Dr. Jiacheng Zhao, earned a Ph.D. in June 2023 from the Institute of Forest and Nature Conservation Policy at the University of Göttingen, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Max Krott, a pioneering scholar in international forest policy research.

Dr. Zhao's research focuses on ecological and environmental governance across international, national, and local levels. His interests include central-local government relations, community development, social organization participation, co-creation, and meta-governance. Using qualitative research methods and an actor-centered institutional analysis framework, he has systematically developed methodologies for studying actors, interests, and power in both empirical and methodological papers.

Dr. Zhao leads the National Social Science Fund Youth Project titled "Mechanisms for Ecological-Friendly Community Development in National Parks from a Co-Creation Perspective" (Project No. 24CGL085). He has authored over ten research articles published in prominent Chinese and international journals, including Forest Policy & Economics, AMBIO, Resources Science, and Open Times.

Currently, Dr. Zhao serves as the Deputy Coordinator of Division 9.05.00 "Forest Policy and Governance" in the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). He is an editorial board member of Forest Policy & Economics (a leading SCI/SSCI journal) and a youth editorial board member of Nature Protected Areas (CSCD). He also acts as a peer reviewer for several international journals, such as Sustainable Development, Journal of Nature Conservation, and Ecological Informatics.

For more information, visit his academic profile: ORCID: 0000-0001-7386-289X.