Last week, the Department of Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) successfully held the first SUSTech International Summer School on Earth and Planetary Sciences (I): Earth and Planetary Interiors (Summer School). More than 200 scientists and young students from around the world participated in the Summer School.

ESS Deputy Head Professor Zhang Wei chaired the opening ceremony, with SUSTech Vice President Professor Tang Tao & ESS Head Professor Chen Xiaofei delivering welcome speeches. Vice President Tang Tao briefed the audience about SUSTech and wished all the best for the Summer School. Department Head Chen Xiaofei introduced the development of the ESS at SUSTech, including research activities and faculty members.

The Summer School invited internationally renowned scholars from around the world to give special lectures. Professor David Stevenson (Caltech), Professor Zhong Shijie (University of Colorado), Professor Greg Beroza (Stanford), Professors Maureen Long and Shun-ichiro Karato (Yale), Professor Jeroen Tromp (Princeton University), Professor David Yuen (Columbia University) and Professor Jason P. Morgan of Royal Holloway College of London University all gave illuminating lectures on different subjects.

The Summer School also invited well-known scholars from around mainland China to discuss the cutting edge research in Earth and planetary sciences through oral and poster presentations.