Liu Shangwei

Biography

Dr Liu Shangwei is a tenure-track Presidential Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on energy and climate policy, combining engineering-based modelling with policy and economic analysis. Key areas include clean energy transition and net-zero energy systems, technology innovation, and climate change impacts. His work has been published in leading journals including Nature, Nature Energy, and Environmental Science & Technology, and has been covered by The New York Times, The Economist, and other international media. Before joining NUS, Dr Liu was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School. He received his PhD from the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) Program at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

Qualifications

• PhD, Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy, Princeton University, 202
• Sc.B. with honours, Environmental Science, Beijing Normal University, 2018

Honours & Awards

• Energy, Climate, and Technology Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, 2024-2026
• Princeton Dean’s Completion Fellowship / Postgraduate Research Associates Program, 2023
• Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) Graduate Fellows Program, 2023
• Fellowship in Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, 2018-2023
• Zhou Tingru Scholarship, Beijing Normal University, 2018. Awarded to 1 top undergraduate student university-wide annually.
• Tang Xiaoyan Scholarship, 2018. National award granted to 2 undergraduate students in environmental studies each year.
• Nominated as one of the Top 20 Students University-wide, Beijing Normal University, 2017
• National Scholarship, Ministry of Education of China, 2015

Research Interests

• Energy and Climate Policy
• Macro-energy System Modelling
• Technology Innovation
• Climate Change Impacts

Conferences & Presentations

• “Materials Innovation to Reduce Carbon Emission in the Built Environment”, Keynote Lecture, International Symposium on Recent Innovation for Sustainable Development 2025 (RISD25), Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud Chancellor Hall, University of Technology Sarawak, Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia, 18-19 November 2025.
• “Advancing Construction through 3D Printing and Material Innovation”, Keynote Lecture, 5th Asian Concrete Federation (ACF) Symposium (ACF2025), Show Foundation Alumni House, Singapore, 14-16 November 2025.
• “Enhancing Sustainability Education through Structural Concrete Design Competition”, Keynote Lecture, American Concrete Institute Singapore Chapter (ACI-SC) Annual Seminar, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, Singapore, 11 November 2024.
• “Recent Development of 3D Concrete Printing in Singapore”, Keynote Lecture, PolyU-NAMI 3D Concrete Robotic Printing Research Centre (RCC3D) Forum, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 28 October 2024.
• “Advancing Building Sustainability with 3D Concrete Printing”, Keynote Lecture, Workshop on Advanced Developments in Concrete 3D Printing Technology, China Building Materials Academy, Beijing, China, 11-12 October 2023.

Selected Publications

• Shangwei Liu, Gang He, Minghao Qiu, and Daniel M. Kammen (2025). China reins in the spiralling construction costs of nuclear power – what can other countries learn? Nature, 643: 1186-1188.
• Shangwei Liu, Yang Guo, Fabian Wagner, Hongxun Liu, Ryna Yiyun Cui, Denise L. Mauzerall (2024). Diversifying heat sources in China’s urban district heating systems will reduce the risk of carbon lock-in. Nature Energy, 9, 1021-1031.
• Shangwei Liu, Hongxun Liu, Denise L. Mauzerall (2023). Improving building envelope efficiency lowers costs and emissions from rural residential heating in China. Environmental Science & Technology, 57, 595-605.
• Jing Liang, Yueming (Lucy) Qiu, Bo Wang, Xingchi Shen, Shangwei Liu (2025). Impacts of heatwaves on electricity reliability: Evidence from power outage data in China. iScience, 111855.
• Liqun Peng, Yang Guo, Shangwei Liu, Gang He, Denise L. Mauzerall (2024). Subsidizing grid-based electrolytic hydrogen could increase GHG emissions in coal-dominated power systems. Environmental Science & Technology, 58(12), 5187-5195.
• Shangwei Liu, Xin Tian, Yiling Xiong, Yan Zhang, Hiroki Tanikawa (2020). Challenges towards carbon dioxide emissions peak under in-depth socioeconomic transition in China: Insights from Shanghai. Journal of Cleaner Production, 247, 119083.
• Shangwei Liu, Xin Tian, Wenjia Cai, Weiqiang Chen, Yafei Wang (2018). How the transitions in iron and steel and construction material industries impact China’s CO2 emissions: a comprehensive analysis from an inter-sector linked perspective. Applied Energy, 211, 64-75.

Media Coverage

• The New York Times – “China is Outpacing the U.S. on Nuclear Power, an American Invention” (2025).
• The Economist – “Why Nuclear Is Now a Booming Industry” (2025).
• Harvard Belfer Center, CUNY, JHU – additional coverage of Nature paper on nuclear power costs in China (2025).
• Princeton reports – coverage of Nature Energy paper on district heating decarbonization (2024). Policy brief submitted to China’s State Council