Zhong He Zhou is a vertebrate paleontologist. He is a Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science of the University of Science and Technology of China, and an adjunct professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University and Nanjing University. He serves as the associate editor-in-chief of the National Science Review and the editorial board member of Current Biology, PNAS Nexus, and Science China: Earth Science, among others. He is currently the chairman of the academic committee of the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy of Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology. He is currently a member of the standing committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), President of the China Science Writer Association, and editor-in-chief of journals such as Science Communication and Science Education, Popular Science Writing and Review, and Intellectual. He also serves as the chairman of the academic committee of the China Research Institute for Science Popularization. In 2000, he was elected a foreign associate by the National Academy of Sciences of the USA; in 2011, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; in 2015, a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences and the corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences; and in 2019, the honorary member of the America Ornithological Society. In 1986, he graduated from the Department of Geology of Nanjing University and earned his master’s degree at the Graduate School of the University of Science and Technology of China, after which he was employed by the IVPP. In 1995, he went to the University of Kansas and was awarded his Ph.D. degree in 1999. That same year, he returned to IVPP and was awarded the “Hundred Talent Project” by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2000 and 2001, he was awarded the Distinguished Young Scientist Project and the Research Group Fund by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, respectively, and from 2008 to 2018 served as the Director of the IVPP. From 2014 to 2018e also served as President of the International Paleontological Association. He has made significant contributions to his field of work and much of his research has been published in journals such as Nature, Science, PNAS, Proc R Soc B, and Current Biology.