南方科技大学（简称“南科大”）是深圳在中国高等教育改革发展的宏观背景下，举全市之力创建的一所高起点、高定位的高等学校。学校借鉴世界一流理工科大学的学科设置和办学模式，以理学、工学学科为主，兼具医科和特色人文社会科学，在本科、硕士、博士层次办学，在一系列新的学科方向上开展研究，努力成为引领社会发展的思想库和新知识、新技术的源泉。学校将发扬“敢闯敢试、求真务实、改革创新、追求卓越”的创校精神，突出“创知、创新、创业”（Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship）的办学特色，快速建设成为聚集一流师资、培养拔尖创新人才、创造国际一流学术成果并推动科技应用的国际化高水平研究型大学。

南科大目前已签约引进教师约800人，其中教研系列教授（tenure/tenure-track）约380位，院士27位，高层次人才比例占50%以上；学生总数6470人，其中本科生4205人，硕士、博士研究生2214人。自2016年起，全国普通高等学校科技统计中我校连续三年人均科研经费超过100万元，名列全国高校前五名。学校已获批建设9个省部级科研平台，27个市级科研平台。2018年5月至2019年4月，南科大在自然指数排行榜中国内地大学中排名第26位。“自然指数2018上升之星”增刊显示，在全球100家指数表现上升最快的机构中，南方科技大学在榜单中位列第四，居于1988年之后建校的年轻大学首位。2019年9月12日, 泰晤士世界大学排名网发布“泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名2020”，南方科技大学位列中国内地高校第九，连续第二年位列中国内地高校前十名，全球第301-350位；在教学、研究、论文引用、产业收入和国际视野五大指标表现中，南科大的论文引用指标位列中国内地第一，国际视野指标位列中国内地第三。

南方科技大学地球与空间科学系成立于2016年12月，由中国科学院院士陈晓非教授担任首届系主任。

本系建系宗旨是：建设国际化的、一流的地球与空间科学人才培养与科研基地，以促进人类对地球及其所处空间这一复杂自然系统运动规律的探索和认知，为应对当前人类社会发展中所面临的来自于自然环境、资源与灾害方面的严峻挑战以及开展行星际空间探索提供科学基础，并培养具有足够能力解决未来地球与空间科学领域科学问题的学术领军人才与管理人才。

南方科技大学地球与空间科学系在以下几个学科方向上开展学术研究与人才培养：地球物理学、空间物理学、空间大地测量学和行星科学。目前，本系已有教学科研人员31人，包括教授6人，副教授4人，助理教授11人和研究系列教授10人；其中包括中国科学院院士1人，国家杰青3人，国家优青1人。我们期待更多的优秀人才加盟，共建世界一流地球与空间科学人才培养和科学研究基地。

Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) is a research-oriented public university founded in Shenzhen, China’s innovation center, to serve as a model for reforming the education system and modernizing the national university system. SUSTech has learned from world-class research institutions spanning the globe and has planned its academic disciplines based on the major needs and strategic industries emerging around the Pearl River Delta region. With a major focus on science and engineering, SUSTech still has substantial research focuses in medicine, humanities and social services, to maximize the potential for new ideas across disciplines for new knowledge, new technologies and social development. With the characteristic of research, innovation and entrepreneurship, the unique spirit of hard work, SUSTech aims to attract high-quality talents to its faculty, cultivate outstanding and innovative talents, achieve internationally excellent research outcomes, advance knowledge and promote the application of science and technology, and to become a world-class research university.

Currently, There are about 800 faculties，including about 380 tenure/tenure-track professors, 27 academicians and fellows of academies; more than 50% of faculties are high-level talents. There are 6470 students in SUSTech, including 4205 high quality undergraduate students and 2214 graduate students. Since 2016, according to National science and technology statistics of ordinary colleges and universities, SUSTech's research fund of per faculty member has kept more than CNY 1 million for three years, ranking among the top 5 universities in China. Hitherto, SUSTech has been granted 9 Guangdong Provision-level and 27 Shenzhen City-level research institutes/laboratories. In 2019, SUSTech was ranked No. 26 in “Nature Index” among all mainland universities of China. The “Nature Index 2018 Rising Stars” showed that among world's 100 fastest-rising organizations, SUSTech was ranked 4th in the list, which is No. 1 among young universities established after 1988. On September 12th, 2019, Times Higher Education (THE) released its THE World University Rankings 2020, with Southern University of Science and Technology maintaining its top ten ranking in mainland China, ranking equal ninth in mainland China and between 301st and 350th in the world; especially, SUSTech maintains the highest score in terms of citation among all universities in mainland China, and has maintained a top three position in international outlook across mainland China.

The Department of Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) at Southern University of Science and Technology was established in December 2016. Prof. Xiaofei Chen, a renowned seismologist and an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was appointed as the founding department head.

ESS encompasses a wide range of scientific disciplines: Geophysics, Space Physics, Space Geodesy, and Planetary Science. By the end of October 2019, ESS has thirty-one faculty members, including six professors, four associate professors, eleven assistant professors, and ten research assistant professors, Among them, there are one Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, three Distinguished Young Scholars of National Nature Science Fund, one Excellent Young Scientists of National Science Fund.

Through building up a world-leading program of research and education in earth and space sciences, we strive to conduct research to advance our understanding on the complex natural system of earth and space, in order to provide scientific solutions to many of the societal challenges of our time: natural hazards, natural energy resources, space exploration, etc. In the meantime, our department offers rigorous hands-on training to students and prepares them to be future leaders in academia, government and industry. We welcome more talents to join us and work together to build a world-class research and education center for Earth and Space Sciences.