Professor Zhifang Zhou, born in February 1982 in Xiangxiang, Hunan Province, is a distinguished scholar and doctoral supervisor at the Business School of Central South University. He holds a Ph.D. in Management (Business Administration—Accounting) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Ecological Economics and Management. Professor Zhou has been recognized as a Leading Talent under Hunan Province’s “Furong Program” and is a recipient of the Hunan Outstanding Youth Fund. He currently serves as the Director of the Doctor of Professional Accounting (DPAcc) Program, and as the academic leader of the doctoral program in Business Administration (including Accounting) and the master’s programs in Financial Management and Technology Economics & Management. He also serves as a “Double-Leader” (Party Branch Secretary & Academic Leader) in the accounting discipline. 

        He currently serves as Head of the Resources & Energy Management track at the National Center for Basic Science on “Theories and Applications of Resource and Environmental Management in the Digital Economy Era.” He is Deputy Director of Hunan Province’s first Collaborative Innovation Center (initiated under China’s “2011 Plan”) on a Resource-Conserving and Environmentally Friendly Society (the “Two-Type” Society) and Ecological Civilization; Director of the Accounting Research Center; member of the Environmental and Resource Accounting Committee of the Chinese Accounting Society; member of the Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Computing Committee of the China Information Economics Society; council member of the Data Intelligence and Smart Society Sub-Society of the Management Science and Engineering Society; council member of the China “Two Laws” (Liang-Fa) Research Society — Energy Economics & Management Research Chapter; council member of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS), China Chapter; Vice President of the Hunan Finance Society; executive council member of the Hunan Accounting Discipline Alliance; expert with the Hunan Provincial Accounting Advisory Committee; and an inaugural think-tank expert for the China Watch Institute and the China Accounting Alliance. 

He also serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Environmental Impacts and as Editorial Board Member of Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, Green and Low-Carbon Economy, and the《长沙理工大学学报（社科版)》. In addition, he has led nearly 30 research projects as PI, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC), and the Ministry of Education’s Humanities and Social Sciences programs. As a sub-project leader or core member, he has participated in 50+ major efforts, including NSFC Innovation Groups, NSFC major and key projects, NSSFC major projects, and MOE HSS major projects. He has published six monographs and one university-designated exemplary textbook, and has co-authored six books and contributed to three textbooks. He has published 150+ papers in Chinese and international journals, including , including 《Journal of Supply Chain Management》《International Journal of  Operations & Production Management 》《British Accounting Review》 《Business Strategy and the Environment 》《Journal of Environmental Management 》《International Journal of Finance & Economics》 《Ecological Economics》《Journal of Cleaner Production》《Resource Policy》《Managerial and Decision Economics》《Energy》《Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management》《Sustainable Development》《横浜経営研究》（日本）《管理科学学报》《会计研究》《财经研究》《中国人口资源环境》《资源科学》《科研管理》《研究与发展管理》《管理学报》《管理评论》

Professor Zhou has been ranked twice among the "Top 100 Most Influential Scholars in Accounting https://xs.cnki.net/List/Hcs_List" within the Management Science discipline of Chinese Philosophy and Social Sciences. Additionally, multiple policy recommendations based on his research have been directly adopted and reported to national leaders by the General Office of the Central Committee.