Ms. Yiqi Li | Rural Protection | Best Researcher Award 

Ms. Yiqi Li | Rural Protection | Xi’an Jiaotong University | China

Ms. Yiqi Li is an emerging scholar and researcher specializing in architecture, cultural heritage conservation, urban-rural planning, and ecological sustainability, whose academic journey and professional activities reflect an exceptional blend of research excellence, practical experience, and leadership. She is currently pursuing a Master of Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong University under the supervision of Prof. Binqing Zhai, after completing her Bachelor of Landscape Architecture at Hainan University under the guidance of Prof. Dinghai Yang, where she laid the foundation for her career in architectural planning and heritage studies. Building on this academic training, Ms. Yiqi Li has been deeply engaged in multiple international collaborative research projects, most notably the joint training program with Politecnico di Milano funded by the prestigious CSC National Scholarship, where she contributed to the digital modeling and field studies of traditional villages in Shaanxi Province. Her professional experience spans town-level territorial planning, rural revitalization, ecological conservation, and sustainable education, including leading initiatives in Guangxi where she designed the Bird Kaka Nature School that integrated environmental science teaching with traditional architecture, and contributing to urban-rural planning projects commissioned by the Shaanxi provincial government. Her research interests focus on spatial resilience differentiation of traditional villages, governance strategies for historic settlements, heritage network theory, and the integration of artificial intelligence into conservation practices.