Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development (GHD), founded in 2020 with Professor Gordon G. Liu as its inaugural dean, is an independent research entity under Peking University. As a cross-disciplinary institute, GHD brings together the university’s expertise in health economics, public health, international relations, environmental science, digital technology, and other fields. Following the vision of “One World, One Health” GHD addresses global health issues from the perspective of human development. Through interdisciplinary research, education, international collaboration, and industry-academia integration, GHD explores innovative solutions to critical challenges in human health, promotes China’s active role in global health governance, and contributes to building a global community for sustainable, inclusive development.
Global health is an emerging, cross-sector discipline that developed rapidly in the 1990s against the backdrop of globalization. Differing from the traditional public health discipline, global health transcends national borders and focuses on human health development. It is a field dedicated to solving health and sanitation problems faced by mankind as a whole, at the same concerned with preserving the delicate balance of human-animal-environmental ecology, a concept referred to as “One Health.”
Global health emphasizes a transnational, cross-sectoral, and multidisciplinary approach to the promotion of human health. Global health governance and policy-making is based on the fundamental values of respecting human rights and guaranteeing social justice, so that everyone around the world enjoys the highest level of health and wellbeing. Global health governance promotes the joint participation of many actors, including those in traditional and innovative, state and non-state, health and non-health sectors. Through diverse diplomatic negotiation, the rules, standards, and norms of global health are formulated, and the effect of global health policies are jointly monitored and evaluated. Global health research is highly interdisciplinary, encompassing related fields such as medicine, economics, management, international relations, sociology, and other disciplines.
Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development will build faculty capacity through global recruitment for full-time employment as well as dual appointment of the current PKU faculty members from related disciplines. In particular, it will draw rich faculty and research resources from various schools and institutions on both the main campus and health science centers, including the School of Public Health, School of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, National School of Development, Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, School of Economics, Institute of Population Research, School of International Studies, Guanghua School of Management, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, College of Environmental Sciences, College of Engineering, and School of Journalism and Communication. At the same time, It will conduct global search to recruit leading scholars focusing on emerging and cutting-edge disciplines currently experiencing talent shortages within the University.
Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development will admit doctoral and master’s students domestically and abroad, aiming to train the future generations of leaders with international vision and research capacity in the field of global health for academia, public service, and business sectors. The graduate programs will be conducted with effort to collaborate with leading universities in the world. It will also provide a well-funded platform to train post-doctoral research fellows that are from both domestic and international institutions.
