Hepeng Jia is a professor of science communication at Soochow University, Suzhou, China. Having a doctoral degree from Cornell University, he has been a pioneer in science journalism and science communication in China. His current primary interest is to investigate the role of nationalism/collective cultural factors in shaping people’s health and risk behaviors, scientists’ communication activities and research institutions’ capacity building in science communication, and scientific controversies.
He was the founder and former editor-in-chief of Science News Magazine published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has organized 50 science journalism and communication workshops, training more than 2,000 Chinese journalists in science and environmental reporting.
In 2023, Professor Jia was endowed Jiangsu Award of Innovation (Cultural Innovation) by Jiangsu Provincial Government. He was the recipient of the 2021 Annual University Award for Humanities and Social Sciences at Soochow University. He received China’s National Award for Science Popularization in 2010 and Purdue University’s Science Journalism Laureate in 2011. Between 2007 and 2011, he was an executive board member of the World Federation of Science Journalists. Since June 2005, he has worked as SciDev.Net’s regional coordinator for China. He also freelanced for Nature and Nature journals, Chemical & Engineering News, and Chemistry World.