Yaoling Niu is Professor Emeritus at China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB), and divides his time between China and the UK. He earned a BS in Geology from Lanzhou University (1978–1981), an MS in Economic Geology from the University of Alabama (1986–1987), and a PhD in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Hawaii (1989–1992). After a postdoctoral fellowship at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (1992–1993), he held faculty positions at the University of Queensland (1993–2000), Cardiff University as a NERC Senior Fellow (2001), University of Houston (2003–2004), and Durham University as Professor of Earth Sciences (2004–2022), followed by research at Laoshan Laboratory (2023–2025). He has also supported young Chinese geoscientists through honorary professorships at Lanzhou University, CUGB, and the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. An experienced educator and researcher, he has taught courses including crystallography, mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, ore deposits, thermodynamics, global tectonics, and field geology at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across China, Australia, the USA, and the UK. His research includes (1) petrology and geochemistry of mantle peridotites, basalts and basaltic rocks, granites and granitoid rocks, high- and ultra-high-pressure metamorphic rocks and ore deposits; (2) ocean ridge magmatism, intraplate magmatism, subduction-zone processes, magmatism associated with continental collision and continental crust accretion; (3) causes and effects of seafloor subduction and global tectonics, chemical geodynamics and mantle circulation; (4) elemental and isotope geochemistry, geochronology and geological applications. Over 35 years, he has published nearly 300 papers supported by US NSF, Australian ARC, UK NERC, Chinese NSF, The Royal Society, The Leverhulme Trust, China Geological Survey, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and multiple universities, reflecting his global contributions to geoscience research and education.