Dr. Yongyong Song is an associate professor and master’s thesis supervisor at the School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University. His research interests lie in urban and regional development, transformation and governance of resource-based regions, and the coupling mechanisms and simulation of social-ecological systems. Dr. Song is currently a member of the Resource-based Cities Special Committee and the Resource Economics Research Special Committee of the China Society of Natural Resources. He also serves as a young editorial board member of several academic journals, including Regional Sustainability, Arid Land Geography, and Journal of Earth Sciences and Environment. He has presided over 6 research projects, including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and the Basic Research Program for Natural Science of Shaanxi Province, etc. Dr. Song has published 4 monographs and more than 50 academic papers in journals such as Science (Letters), Journal of Geographical Sciences, Geographical Research, Progress in Geography, and Resources Science. In 2024, he was recognized as a top 1% highly cited scholar in geography by CNKI.