He serves as deputy director of the National Wetland Protection Standardization Technical Committee (SAC/TC468), executive deputy director of the Professional Committee of Tree Physiology and Biochemistry of the Chinese Society of Forestry, member of the 3rd Academic Committee of the NDRC, and member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the NDRC’s Provincial & Ministerial Joint Meeting on the Comprehensive Governance of Water Environment in the Taihu Basin. He is also the consultant of the International Fund for China' s Environment and distinguished expert of WWF Panel for the Integrated Management of the Yangtze River Basin. He works as the reviewer of Urban Forestry & Urban Greening and Acta Ecologica Sinica.

Academic Achievements

Mr. He has presided over and completed 40-odd  research projects at national, ministerial and provincial levels such as the National Natural Science Foundation project as well as trained 20 doctoral students. He has proactively participated in academic exchanges at home and abroad, and made academic presentations at Columbia University and the University of Washington in the US respectively in 2012 and 2014. He has published more than 120 papers in international and domestic academic journals such as Z. Naturforsch., Plant Biology, Acta Ecologica Sinica, and Plant Physiology Journal. He served as the editor-in-chief and associate editor-in-chief to publish four science book series and translate one published work. He holds three invention patents. He won 3 second-class prizes and seven third-class prizes for his outstanding research achievements at the provincial and ministerial levels.

He has long been engaged in planning, pre-project consulting and research in the fields of agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, ecological construction, and regional economy. He was responsible for completing more than 1000 projects of consulting, evaluation, and planning, including the master plan of Sanjiangyuan National Park, the ecological protection and construction project of Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve,  the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, the national plan for adding 100 billion jin of grain production capacity, the master plan for restoration and reconstruction after Yushu Earthquake, the Poyang Lake Water Conservancy Hub Project, and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. All these projects cover a total investment of more than one trillion yuan. What he had suggested were adopted by national decision-making departments, especially in the ecological protection and environmental governance. A lot of valuable suggestions he put forward have provided an important basis for national decision-making and saved significant construction funds. For instance, in the mid-term evaluation of the grain for green project, he proposed to shift the focus onto arable land and desertified land with a temperature above 25 degrees Celsius and extend the subsidy period of related land, which was adopted by the country. After he evaluated the phase-III planning of the geological disaster prevention and control project in the Three Gorges reservoir area, the planning not only ensures the safety of the planned project but also saves more than 10 billion yuan for the country. Mr. He has prepared the Overall Plan for Comprehensive Governance of Water Environment in the Taihu Lake Basin, which has achieved remarkable results after the approval and implementation of the State Council. The proposed concept, idea, and management model of comprehensive governance have become an example for the governance of China’s other lakes. Also, he has made over 70 investigations in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and done a lot of consulting and research for the ecological progress and economic and social development in the plateau, which has been highly recognized by the local government.