Dr. Ou is a Marie Curie Fellow at Heriot-Watt University. His research interests are in urban sustainability, environmental economics and policy, and transport and land use planning. He specializes in applying causal inference models, macroeconomics input-output analysis, explainable machine learning methods​, and geospatial analysis approaches to assess the impacts of urban development on environment and human activities, leveraging multi-source data (e.g., remote sensing data, geotagged social sensing data). To date, he has published 26 papers in high-impact SCI- or SSCI-indexed journals, including Sustainable Cities and Society, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Land Use Policy, Travel Behaviour and Society, Journal of Environmental Management, and Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, among others.

Environmental Economics; Environmental Policy; Urban Sustainability; Urban Planning; Regional Planning; Transport and Land Use Planning; Carbon Emissions; Air Pollution; Applied Econometrics; Geospatial Analysis; Causal Inference; Input-Output Analysis; Nighttime Light

Dr. Ou serves as an Early-Career Editorial Board Member for two ESCI-indexed journals, Urban Science (ESCI; Q1) and Climate (ESCI; Q2). Besides, he has been appointed as Guest Editor for several special issues in SCI/SSCI-indexed journals, including Remote Sensing (SCI; Q1), Land (SSCI; Q2), Buildings (SCI; Q2), and Atmosphere (SCI; Q3). In addition, he is an anonymous reviewer for top-tier journals in the fields of urban planning and environmental management, including Cities (SSCI; Q1); Humanities & Social Sciences Communications (SSCI; Q1); Transportation Research Part A (SSCI/SCI; Q1); Transportation Research Part E (SCI/SSCI; Q1); Resources, Conservation and Recycling (SCI; Q1); Journal of Cleaner Production (SCI; Q1); Applied Geography (SSCI; Q1); GIScience & Remote Sensing (SCI; Q1); Travel behaviour and Society (SSCI; Q1); Journal of Environmental Management (SCI; Q1).

His service extends to conference leadership as well, including Scientific Committee Member for the 11th World Sustainability Forum (Barcelona, 2025) and Session Chair for the 19th International Association for China Planning Annual Conference (Xiamen, 2025).

Awarded:

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025, “Assessing Carbon Emission Impacts of Circular Economy Measures for Construction and Demolition Wastes in the European Union”. Horizon Europe (MSCA Fellow, EUR 276,187.92)

Shortlisted:

RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme 2025, “Bridging Cities: How China's Inter-City Metro Systems Reshape Accessibility, Land Use Pattern, and Travel Behavior”, Research Grant Council (Hong Kong) (JRFS Fellow, HKD 980,000)