HBU Secures Its First National Key Project

Recently, a project titled “Research on an Integrated Full-Chain Prevention and Control Model for Major Alien Invasive Species in the Core Ecological Functional Zones of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region,” led by Professor Chen Li of the School of Life Sciences at Hebei University as the project leader, was successfully approved as a major special project under the National Key R&D Program’s “Research on Critical Technologies for Biosecurity,” with total project funding of 14.96 million yuan. This marks the first time since its establishment that Hebei University has been approved as the leading institution for a major special project under the National Key R&D Program, signifying a historic breakthrough for the university in undertaking nationally significant scientific research tasks and carrying milestone significance.

The project targets the major biosecurity needs of core ecological functional zones within the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei coordinated development strategy. It focuses on core ecological functional areas such as the Saihanba plantation forest, the “Millennium Forest” of Xiong’an New Area, the Baiyangdian wetland, and peri-capital urban agriculture, and addresses major alien invasive species including Solidago, the fall webworm, and pine wood nematode. The project will undertake key technological research and demonstration on full-region intelligent monitoring and early warning, rapid interception, and green sustainable control. The project assembles a high-level research team by bringing together ten leading domestic biosecurity research institutions, including the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, aiming to build an integrated “air-space-ground” full-chain prevention and control technology system to provide core technical support for safeguarding the capital’s ecological security and regional biodiversity.

The successful approval of this project fully reflects Hebei University’s original innovation capacity in the field of biosecurity, its strengths in collaborative research, and its organizational and managerial capabilities for major scientific and technological missions, demonstrating the university’s commitment to serving major national strategic needs. It also injects strong new momentum into the construction of first-class disciplines in biology. The university will take this opportunity to comprehensively strengthen project organization, implementation, and support conditions to ensure the high-standard, high-quality completion of all research tasks, striving to produce landmark results with significant international impact. Hebei University aims to contribute its “HBU wisdom” and “HBU strength” to consolidate the ecological security barrier of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and to write a chapter of Chinese-style modernization in Hebei characterized by harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.