Cheng Li

Hi, I’m Cheng.

Working across science and data.

My background spans bioinformatics, environmental research and remote sensing. I’ve worked with genomic and hyperspectral data, taken part in field campaigns across Europe, the US and China, and helped organise projects that bring people from different disciplines together.

I hold a PhD in Geography and Earth System Science from the University of Zurich and an MSc in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics from ETH Zurich and UZH. I have interned at Novartis in Basel and Xi’an Janssen in Beijing.

I’m interested in how scientific knowledge can be put to practical use. I value clear thinking, attention to detail, and working with people I can learn from.

Portrait of Cheng Li

Based in Zurich, Switzerland

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News

Recent work and activities.

  1. Led the organisation of OpSciHack 2026, a two-day open-science hackathon in Zurich focused on sustainable, efficient and reproducible research.

  2. Our study on physiological signatures and genomic predictors of drought response in European beech was published as a bioRxiv preprint and is under review at eLife.

  3. Attended the OLS–NASA Nebula Program, Cohort 4, covering open science, reproducible research, data management planning and the NASA Open Science 101 curriculum.

  4. Volunteered at Climate Week Zurich.

  5. Our paper on genome-wide association studies of leaf spectral variation was published in Ecology.

Earlier updates

  1. Joined the board of Intersection Bioinformatics at Life Sciences Switzerland.

  2. Attended the 8th Science Filmmaking Marathon. Our short film NOISE won the Audience Award at the 7th Global Science Film Festival’s Bern screening.

  3. Gave an oral presentation on “Association study of genetic variation and spectroscopic imaging variants” at the World Biodiversity Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

  4. Our study, “Evaluating potential of leaf reflectance spectra to monitor plant genetic variation,” was published in Plant Methods.

  5. Gave an oral presentation on “Association study of genetic variation and spectroscopic imaging variants” at the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting in Portland, USA.

  6. Gave an oral presentation on “Genetic associations with drought and its spectral signatures in beech forests” at ForestSAT in Berlin, Germany.

Research

Publications and open research.

A little more

Some things make me pause, simply because they’re beautiful. Often, I find them in nature. Sometimes, I take a photograph.

Explore Small Wonders