Prof. Eric Van Ranst of Ghent University, Belgium, won the Chinese Government Friendship Award in 2012. Since 1995, Prof. Van Randst has been a guest professor of the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and regularly visits China to give lectures and conduct cooperative research. Prof. Van Ranst has worked with 30 cooperative research teams as well as three doctoral students and nine master students from China. In addition, he organized 15 practical technology trainings such as the geographic information system training for Chinese young scholars in Belgium, and compiled teaching materials and teaching plans suitable for China's online agricultural education. He also raised over five million euros from the Federal Government of Belgium and the Flemish Regional Government for the funding of seven cooperative research programs. Prof. Van Ranst has published 35 academic papers in international journals and seven books and won a second prize at the Beijing Municipal Scientific and Technological Progress Awards. He has published more than 40 papers in collaboration with Chinese scientists at world-class academic conferences such as the World Congress of Soil Science and the European Geoscience Congress, and has helped enhance the international influence of Chinese scientists in the fields of land evaluation, land degradation, sustainable agriculture and food security.