The Faculty of Geography at Yunnan Normal University was approved as the first first-level PhD program in Geography on the southwestern region in 2011 and began enrolling students in 2012. There are currently five second-level doctoral programs: Physical Geography, Human Geography, Cartography and Geographic Information Systems, Borderland Geography, and Mountain Environment and Natural Disasters. The basic situation of each second-level doctoral program is as follows:

I. Physical Geography

The second-level doctoral program in Physical Geography has many high-end talents introduced from abroad and academic and technical leaders at the ministerial and provincial level. It relies on the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Geographical Sciences, the Yunnan Province Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographic Process and Environmental Change, and several other national and provincial teaching and research platforms. In recent years, it has undertaken a number of national scientific research projects, such as key research projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology and key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. More than 50 papers have been published in international SCI journals. The research focuses on the unique geomorphological characteristics, diverse climatic conditions, complex ecological environment, and rich natural resources of the plateau. It emphasizes key issues in global change research such as climate change, environmental evolution, forest fires, environmental pollution, ecosystem response, and geochemical cycles, as well as hot issues such as karst ecology and water resource security, regional ecology and ecological restoration, plateau landscape evolution, and the impact of resource development on the natural environment. It has formed regional characteristics in the aspects of lake environment and basin changes, plateau surface processes, and regional ecological security.

II. Human Geography

The second-level doctoral program in Human Geography has many talents at the ministerial and provincial level and second-level professors. It relies on the Academician Workstation of Lu Dadao, three National and Regional Research Centers of the Ministry of Education (Bay of Bengal Research Center, Myanmar Research Center, Cambodia Research Center), one State Ethnic Affairs Commission's "Belt and Road" National and Regional Research Center, China Southwest Geo-Environmental and Border Development Province-Ministry Joint Collaborative Innovation Center, two provincial innovation teams in scientific and technological innovation: Borderland Development and Geo-Security, Lancang-Mekong River Basin Resource Environment Cooperation and Joint Management, South Asia and Southeast Asia Geo-Environmental Security Evaluation and Decision-Making Consulting Provincial Public Science and Technology Service Platform, China Southwest Opening-up and Border Security Research Center Provincial Key Cultivated Think Tank, and other platforms. It has undertaken dozens of projects such as major projects of the National Social Science Fund, general projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and national projects of philosophy, society, and education. It has achieved important results in the fields of geographical theory and methodology, urban and regional development, tourism and regional development, ethnic geography and regional development, and regional cooperation and geo-security, and has been highly praised by the academic community. It has won many provincial and ministerial scientific research first, second, and third prizes, as well as the second prize of the national teaching achievement and the first prize of the provincial teaching achievement. This direction cultivates talents who have a systematic grasp of the basic theories and methodologies of human geography, are familiar with the history of human geography, and are engaged in basic theoretical research, applied theoretical research, practical application research, and human geography teaching.

III. Cartography and Geographic Information Systems

The second-level doctoral program in Cartography and Geographic Information Systems is aimed at the needs of the state and local socio-economic development. It mainly carries out research on the acquisition and processing of remote sensing data of the mountain environment, the mechanism of environmental remote sensing, remote sensing monitoring and evaluation of geographical environmental elements, discovery of changes in geographical spatial data, automatic classification, big data mining, 3D modeling, and other technologies and applications. It has formed research characteristics in the fields of resource and environmental remote sensing monitoring and evaluation, and simulation and prediction research of the geographical environment. It has the support of the National Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center for Geographic Information Technology, the Engineering Research Center of Geo-Information Technology for Western Resources and Environmental Conditions of the Ministry of Education, the Yunnan Province Engineering Research Center for Geographical Spatial Information Technology, the Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Remote Sensing of Yunnan Province, and the Innovation Team of Remote Sensing Monitoring and Evaluation of Plateau Mountain Resources and Environment of Yunnan Province. It has undertaken more than 20 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and published more than 70 papers (books).

IV. Borderland Geography

The second-level doctoral program in Borderland Geography has the support of three National and Regional Research Centers of the Ministry of Education (Bay of Bengal Research Center, Myanmar Research Center, Cambodia Research Center), one State Ethnic Affairs Commission's "Belt and Road" National and Regional Research Center, China Southwest Geo-Environmental and Border Development Province-Ministry Joint Collaborative Innovation Center, two provincial innovation teams in scientific and technological innovation: Borderland Development and Geo-Security, Lancang-Mekong River Basin Resource Environment Cooperation and Joint Management, South Asia and Southeast Asia Geo-Environmental Security Evaluation and Decision-Making Consulting Provincial Public Science and Technology Service Platform, China Southwest Opening-up and Border Security Research Center Provincial Key Cultivated Think Tank, and other platforms. It has undertaken more than 30 projects of the National Social Science Fund and the National Natural Science Foundation of China/National Social Science Fund and published more than 70 papers (books). It mainly carries out systematic research on the fields of borders and border development and opening up, geo-politics and economy, countries and regions. At present, it has formed research characteristics in the aspects of geo-environment and border development, regional cooperation and cross-border co-governance, and geo-relations and geo-security.

V. Mountain Environment and Natural Disasters

The second-level doctoral program in Mountain Environment and Natural Disasters relies on the Yunnan Province Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographic Process and Environmental Change. It faces the strategic needs of national mountain development and the construction of ecological civilization. It uses remote sensing technology, geographic information technology, Earth observation technology, simulation and modeling technology, and comprehensive analysis methods of geography, geology, ecology, environmental science, and hydrology and water resources to carry out research on the changes of water and soil resources in the mountain areas of Yunnan under the multiple environmental pressures dominated by human activities, and the coupling mechanism with regional water and soil resources and ecological environment, the mechanism of ecosystem degradation, the restoration and reconstruction of fragile ecological environment, the construction of mountain ecological security system, and the theory and method of the construction of ecological civilization.

Catalogue of Doctoral Programs at the Faculty of Geography