Researcher profile

Liwu Zhang

Dr. Liwu ZHANG (张立武), a professor at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU) in Fuzhou, China, specializes in genomics and genetics for jute and allied crop improvement. He serves as Director of Bast Fiber Crop Research Center at FAFU since 2016, and as Vice‑Director of Bast Fiber Academic Association at Crop Science Society of China since 2018, covering industrial chain from mechanistic elucidation to cultivar development and resource multi-utilization. The guiding principle of his research group is to create changes from the laboratory, fostering a conscientious and active attitude to life, learning and work. Dr. Zhang has been actively engaged in crop science for over 30 years, starting from 1996. He has held visiting scholar positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the United States (2014-2015) and at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia (2025-2026) . Currently, he holds editorial roles for academic journals including Tropical Plant Biology and The Crop Journal (Chinese edition), and reviewer positions for academic journals such as Plant Biotechnology Journal, Plant Physiology, and Plant Journal. He is also a member of INFO (International Natural Fiber Organization). Prof. Zhang serves as the instructor for Genetics (Spring semester) and Principles of Crop Breeding (Autumn semester) in the undergraduate curriculum, and for Frontiers in Crop Science in the postgraduate program (Autumn semester). Annually, his group recruit 1 Postdoctoral Fellow, 1 to 2 PhD Candidates, and 3 to 5 Master’s Students under this program of Plant Genetics and Breeding.