FERG people

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.