Prof Ren received his PhD from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands; MSc from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, China and BEng from National University of Defense Technology, China.

Prof. Yang Ren was a Senior Physicist at Argonne National Laboratory in the USA, prior to joining the Department of Physics at City University of Hong Kong as a Chair Professor. He had been working there for 22 years.

His research interests focus on the structure-property relationship studies of materials by utilizing synchrotron X-ray and neutron scattering and other techniques. His research activities include investigations of phase transitions, correlated electron systems, engineering materials, nanoparticles and nanocomposites, energy storage (battery) and conversion materials.