Dr. David Blank, a CAS Visiting Professor for the President’s International Fellowship Initiatives(PIFI) working at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), has received the Chinese Government Friendship Award in Beijing, on September 30, for his contribution to the institute’s research on managing desert ecosystems and wildlife in the arid part of Central Asia and scientific cooperation between China and Central Asia countries.

Dr. Blank, who was born in Kazakhstan, has been working on conservation biology of ungulate and the management of desert ecosystem at XIEG since 2010 under CAS PIFI project, and, over a 4-year period of cooperation with Chinese partners,  co-authored and published 33 papers and a 1-million-word book, the ‘Ecological Status and Conservation of Wildlife in Central Asia’. He has also translated some 30 Russian monographs into English, providing valuable material on the status of wildlife resource distribution in Central Asia, which, after further research, is expected to help preserve and restore wildlife in the area.

The Chinese Government Friendship Award was established in 1991 to recognize foreign experts who have made an outstanding contribution to China's economic and social progress, with 50 foreign experts selected every year. 50 foreign experts from 18 countries won the award this year. The award has the backing of China’s State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

Dr. Blank is now working at the Kyrgyzstan Branch Center of CAS Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia.