1. Oliver Hart Research Centre of Contracts and Governance

The Oliver Hart Research Centre of Contracts and Governance was officially established at East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) on September 22, 2019. The Research Centre was named after Professor Oliver Hart from Harvard University, the winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics, and the Honorary Professor of ECUST, who serves as the Director of the Research Centre. The Research Centre was jointly established by ECUST in cooperation with Professor Oliver Hart and several economists from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University and East China Normal University.

The "Oliver Hart Research Centre of Contracts and Governance" consists of full-time and part-time researchers. The Research Centre takes the "research of major economic problems pioneered in China or with typical Chinese characteristics and world universal meaning, and cases that have been successfully practiced in the world and have great application value in China" as the research purpose, aiming to carry out basic theoretical research of economics, applied research and policy research. The key research fields of the Research Centre include contract theory, organizational economics, economics of law, corporate governance, digital economy and industry (organization, china, space) governance, public service and social governance, environmental governance, land space governance, regional space governance, network space governance as well as experimental and empirical researches related to the above researches, etc.

2. Research Centre of Operations and Supply Chain Management

The Research Centre of Operations and Supply Chain Management is a distinctive and interdisciplinary research team established by integrating relevant scientific research forces of the School of Business, the School of Information, the School of Science and the School of Machinery and Power.  

Based on the scientific research of the petrochemical process industry, with the help of the "985" advantage disciplines, and with the needs of government and enterprises and the disciplinary frontier of process industry management science oriented, the Centre is committed to the research in the two fields of operation and logistics supply chain to promote its application and development in the petrochemical industry, the pillar of the national economy. In the field of operation management, the Centre mainly studies the development policy and simulation of the petrochemical industry, the regional development strategy and planning of the petrochemical industry, the production planning and scheduling of the process industry, the production process modeling and simulation of the process industry, and the equipment maintenance and management of the process industry, etc. In the field of logistics supply chain management, the Centre mainly studies the development policy and simulation of the modern logistics industry, the regional development strategy and planning of the modern logistics industry, and the scientific management theory and application of the modern logistics supply chain.

The Institute has hosted and completed a number of National Natural Science Foundation projects, National "863" projects, scientific and technological research projects and support programs of the Ministry of Science and Technology, etc., and has published a large number of high-level papers in domestic and foreign journals. The research results have played an important role in undertaking major scientific and technological research projects in the national petrochemical industry. It has established good academic exchanges and cooperative relations with many universities at home and abroad as well as Sinopec, PetroChina and other companies.

3. Institute of Data Science and Business Intelligence

The Institute of Data Science and Business Intelligence is a school-level institute of our university established in 2018, formerly known as the E-commerce Institute established in 2003, and it is an academic research institution established to improve the informatisation, knowledge and wisdom level of all kinds of organizations in the big data environment. At present, the Institute has the following three research directions:

(1)  Data mining and artificial intelligence, focusing on the application of data analysis, data mining and artificial intelligence technologies in the business and industry

(2)  Knowledge management and knowledge service, focusing on the construction of intelligent knowledge system, as well as the research in the field of entrepreneurial knowledge and research and development services

(3)  Information system user behaviors in the big data environment, focusing on the impact of the big data environment in the new era on the using behavior of individual, enterprise, medical and government information systems

The Institute now has 9 members from the National University of Singapore, City University of Hong Kong, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Harbin Institute of Technology and other famous universities at home and abroad, they have expertise in fields related to the management information system and have a clear division of labor and cooperating tasks in the team. In addition, the team members have published a number of papers in international journals such as the Journal of Management Information Systems, Research Policy, Information & Management and European Journal of Information Systems and domestic journals such as the Journal of Management Sciences in China. The Institute has undertaken or completed more than 20 projects, including the national, ministerial and provincial-level scientific research projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation projects, humanities & social sciences planning projects of the Ministry of Education, projects of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, projects of the National Development and Reform Commission and projects supported by Shanghai Philosophy and Social Sciences Fund, as well as projects authorized by Sinopec, PetroChina, Pfizer and other enterprises, with the ongoing project  funding of more than RMB 3 million. Some achievements have reached the international advanced level, and some have been officially adopted by government departments.

Insisting on the running policy of "flexibility and openness, advancement with the times, and connection between theory and practice", the Institute operates on a project-linked dynamic team formation mechanism, invites domestic and foreign experts and scholars and young doctors in related fields to join, and invites scholars and practitioners from enterprises and institutions to come for visit and exchange to carry out cooperative researches in related fields.

4. Institute of Economic Development

As a development programme for education reform of ECUST, the Institute of Economic Development was founded in 1987 by a group of young and middle-aged economists.

The purpose of the Institute is to closely integrate the modern economic theory with China's economic reality, promote the innovation and development of China's economic theory research, and provide valuable research results for the development of China's economy. Its main research directions include spatial economics theory and application, new institutional economics, development economics, industrial organization, rural economic development, etc.

The Institute of Economic Development has undertaken or completed a large number of international cooperation projects, projects supported by the National Social Science Fund of China and National Natural Science Foundation of China, and scientific research projects at the ministerial and provincial-levels. In addition, it has also undertaken many research projects authorized by governments and enterprises. The completed research results have been highly valued by the government decision-making bodies, the business circle and the theoretical circle, and some research results have produced a big social impact. The research results have won the provincial and ministerial-level and above scientific research achievement awards for many times, and seven people have won the Sun Yefang Economic Science Award.

The Institute of Economic Development has established close cooperative relations with domestic and foreign academic institutions, government departments and enterprises. It often holds academic exchange activities, and holds domestic and international academic seminars on the theme of China's economic development every year. The Institute has invited a number of domestic and foreign accomplished economists and economic workers as guest researchers. At the same time, it accepts visiting scholars from home and abroad for cooperative research.

5. Research Centre of Financial Physics

The Research Centre of Financial Physics is a school-level social science key research base established in July 2007. The research direction of the Research Centre is gradually established after more than 10 years of accumulation and perfection on the basis of aiming at the forefront of international discipline development and in combination with the needs of economic and social development and talent training in China, and the Research Centre, with system complexity as the main line, mainly focuses on two aspects of financial engineering system and complex growth system to carry out researches, with distinct research direction characteristics and advantages.

The directional features include: (1) Modeling and forecasting financial bubbles and counter-bubbles. A higher-order log-periodic power law is established and developed to model and forecast the financial market bubbles and the bear market anti-bubbles. A high-precision method for detecting the log periodic models is proposed, and a multi-scale thought and model recognition method are used to construct a financial risk warning system; The empirical research involves stock market, exchange rate, crude oil price and other aspects, and has accumulated many successful cases in forecasting the bursting of financial market bubbles and the evolution of anti-bubbles. (2) Agent-based computational finance simulation platform and its application. The ultra-high frequency data of the stock market are used to systemically study the statistical rules and dynamic characteristics of the authorized ordering and withdrawal processes, and an agent-based computational finance simulation platform is built accordingly, which has important applications in the core issues of financial engineering such as financial instrument innovation, asset pricing, risk management and price forecasting. (3) Methods and application of complex system management. The econophysics, fractal theory, complex network theory and other theoretical methods are comprehensively applied to study the characteristics and laws of self-organizing macro statistics in the financial system and growth system from the perspective of complexity science, study the systematic characteristics, evolutionary principle, dynamic mechanism, stability and instability of growth path of economic growth, and develop risk management systems for securities companies and accounting risk management systems for banks.

6. Lingang-ECUST Institute of Free Trade Zone

The Lingang-ECUST Institute of Free Trade Zone was inaugurated in ECUST on November 4, 2019. The Institute was jointly established by Lingang Group and ECUST to assist the development of a new round of high-level opening up with the support of Think Tanks and the integration of industry, university and research as an opportunity. Both parties will open up channels of cooperation and exchange in personnel training, and carry out in-depth communication, integration and cooperation from multiple aspects such as "intellectual support for the industrial investment planning in the Free Trade Zone", "investigation, assessment and optimization of the business environment in the Free Trade Zone", "cooperating to promote the building of research and development platforms in the university and the Free Trade Zone" and "jointly building R&D platforms for the university and the Free Trade Zone", to achieve resource sharing and complementary advantages between both parties, jointly advance the industrial development and scientific research, further promote the development of scientific research teams and give play to the role of scientific research in educating people.

7. Shanghai Research Center of Public Economy and Social Governance

Focusing on the major issues in China's public economic departments and social governance fields in the new era, Shanghai Research Centre of Public Economy and Social Governance carries out inter-disciplinary researches with cutting-edge theory, empirical evidence and scientific decision-making, aiming to become an influential research highland, Think Tank and open academic exchange platform in the field of public economy and social governance in Shanghai and even the whole country.

The Research Centre was officially established in April 2017 by the Department Research Centre of Shanghai Municipal People's Government and ECUST. The Director of the Centre is Professor Wu Baijun.

The main research fields of the Research Centre include:

●    Basic theory and method of public economy and social governance

●    Research on the formulation, implementation and performance evaluation of public policy

●    Social governance theory and Shanghai social practice innovation

●    Social-economic information decision-making system and its application in urban social governance

21 principle members of the Research Centre have doctoral degree in economics, management, law and sociology. Most of them graduated from famous universities at home and abroad, have undertaken research projects at the national, ministerial and provincial-levels, and have published high-level papers in major academic journals at home and abroad.

Relying on the research advantages of our university such as experimental research, computer simulation and big data science, the Research Centre is cooperating with relevant departments to build social-economic key laboratories, and especially, to carry out big data construction and application research in economy, environment, transportation, security and other fields.

Since its establishment nearly four years ago, the Research Centre has undertaken more than 30 research and planning projects at the national, ministerial and provincial levels, and has published more than 100 high-quality academic papers. The "Series of Urban Public Economy and Social Governance Innovation", edited under the leading of Professor Wu Bojun, Director of the Research Centre, has been successively funded by the national major strategic publishing projects in Shanghai municipal combined culture and education university services and the National Publication Foundation, and is currently being published volume by volume.

      The Research Centre has established exchange relations with many academic institutions at home and abroad, and regularly holds forums on public economy and social governance. 

8. Research Group of Internationalisation of Chinese Enterprises

       With the needs of enterprises and governments oriented and under the background of anti-globalisation era, the Research Group of Internationalisation of Chinese Enterprises is committed to exploring the general laws of the internationalisation of Chinese enterprises, to lay a theoretical and empirical foundation for accelerating the construction of a number of world-class enterprises with excellent products, outstanding brands, leading innovation and modern governance. Focusing on the locational choice, entry mode, overseas subsidiary governance, strategic decision-making and performance of Chinese enterprise internationalisation, the Research Group has carried out effective researches, which have been recognized by domestic and foreign peers. The Research Group has hosted and completed a number of projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education and the Shanghai Philosophy and Social Sciences Fund, and has published a large number of research papers in authoritative journals at home and abroad such as JIBS, SMJ and Management World, which have won awards such as the Academy of Management Best Paper, Shanghai Philosophy and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award and Shanghai Excellent Teaching Results First Prize. The Research Group has established good academic exchange and cooperation relations with many universities at home and abroad as well as famous enterprises such as Lingang Group.

9. Research Centre of Energy Economics and Environmental Management

The Research Centre of Energy Economics and Environmental Management was established in 2009. The Research Centre of Energy Economics and Environmental Management integrates researchers from advantage disciplines such as economics, management, resources and environment, energy and chemical engineering of ECUST to form a cutting-edge and cross-cutting discipline direction of energy economy and environmental management. 

The purpose of the Research Centre of Energy Economics and Environmental Management is to promote researches related to domestic energy economy and environmental management, to provide decision-making consulting and support for the government and related organizations. The main research directions of the Research Centre of Energy Economics and Environmental Management include: energy technology system modeling, economic evaluation of environmental engineering technology, circular economy and industrial ecology, environmental planning and management. 

The Research Centre of Energy Economics and Environmental Management has a powerful and well-structured scientific research team. The researchers have published a number of high-level papers in domestic and international journals such as Management Science and European Journal of Operation Research. The Research Centre of Energy Economics and Environmental Management has established close cooperative relations with International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and other academic institutions, government departments and enterprises to hold all kinds of academic exchanges and consulting activities, and it holds domestic or international symposiums every year