Mr. ZHAO Shidong is a research scientist, doctoral supervisor, and forest ecologist at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He graduated in 1967 with a postgraduate degree in forest ecology from the Institute of Forestry and Soil Research of CAS, now named as the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE), CAS. His supervisor was WANG Zhan, a famous forest scientist and tree taxonomist in China. Since September 1967, he has been engaged in plant taxonomy and distribution studies, as well as forest ecology studies at IAE, successively serving as assistant researcher, associate researcher, researcher, director of the arboretum of IAE, director of Changbai Mountain Forest Ecosystem Station, assistant director of IAE, and deputy director of IAE. In 1993, he was transferred to the Commission for Integrated Survey of Natural Resources, CAS and served successively as deputy director and director.

After retired in 2006, he transformed from a scholar to a teacher, and engaged in Science Popularization. Since 2006, he has given lectures at more than 20 universities and research institutes, including University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Beijing Forestry University, Nanjing University, Wuhan University, etc. He has also lectured many times for postgraduate students at the Institute of Geographical Resources, the Institute of Applied Ecology, the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, and the South China Botanical Garden, CAS. He also joined the Science Popularization & Lecture Group of CAS Old Scientists and popularized science for primary and middle school students, government officials and the public. So far, he has given more than 500 lectures in schools, research institutes, government agencies, science museums and residential communities.

At the end of 2019, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology made a 7-minute promotional video titled 'Dialogue with Scientists. Special Edition: Mr. ZHAO Shidong' to introduce his resume and lecture topics.