He is a full Professor and PhD supervisor who currently serves as the Dean of Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Sichuan University - Hong Kong Polytechnic University. With over two decades of dedicated research experience, he specializes in integrated disaster risk reduction (DRR), focusing particularly on geo-hazard risk assessment and community resilience in the mountainous regions of Southwest China using remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS) and machine learning (ML). For the past several years, he took an interest in investigating the ancient Shu civilization's settlement patterns and historical flood events, aiming to extract valuable insights from traditional wisdom to enhance the disaster resilience of modern settlements.
In the meanwhile, he is High-level Science and Technology leading talent of Ministry of Natural Resources of PRC, Academic and Technology leading scholar of Sichuan province, vice director of Ministry of Emergency Management Key Laboratory for Mountain Disaster Risk Early Warning and Control, recipient of 2024 Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Award. He also serves as the council member of China Society of Emergency Management, vice director of Sichuan Society of Emergency Management. He was a visiting scholar in University of California Davis, RWTH Aachen University and International Center for Integrated Mountain Development（ICIMOD）.
Peer-reviewed articles (selection)
1. Gao, Y. * , Li, J. , & Di, B. *. (2025). Early human settlements and mobility patterns in the sichuan–chongqing region from the late neolithic to the bronze age. Quaternary International, 724
2. He, W.; Di, B*; Wu S., Li J., Zeng W.; Zeng Y.; Li R.; Balikuddembe, J. K.;Chen, H.; Zhang, B.; Cheng, G.; Constantine A. Stamatopoulos.; Ufuk Yazgan.; Isaya Kisekka. Long-term effects of post-earthquake landslides on vegetation ecosystem net carbon. Ecological Indicators,2025,171:113170.
3. Li, J., Adhikari, B. R., Ding, X., Wu, S., Meng, X., Niu, Z., Pei X., Zhan, Y., & Di, B*. (2024). Frequent dry-wet cycles promote debris flow occurrence: Insights from 40 years of data in subtropical monsoon region of Sichuan, China. CATENA, 238, 107888.
4. Wen He, Baofeng Di*, Yajie Zeng, Yanan Duan, Junhui Li, Lingke Qiu, Joseph Kimuli Balikuddembe, Qiaoqiao Peng, Wen Zeng, Constantine A. Stamatopoulos, Bin Luo, Jing Pan. (2023). Reconsidering the eco-economic benefits of Grain for Green Program in Sichuan Province, China, Ecological Indicators, 157, 111225.
5. Wu, S.; Di, B *.; Ustin, S.L.;Wong, M.S.; Adhikari, B.R.; Zhang,R.; Luo, M. Dynamic Characteristics of Vegetation Change Based on Reconstructed Heterogenous NDVI in Seismic Regions. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 299. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15020299
6. WU Shaolin, DI Baofeng *, Susan L. USTIN, et al. (2022). Classification and detection of dominant factors in geospatial patterns of traditional settlements in China. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 32(5):873-891
7. Di, B. , Stamatopoulos, C. A. , Stamatopoulos, A. C. , Liu, E. , & Balla, L. . (2021). Proposal, application and partial validation of a simplified expression evaluating the stability of sandy slopes under rainfall conditions. Geomorphology (Dec.15), 395.
8. simulating the response of slip surfaces and its application for the prediction of earthquake-induced landslide movement using one-dimensional dynamic analyses. Landslides, 1-11.
9. Di, B., Li, J., Dandoulaki, M., Cruz, A. M., Zhang, R., & Niu, Z. (2020). Household recovery strategies in Longmen Mountain area, Sichuan, China, following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake disaster. Natural Hazards, 1-15.
10. Di, B., Z. Yang, L. Liu*, Y. Yang, and J. Li, The regionalized ecological, economic and social benefit of China’s sloping cropland erosion control during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). Journal of Environmental Management, 2020.276,111314.
11. Tao Xiong, Peiran Chen, Yi Mu, Xiaohong Li, Baofeng Di, Jierui Li, Yi Qu, Jun Tang, Juan Liang & Dezhi Mu. Association between ambient temperature and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy in China. Nature Communications, 11, 2925 (2020).
12. Xiong, K., Adhikari, B. R., Stamatopoulos, C. A., Zhan, Y., Wu, S., Dong, Z., & Di, B*. Comparison of Different Machine Learning Methods for Debris Flow Susceptibility Mapping: A Case Study in the Sichuan Province, China. Remote Sensing, 2020,12(2), 295.
13. Baofeng Di, Hanyue Zhang, Yongyao Liu, Jierui Li, Ningsheng Chen, Constantine A. Stamatopoulos, Yuzhou Luo & Yu Zhan*. Assessing Susceptibility of Debris Flow in Southwest China Using Gradient Boosting Machine. Scientific Reports, (2019) 9:12532.
14. Zhan, Y., Luo, Y., Deng, X., Zhang, K., Zhang, M., Grieneisen, M. L., & Di, B*. (2018). Satellite-Based Estimates of Daily NO2 Exposure in China Using Hybrid Random Forest and Spatiotemporal Kriging Model. Environmental science & technology, 52(7), 4180-4189.
15. Y. Zhan, Y. Luo, X. Deng, M. Grieneisen, M. Zhang, B. Di*. Spatiotemporal prediction of daily ambient ozone levels across china using random forest for human exposure assessment, Environmental Pollution,2018,233：464-473.
Awards and Honors
High-level Science and Technology Leading Talent of Ministry of Natural Resources of China
Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Award of Ministry of Education of China
The 14th Batch Sichuan Province Academic and Technology Leading Person
Second-level Award of Sichuan Province Higher Education Teaching Achievements
First-level Award of Sichuan Province Science and Technology Progress
Membership in Panels and Boards (Selection)
Board Member of China Association for Scientific Expedition
Guest Editor of Special Issue for Remote Sensing
Editorial Board Member of Journal of Catastrophology (Chinese)
Board Member of China Society of Emergency Management
Vice Director of Sichuan Province Green Development Research Association of Yangtze River and Yellow River basin
Board Member of Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences
Member of China Association for Disaster Prevention
Scientific research project
1. Intelligent Prevention and Control Strategy over Earthquake Damage Source Transmission and Lake Siltation in Jiuzhaigou Heritage, funded by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, PI
2. Integrated Demonstration Program for Disaster Prevention Technology in Ethnic Villages in Southwest China, funded by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, National Key R & D Program, PI
3. Key Driving Forces Detection and Empirical Research of Reginal Debris Flow Susceptibility Based on Machine Learning, funded by National Science Foundation of China, PI
4. Remote Relationship between Climate Dry-wet Cycle Effect and Debris Flow Recurrence Period, funded by National Science Foundation of China, PI
5. Key Technology for Mountain Residents’ Disaster Immediate Response and Community Risk Management, funded by Chinese Academy of Science, PI
Cultivation of talents
PhD and Master supervisor for safety science and disaster reduction major, environmental science and engineering major.
