On December 4, 2020, the World Academy of Science (TWAS, also known as the Academy of Sciences for the Developing Countries), headquartered in Trieste, Italy, announced the winner of The World Academy of Sciences Prize is Dr. Junguo Liu, chair professor of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Southern University of Science and Technology and academician of the European Academy of Sciences for his contributions to water resources, climate change mitigation and environmental management.

On September 10, 2021, Prof. Junguo Liu won the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Paul A. Witherspoon Lecture Award in the field of hydrology, who is the first Asian scientist to receive the award since the establishment of the lecture and the only global winner this year.

On September 28, 2021, Prof. Yan Zheng of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology was selected as the latest batch of American Geophysical Union (AGU) fellows.