Prof. Ning Zhang serves as a Senior Departmental Fellow in the Department of Land Economy and a Senior Researcher at Darwin College at the University of Cambridge. Additionally, he holds the prestigious title of Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development at Shandong University, where he fulfills roles as both Director of the Institute of Blue and Green Development and Deputy Dean of the School of Advanced and Interdisciplinary Studies. His selection as the Distinguished Professor in Social Science for China's Ten-thousand Leading Talents Program is a testament to his standing in the field, further solidified by the Excellent Youth Foundation award from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. His scholarly contributions include over 170 papers in eminent journals such as Science, Nature, Nature’s Journals, Lancet Journals, and the Journal of Development Economics and ABS 4* journals. Prof. Zhang’s academic influence is recognized through his inclusion as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher from 2020 to 2023, a ranking in World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University for the same period, and a position in the top 5% of economists globally according to IDEAS/RePEc.

Prof. Zhang’s academic influence is marked by his significant contributions to sustainability policies in developing countries, keynote speeches at UNFCCC COP conferences, and his development of the 'gtfpch' STATA software package, which estimates green productivity for scholars and students in Environment and Development Economics. His editorial expertise is exercised as a board member for Technological Forecasting and Social Change (ABS 3*) and as an Associate Editor for the Social Science Journal and Energy, Ecology and Environment. He also guest-edits special journal issues and co-organizes the Sustainable Asia Conference.

In the realm of research funding, Dr. Zhang has led projects with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the National Key R&D Program of China, with collective grants amounting to approximately 20 million RMB Yuan. His co-PI roles in major national projects tackle pressing environmental and climate change challenges, influencing policy-making in ecology and environmental spheres. A respected voice in national policy discussions, as a member of the national policy discussion committee, he has submitted over ten policy proposals to the government, many of which have been integrated into policy-making.

Prof. Zhang holds esteemed positions as a Fellow at the TANDO Institute, a globally recognized think tank and consultancy, and as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).