research projects.

Many important achievements have been made in IUE in all kinds of fundamental research areas, covering 60 research projects and with research funding up to 32 million RMB. IUE has successfully awarded 6 patent applications and published 69 papers at national and international levels so far. Besides, IUE has newly registered an International Association of Urban Environment.

IUE has established friendly international cooperation and academic exchange with institutions of some countries.  IUE has inked agreements with academic institutions such as the University of Aberdeen and the University of Florida amongst others for international cooperation. The First Xiamen International Forum on Urban Environment, hosted by IUE, was successful held on 28-29 November 2007. Being the first of a projected ongoing series of meetings, the forum is to be held every three years with Xiamen as the permanent host city.  A Joint China-UK Institute for Environmental Technology was established on April 7 2008.  This institute is to further consolidate ongoing collaboration, and to forge a network of technology transfer between the two nations, particularly on environmental technologies, to which both nations have attached great attention.

Address: Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
No.1799 jimei Road ,Xiamen China
Post Code: 361021
Tel: 86-592-6190979
Fax: 86-592-6190977
Email: wmchen@iue.ac.cn