A leading engineer, who spent 20 years working for the global oil giant Shell, has left Britain to take up a position at a Chinese university to lead a team working with the petroleum industry on low-carbon technology.
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Jing Xudong, who was an adjunct professor at Imperial College London at the time of his departure, held a number of positions in academia and industry and collected a number of awards and honours along the way.
This included his election as a fellow of Britain’s Royal Academy of Engineering in 2024. He introduced himself to the election ceremony by saying: “I chose to study engineering at a young age in China during the 1970s – just after the decade of the Cultural Revolution when everything needed to be rebuilt. Engineering was so highly regarded in China. And it remains highly regarded today.”
Each year, the academy selects up to 60 British, 10 foreign and five honorary academicians for their outstanding contributions to the field of engineering and technology.
Jing joined Nanjing University earlier this month, where he will lead a team focusing on carbon capture, storage and monitoring.
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The university said this would involve deeper collaboration with major oil firms on technologies such as carbon sequestration, enhanced oil recovery and intelligent monitoring systems to support China’s green, low-carbon technology development.
During his career with Shell, where he became head of technology and research and development, he worked around the world, including in the Netherlands, Oman, the United States, Shanghai, and Beijing.