Head

Prof. Dr. Arshad Ali
Professor/ Group Leader
I am a top-notch (talent) Full Professor / PhD
supervisor in the College of Life Sciences at
Hebei University, where I am leading Forest Ecology
Research Group (FERG). Prior to joining Hebei
University I was a Full Professor / PhD
supervisor at Nanjing Forestry University in
Nanjing, Jiangsu, and before that I completed my
Postdoc at South China Normal University,
Guangzhou. I completed my PhD and MS at East
China Normal University, Shanghai, during Sep
2012 - Dec 2017.
I am also serving several SCI journals as an
Academic Editor since 2018. This includes top
and respectful journals in the field of forest or
plant ecology such as Forest Ecology and
Management (Elsevier), Forestry (Oxford
University Press, UK), Journal of Forestry
Research (Springer, China), Biodiversity and
Conservation (Springer), and Frontiers journals
(Plant Science; Forests and Global Change).
Prior to coming China, I completed my BS (Hons)
in Forestry from Shaheed Benazir Bhutto
University, Pakistan. After BS graduation, I
worked as a Social Organizer and Project
Manager at two different internationally
supported NGOs in Pakistan for almost 2 years. I
also served WWF Pakistan (Wetlands project) as
an internee for a short time as a volunteer.
External collaborators supporting FERG research

Dr. Eskil Mattsson
IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Sweden

Prof. Dr. Hassan Pourbabaei
Guilan University, Iran

Dr. Hammad Gilani
International Water Management Institute, Pakistan

Prof. Dr. Zuoqiang Yuan
Northwest Polytechnical University, Xian, China
Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China

Prof. Dr. Chang-Bae Lee
Kookmin University, South Korea
Researchers and consultants

Dr. Umar Aftab Abbasi
Postdoctoral Researcher - Full-time (2021-2023)

Mr. Zaheer Abbas
GIS Expert (part-time) - PhD student at South China Normal University
Students

Ms. Zhang Xiao-Jing (张晓静)
PhD student (Hebei University) - Full-time (2022-2026)

Ms. Song Lin-Wan (宋林菀)
MS student (Hebei University) - Full-time (2022-2025)

Ms. Meng-Zhen Zhang (张梦珍)
MS student (Hebei University) - Full-time (2022-2025)

Ms. Wan Xiao-Ming (万晓铭)
MS student (Hebei University) - Full-time (2022-2025)
FERG Alumni

Dr. Maryam Kazempour Larsary
PhD (co-advised/ part-time), Guilan University, Iran

Dr. Anvar Sanaei
Co-advised PhD student. Worked at Chinese Academy of Sciences, and currently working at Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, Leipzig university, Germany.
His research interest encompasses the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, above-below-ground functional relationships between plants and their environment, plant-plant interactions, mechanisms of plant community assembly, and structure and variation of plant species diversity.

Ms. Li-Qiu Wang (王立秋)
Full-time MS Forestry (2019-2021); Chinese student
Nanjing Forestry University
Thesis: Relationships amongst environment, functional traits and aboveground biomass in forests – global meta-community analyses.

Mr. Suwash Kunwar
Full-time MS Forestry (2019-2021); International student from Nepal on APFNet Scholarship; Nanjing Forestry University
Thesis: Linking multiple facets of tree diversity and structure with aboveground biomass along an elevation gradient in tropical forests of Nepal: implications for forest management.