International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Wenying ZHUANG

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 2016, Professor Wenying Zhuang is a Chinese mycologist whose career has focused on fungal diversity, the systematics and phylogeny of the Ascomycota, fungal resource discovery, and the development of mycological research and education in China. Born in July 1948 in Beijing, with ancestral roots in Minhou, Fujian Province, she worked as an educated youth in Shanxi from 1968 to 1973 before studying plant protection at Shanxi Agricultural College, where she graduated in 1975 and subsequently taught. In 1978 she entered the first cohort of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing to study mycology under Professor Yu Yongnian, receiving her master’s degree in 1981 and joining the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She undertook doctoral research at Cornell University from 1985 to 1987 and returned to the Institute thereafter. She has served as Director of its Open Research Laboratory of Systematic Mycology and Lichenology and is now Research Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at its State Key Laboratory of Mycology. She also serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Cryptogamic Flora of China, Editor of the third edition of the Encyclopaedia of China (Biology), and Chairman of the Chinese Consortium of Mycological Herbaria. A member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2009 and of The World Academy of Sciences since 2010, she was the first Chinese scholar elected an Honorary Member of the Mycological Society of America and served three terms on the Executive Committee of the International Mycological Association. She has also served as Executive Vice President of the Mycological Society of China.

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Professor Zhuang’s principal scientific contributions lie in fungal diversity and the systematics of the Ascomycota. Integrating classical morphology and anatomy with molecular phylogenetics, DNA barcoding, and structural analysis of ribosomal RNA, she developed approaches for incorporating rRNA secondary-structure information into quantitative phylogenetic analysis and advanced an integrative framework for the systematics of discomycetes. Her studies of the Helotiales and related groups contributed to revised concepts of families, genera, and systematic relationships, and she has undertaken comprehensive taxonomic studies of numerous key genera. She has completed monographic studies of three genera and described one new family, 13 new genera, and more than 360 new species, while resolving numerous taxonomic and nomenclatural problems in Chinese discomycetes. Based on extensive field collections from 26 provinces of China and numerous countries and regions, her work has contributed substantially to the documentation and conservation of China’s fungal resources. She also initiated regional programmes on fungal diversity in tropical and arid areas of China, integrating field surveys, taxonomy, molecular systematics, and database development. Her international contributions include participation in the ninth edition of Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi, and two taxa have been named in her honour. She has led more than 20 major research projects, published more than 300 papers, and edited nine monographs. Her work has also extended to fungal resource evaluation and applied research, including the investigation and utilisation of Trichoderma resources. As a teacher and mentor, she has supervised graduate and doctoral students, contributed to the Encyclopaedia of China, and promoted public understanding of fungal science. Through sustained research, international collaboration, and the systematic documentation of fungal diversity, Professor Zhuang has contributed to the development of modern mycology in China and to the broader understanding of fungal systematics and biodiversity.