Professor Zhao is a Professor at Nanchang University and currently serves as Associate Dean (Vice Dean) of the School of Physical Education. He holds a PhD and completes postdoctoral research training. He received his BSc and MSc from Chengdu Sport University, his PhD from Beijing Sport University, and undertook postdoctoral research at Shanghai University of Sport. He was also a visiting scholar at Southern Cross University (Australia). He is a doctoral supervisor and co-supervises postdoctoral researchers and has been recognised as a provincially funded high-level talent. His research focuses on physical activity and physical fitness and health.

Professor Zhao provides extensive academic service as an expert reviewer for the National Social Science Fund of China and for major competitive research funding schemes, including the National Education Science Planning projects and the Ministry of Education’s Humanities and Social Sciences research programme. He also reviews provincial programmes (e.g., Jiangxi Provincial Social Science Planning, Educational Science Planning, and university humanities and social sciences research projects) and serves on the expert panel of the Jiangxi Society of Sports Science. His professional service roles include Executive Committee Member of the Professional Committee on Exercise Health and Industry Development (Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine); Member of the Exercise Health Science Branch and Deputy Director of the Youth Work Committee (Chinese Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics); Member of the Exercise Physiology Committee (Chinese Physiological Society); and Member of the Exercise and Public Health Branch (Biophysical Society of China). He is also a council member of the Jiangxi Society of Sports Science and the Jiangxi Student Sports Association and serves as Deputy Chair of the Provincial Teaching Guidance Committee for Sport Training Programmes in Higher Education. In addition, he serves as an editorial board member and/or peer reviewer for journals including Sports Medicine, BMC Public Health, Journal of Medical Internet Research, European Journal of Pediatrics, Journal of Sports Sciences, and several top Chinese journals.

As principal investigator, Professor Zhao has received several competitive awards, including the Ministry of Education Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award (Youth Award), the Jiangxi Provincial Outstanding Social Science Achievement Award (First Prize), the Science and Technology Award of the Jiangxi Society of Sports Science (First Prize), and the Jiangxi Provincial Outstanding Educational Science Achievement Award (Second Prize). He has led externally funded projects supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (two projects), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Special Funding), and the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences programme, among others. He has also contributed to major national and provincial initiatives, including the National Key R&D Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Education Science Planning programme, research programmes of the General Administration of Sport of China, and the Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leaders Programme. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers, including articles in Exercise Immunology Review and China Sport Science (six papers).

Under his supervision, postgraduate researchers have produced more than 10 first-author publications in international journals including Sports Medicine, BMC Public Health, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, Frontiers in Pediatrics, and Frontiers in Public Health, as well as in leading Chinese journals. His postgraduates have received multiple honours, including three provincial awards for excellent master’s theses, several provincial graduate innovation grants, and major scholarships (e.g., the National Scholarship and the Provincial Government Scholarship). Under his mentorship, graduates have progressed to doctoral programmes through application-and-assessment-based doctoral admissions at institutions including Durham University (UK), Beijing Sport University, Shanghai University of Sport, Wuhan Sports University, and Fujian Normal University.