古恒宇，南京大学地理与海洋科学学院准聘副教授，特聘研究员，博士生导师。
长期从事人口地理学方面的科研与教学工作，围绕人才地理过程及其与区域发展的相互作用规律这一科学问题，主要学术贡献为：（1）提出了人才地理流空间分析新方法，针对性处理了人才地理流空间依赖和零膨胀偏误，揭示了多尺度、多类型人才地理流集聚复杂规律；（2）阐述了不可移动、不可贸易的地方品质驱动人才集聚新理论，批判了西方舒适物理论的中国化适用场景，揭示了非经济因素驱动人才地理过程的关键作用机制；（3）完善了人才红利的理论框架和测度手段，揭示了中国由人口红利向人才红利的转轨模式及未来路径，打破了“人口红利衰退论”对中国未来区域发展的悲观叙事。
以第一/通讯作者在PNAS、AAAG、Regional Studies、《地理学报》等高水平期刊发表论文80余篇，出版专著2部、译著1部。连续2年入选全国高被引学者Top1%，多篇论文入选ESI高被引论文及人大复印报刊资料全文转载。入选中国科协青年人才托举工程、国家博士后海外引才专项、江苏省“双创博士”、江苏科技智库青年人才计划，当选英国皇家地理学会会士。任中国地理学会人口地理专业委员会委员、江苏省地理学会人文地理专业委员会副主任、中国非洲问题研究会理事等，并担任SSCI一区期刊Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy副主编及Population, Space and Place、《地理与地理信息科学》等编委，Geography and Sustainability、《地理科学》《中国人口·资源与环境》等青年编委。
主持国家自然科学基金青年科学基金项目（B类）、国家自然科学基金面上项目、国家自然科学基金青年科学基金项目（C类）、Lincoln Institute China Program International Fellowship、教育部人文社会科学基金、江苏省社会科学基金、中国科协高端科技创新智库项目、南京市社会科学基金项目等，多篇政策咨询报告获国家级/省部级正面批示，获教育部科学研究优秀成果奖（人文社会科学）青年成果奖（第一完成人）、江苏省哲学社会科学优秀成果一等奖（第一完成人）、教育部科学研究优秀成果奖（人文社会科学）三等奖（第三完成人）等省部级科技奖励。
2027年计划招收1名博士研究生、2名硕士研究生，请有意向的同学联系。
Hengyu Gu is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University.
His research and teaching focus on population geography, with particular attention to the geographical processes of talent and their interactions with regional development. His major academic contributions include: (1) developing new spatial analytical approaches to talent flows that specifically address spatial dependence and zero-inflation biases, thereby revealing the complex clustering patterns of talent mobility across multiple spatial scales and population groups; (2) advancing a theoretical framework in which immobile and non-tradable qualities of place shape talent agglomeration, critically examining the applicability of Western amenity theory in the Chinese context and identifying the key mechanisms through which non-economic factors influence the geography of talent; and (3) refining the theoretical framework and measurement of the talent dividend, revealing China’s transition from a demographic dividend toward a talent- and skill-based dividend and outlining its future trajectory, thereby offering an alternative to pessimistic narratives centered on the decline of China’s demographic dividend.
As first or corresponding author, he has published more than 80 papers in leading journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Annals of the American Association of Geographers (AAAG), Regional Studies, and Acta Geographica Sinica. He has also authored two academic monographs and one translated volume. He has been ranked among the Top 1% Highly Cited Scholars in China for two consecutive years, and several of his papers have been recognized as ESI Highly Cited Papers or selected for full-text reprinting by Renmin University of China Reprinted Materials.
He has been selected for the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), the National Postdoctoral Overseas Talent Recruitment Program, the Jiangsu Provincial “Double Innovation” Doctoral Talent Program, and the Jiangsu Science and Technology Think Tank Young Talent Program. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).
He serves as a member of the Population Geography Committee of the Geographical Society of China, Vice Chair of the Human Geography Committee of the Geographical Society of Jiangsu Province, and Council Member of the Chinese Society of African Historical Studies. He is currently an Associate Editor of Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, an SSCI Q1 journal, and serves on the editorial boards of Population, Space and Place and Geography and Geo-Information Science. He also serves on the early-career editorial boards of Geography and Sustainability, Scientia Geographica Sinica, and China Population, Resources and Environment.
He has served as Principal Investigator for a range of competitive research grants, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Young Scientists Fund (Category B), the NSFC General Program, the NSFC Young Scientists Fund (Category C), the Lincoln Institute China Program International Fellowship, the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education of China, the Jiangsu Provincial Social Science Fund, the High-End Science and Technology Innovation Think Tank Program of CAST, and the Nanjing Municipal Social Science Fund. A number of his policy advisory reports have received positive endorsements from national and provincial/ministerial-level authorities.
His honors include the Youth Achievement Award of the Ministry of Education’s Outstanding Research Achievement Awards in Humanities and Social Sciences as the first awardee, the First Prize of the Jiangsu Provincial Outstanding Achievement Awards in Philosophy and Social Sciences as the first awardee, and the Third Prize of the Ministry of Education’s Outstanding Research Achievement Awards in Humanities and Social Sciences as the third awardee, among other provincial- and ministerial-level academic awards.
In 2027, he plans to recruit one PhD student and two master’s students. Prospective students are warmly encouraged to get in touch.