Xiangzheng Deng is a full professor of Geography with broad research interest in understanding land change and its implications from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS). He is also a senior research fellow from the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, CAS. An expert in spatial econometrics by training, his research uses a combination of satellite remote sensing, socioeconomic and geophysical data, household surveys, and a range of spatial statistical and econometric models to gain insight on the patterns and processes of land cover and land use changes. Most of his research centers around the causes and dynamics of urban land expansion, the environmental and societal consequences of urbanization, the simulation and prediction of the dynamics of land systems, and the integration of data and models for documenting the land change science.