Internal News

Dr. Zi Jinping has successfully passed his completion-of-tenure post-doctoral defence.

On 28 September 2026, the completion-of-tenure post-doctoral defence of Dr. Zi Jinping from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as SZRI) was successfully held in the meeting room on the third floor of Building R4, Shenzhen Virtual University Park. The successful defence marks the full completion of research tasks undertaken by Dr. Zi during his post-doctoral training, concluding his research work at SZRI. 

The defence was conducted in a hybrid mode. The review panel consisted of Researcher Chu Risheng from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Researcher Lu Renqi from the Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Professor Xu Wenbin from Central South University, Associate Professor Meng Haoran from the Southern University of Science and Technology, and Professor Yang Hongfeng from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Also in attendance were Li Yangyan from the Research Administration Section of SZRI, together with relevant staff from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Strategy Research Centre and the Post-doctoral Research Workstation of Shenzhen Virtual University Park.

During the defence, Dr. Zi Jinping delivered a comprehensive presentation on his post-doctoral research project “Activation and Nucleation Processes of Induced Earthquakes and Their Interpretation via Frictional Properties in the Weiyuan Shale Gas Field.” Addressing urgent demands for the prevention and control of induced seismic disasters, his presentation covered research motivation, state-of-the-art progress, and multiple studies carried out following a research roadmap from surface to subsurface. This project aims to reveal the triggering process of moderate-to-strong earthquakes and the mechanism of earthquake nucleation, so as to systematically understand the preparation, initiation and rupture mechanisms of induced earthquakes, and thereby provide scientific evidence and theoretical support for induced seismic hazard identification, risk assessment and disaster mitigation. During his post-doctoral tenure, Dr. Zi produced a series of high-quality academic outputs of great scientific value. Meanwhile, Dr. Zi was awarded the Basic Research General Program of the Shenzhen Natural Science Fund (funding amount: RMB 300,000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China Young Scientists Fund (Category C, funding amount: RMB 300,000) , which demonstrates that the academic merit and innovation of his research have been recognized by peer experts and relevant research funding agencies.

The panel held in-depth discussions covering project deliverable, scientific rigour, innovation and overall completion of the research. Unanimously, the panel concluded that the project featured well-defined research objectives, progressively structured research content, substantial workload and robust, reliable research findings. Aligned with the cutting-edge advances in induced earthquake research, the work satisfies all requirements for post-doctoral assessment. The panel unanimously approved Dr. Zi Jinping’s successful completion of his post-doctoral training.

About the SZRI Seismology Laboratory

Led by Professor Yang Hongfeng from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Seismology Laboratory of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute dedicates its long-term research efforts to frontier seismological fields, including earthquake preparation and rupture processes, induced earthquakes, fault activities, and seismic monitoring. The laboratory adopts a comprehensive technical framework integrating dense seismic array observation, high-precision earthquake relocation, subsurface medium structural imaging, and seismic source physical analysis to investigate the occurrence mechanisms of both natural earthquakes and seismic events triggered by human engineering activities. It commits itself to promoting the translational application of advanced earthquake research findings in safety guarantee for energy development and risk prevention and control of seismic disasters. In recent years, the laboratory has continuously carried out targeted research on induced earthquakes in the shale gas development areas of the Sichuan Basin, which has laid a solid research foundation and provided solid technical support for the implementation of this project.