From 1991 to 1992, Song was the Royal Society Visiting Fellow at the School of Mathematics,
University of Bristol, UK and from 1992 to 1993, he was the research officer at the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and lecturer from 1993 to 1994 at the
University of Bath, UK. From 1997 to 2010, he was a Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering Professor,
Brunel University, UK. He held the Royal Academy of Engineering/Nuclear Electric/Siemens Chair of Power Systems at Brunel from Jan 1997 to Dec 2001. In 2004, he was appointed the pro-vice-chancellor for graduate studies at Brunel. He became the pro-vice chancellor at the
University of Liverpool in 2007, holding concurrently the post of executive president at
Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University in
Suzhou, China. He was also a
Changjiang Scholar and chair professor of
Xian Jiaotong University in 2001. In 2009, he was an assistant president and professor of electrical engineering at
Tsinghua University. He was appointed Director of the Chinese National Recruitment Program of Global Experts (1000 Talents Program) Office until December 2012. In November 2012, he joined
Zhejiang University as executive vice president and the founding dean of the International Campus. In January 2018, he was appointed Rector (President) of the
University of Macau, succeeding
Wei Zhao. == Research ==