Dr. Song Jian PhD
His Excellency Dr. Song Jian is a distinguished scientist and public administrator. Previously, at the central Chinese government he held posts including State Councilor (Vice-Premier level, 1986-1988), Minister of the State Science and Technology Commission (1985-1998) and Chairman of the Environmental Protection Committee (1988-1998). In 1998 when ending 15 years' government service, Dr Song was elected Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's highest legal and political organization, and President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He now also holds a number of leading posts including Member of the National Steering Group for Technology and Education headed by the Prime Minister, and First Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Academic Degrees of the State Council.

Over the last four decades, he has made significant contributions to diverse science disciplines including optimal control and distributed parameter systems, engineering cybernetics, and population control theory. He initiated and successfully carried out China's policies to advance science and technology in 1984-1998.

Fluent in Chinese, English and Russian, Dr. Song Jian has engineering (1958) and PhD Candidate of Science (1960) from the NBT, Moscow and a Doctor of Science (1990) from the Moscow National Technical University.

Dr. Song is academician of a number of leading academies in China and the world, including the National Academy of Engineering of USA, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Royal Academy of Technological Sciences (IVA) and professor of more than 10 universities across the world. He has authored, co-authored or edited 11 books and has written and published 160 scientific articles, with numerous awards.

He is a member of World Intellectual Policy Advisory Commission, Geneva.

A “Distinguished Scientist” Lecture Series has been established in his honour by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.