Dr. Xiangwen Ren received his PhD in marine geology from the Institute of Oceanography, China Academy of Sciences, in 2005. Since then, he has been carrying out research on the mineralization of Co-rich ferromanganese crusts and polymetallic nodules and has led six projects on ferromanganese crusts and polymetallic nodules for the China Ocean Minerals Resources Research & Development Association and the Natural Science Foundation of China. His research concerns the formation mechanism of ferromanganese crusts and the estimation of resources in ferromanganese crusts and polymetallic nodules, regarding which he has authored 30 papers.