Surrey mathematician given China’s highest foreign research honour
Sergey Zelik, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Surrey, has been awarded the title of Thousand Talents Plan Distinguished Professor – the highest award that China bestows upon foreign academics.
Professor Zelik, an expert in infinite dimensional dissipative systems generated by partial differential equations of mathematical systems, has been teaching at Surrey’s Department of Mathematics for 12 years.
The Thousand Talents programme was established by the Chinese government to recognise international experts in scientific research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
The honour comes with £580,000 grant funding over a three-year period. Professor Zelik will spend six months of each year at Lanzhou University where he will be setting up a number of conferences.
Professor Zelik said: “I’m incredibly proud to receive this great honour from the Chinese government and I look forward to fostering stronger links between the University of Surrey and Lanzhou University.”
