Prof. Zhu Yongguan, Professor of Environmental Biology, is the Director General of the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He has been working on the biogeochemistry of nutrients, metals and emerging pollutants (such as antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes). Professor Zhu is a leader in taking multi-scale and multi-disciplinary approaches to soil and environmental problems. Before returning to China in 2002, he was working as a research fellow (Supported by the Royal Society London), the Queen’s University of Belfast, UK (1994-1995); and a postdoctoral fellow in The University of Adelaide (1998-2002), Australia. He obtained his BSc from Zhejiang Agricultural University in 1989, and MSc from CAS in 1992, and then a PhD in environmental biology from Imperial College, London in 1998. Dr Zhu is currently the co-editor-in-chief of Environmental Technology & Innovation (Elsevier), associate editor of Environment International (Elsevier), and editorial members for a few other international journals. He is a scientific committee member for the ICSU program on Human Health and Wellbeing in Changing Urban Environment, and served for nine years as a member of Standing Advisory Group for Nuclear Application, International Atomic Energy Agency (2004-2012). Professor Zhu is the recipient of many international and Chinese merit awards, among them including TWAS Science Award 2013, National Natural Science Award 2009; Professor Zhu has published over 255 papers in international journals, and these publications have attracted over 10,000 citations (Web of Science) with an H-index of 56.