On the 4th December 2021, the CEA annual conference was thrilled to have Mr. Ma Qiang (Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Edinburgh), Professor Peter Mathieson (Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh), Professor Richard A Williams (Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University), and Professor Yu Xiong (CEA UK/Europe president) to deliver the opening ceremony speeches.

Over the two days of the conference, there were seven featured keynote speakers Marcin Kacperczyk (Imperial College), Boqiang Lin (Xiamen University), Changying Zhao (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Iftekhar Hasan (Fordham University); Weiying Zhang (Peking University), Shi Li (Zhejiang University) and Yubin Liu (Tianjin University of Finance and Economics).

They have shared their line of thoughts on important issues related to carbon transition risk, China’s economic growth by reflecting 2060 carbon neutrality goal, challenges and opportunities to net zero, the role of fintech and technology adoption, marketization, and common prosperity. There are also more than 35 academics and researchers from 8 countries who have presented their research papers at the conference. The conference is chaired by Yizhe Dong (University of Edinburgh), Bing Xu (Heriot-Watt University), and Ping Zhang (Scottish Confucius Institute for Business & Communication).

The CEA (UK/Europe) was launched in 1988 and 2008 respectively and has now become one of the leading organisations in Europe promoting economic, finance, and business issues in China and other emerging markets. CEA annual conferences have acted as a platform to bring both early-career and established researchers together to exchange and transfer knowledge.