Cheng Heqin is a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University. She received a Ph.D from Tongji University, Shanghai, China, a Master's degree from the Geoscience University, Beijing, China, and a Bachelor's degree from the Geoscience University, Wuhan, China. Her research interests include earth system science, global changes in estuaries and coastal zones, estuarine and coastal morphodynamics and dynamic sedimentation, elemental cycles and their interactions in estuarine and coastal ecosystems, and integrated coastal zone management. She has published more than 130 research articles and three books focusing on the influence of sea level rise on the estuary of the Yangtze River, the discontinuity of sedimentation and stratigraphy, and human action and control in the coastal system (with a focus on fisheries).