On April 14, 2026, a delegation led by Professor Christoph Hilgers, Head of Applied Tectonics and Geology and German Co-Director of the Sino-German Environmental Center at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), visited the College of Environmental Science and Engineering. The visit included a thematic academic seminar on the construction of the Sino-German Environmental Center. The meeting was attended by Dean Wang Zhiwei of the College of Environmental Science and Engineering; Vice Dean Sun Jing of the College, who also serves as Vice Dean of the UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development; and Vice Dean Cai Liming of the Sino-German College. Also present were Professor Liao Zhenliang, Professor Wang Rongchang, Professor Diao Muhe, Professor Liu Xiaoguang, Associate Professor Peng Guotao, and Associate Professor Deng Zilong from the College of Environmental Science and Engineering, as well as representatives from the UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development. The seminar was chaired by Vice Dean Sun Jing.

Dean Wang Zhiwei extended a warm welcome to Prof. Christoph Hilgers and his delegation, providing an overview of the goals, progress, and future direction of the Sino-German Environmental Center. He emphasized that the center will focus on frontier issues such as water treatment, solid waste recycling, and climate change response, aiming to foster in-depth research collaboration and technological innovation between China and Germany in environmental fields.

Prof. Christoph Hilgers introduced the latest research initiatives of KIT in environmental science, energy technology, and related areas. He stated that KIT highly values its cooperation with top Chinese universities and will focus on interdisciplinary joint research, dual-degree programs, and industry-academia-research collaboration to deepen practical cooperation between the two sides.

Vice Dean Cai Liming elaborated on the long-standing achievements and distinctive features of the Sino-German College’s cooperation with Germany, proposing to advance joint doctoral training and explore mutual degree recognition and conferral to strengthen talent cultivation collaboration. Vice Dean Sun Jing delivered a thematic report on the recent progress of the Sino-German Environmental Center, systematically summarizing its phased achievements in talent development, joint research, and social services.

During the academic exchange session, participating faculty engaged in in-depth discussions on cutting-edge topics such as environmental geology, resource recycling, and low-carbon technologies, fostering a lively and substantive dialogue. Both sides agreed that the Sino-German Environmental Center serves as a crucial platform for deep collaboration between the two universities in environmental and earth sciences. They expressed their commitment to broadening cooperation areas and advancing concrete initiatives such as joint research projects and academic exchanges between faculty and students.

Following the seminar, Prof. Christoph Hilgers delivered an invited academic lecture titled “Climate, Raw Material Supply, and the Energy Transition—Challenges and the Role of Geology” in Room 121 of the Mingjing Building, engaging in interactive discussions with attending faculty and students on related academic topics.

This exchange has further clarified the development direction and cooperation pathways of the Sino-German Environmental Center, which will strongly promote the achievement of more practical outcomes in talent cultivation and scientific innovation in the environmental field between the two universities.