Qi Zhang

Post-Doctoral Associate (2018-2020)

Biography

Qi Zhang is a geographer who endeavors to better understand human-environment interactions based on the theories of both physical and social sciences. He integrates spatial and socioeconomic data to investigate the social-ecological effects of payments for ecosystem services programs.

His recent work examined two national forest conservation and restoration programs in China: the Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program. The study area is in National Tianma Nature Reserve in the eastern part of the Dabieshan Mountain Range, where both programs have been implemented. He used satellite images to track forest growth for natural forests within the nature reserve. He also conducted household surveys to obtain demographic and socioeconomic data and developed econometric models to explore household decision-making processes on land use, migration and other livelihoods, as affected by the forest programs. His research aims to understand how effective these programs are in achieving sustainability goals for environmental conservation and poverty alleviation as well as to inform how these programs can be tailored to local social-ecological conditions.

Currently, Qi Zhang is working to develop spatially explicit agent-based models to simulate complex interactions between household land use decisions and a whole range of social and biophysical factors. The models address feedbacks between land use dynamics and human behavioral change and take into account those interactions with the forest programs.

Qi Zhang completed his PhD and MA in Geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and received his BS in Resources and Environment at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.