Trained as an interdisciplinary researcher, he explores the socioecological matrix – the links between environmental consequences and community development in particular. He applies experimental, observational, participatory, and modeling approaches to test theories on coupled human-natural systems and sustainability. His teaching interests at DKU include land systems and sustainability sciences, spatial modeling, land cover land use change, smallholder agriculture, and Sino-African relations.

He has conducted empirical research on subsistence and biophysical systems in Southeast Asia and East Africa. His most recent research project focuses on the impacts of China’s large-scale land transactions on food security, smallholder wellbeing, and ecosystem services in sub-Saharan Africa as well as their outreaching connections with broader systems that transcend spatiotemporal and institutional scales. His works have been published in leading academic journals including World Development, Landscape Ecology, and Environment, Development, and Sustainability. 

Dr. Li has both his B.A. in economic geography and M.A. in human geography from Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) and a Ph.D. in geography from Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona, USA). Prior to DKU, he has served as a research associate in the Landscape Ecology and Sustainability Lab at Arizona State University and Global Development Programs at USAID.