Qihua Ling

Plant biologist

I have been interested in plants since I was little. And later I heard that there is a place called Kew Gardens in England, where a huge collection of plants from all over the world can be found. Since then, I had always dreamed of visiting Kew Gardens, and enjoying her beauty for all four seasons. And that dream finally came true luckily because I later went to the UK for my postdoctoral training.

I did my PhD in the Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, CAS, China, and moved to England for further training, first in Leicester University, and then in Oxford University. My 10-year learning and working experience in the UK  greatly inspired my enthusiasm for scientific research on chloroplasts – vital plant organelles responsible for photosynthesis.

Eventually, I returned to the same institute in China and started my own lab. My current focus is on how to improve crop performance through modifying chloroplast function.