Recently, at the 39th Meeting of the Society of Organic Petrology (TSOP) held in Greece, Professor Zhao Lei from our university was honored to be appointed as the Chairman of the TSOP for the term 2023-2025. Following a voting election by members from over 30 countries worldwide, Professor Zhao Lei previously served as the Vice Chairman (2021-2023) and is the Chairman-elect (2023-2025) of the TSOP since the year 2021.

The Society of Organic Petrology (TSOP) was founded in the United States in 1984. As a significant international academic organization in the fields of organic petrology and coal geology, the society aims to promote research, education, and collaboration in areas such as coal geology, organic petrology, sapropel rock petrology, and organic geochemistry. Its members are distributed globally, spanning over 30 countries, including the United States, Australia, China, Denmark, Poland, Germany, Spain, and more.

Professor Zhao Lei studied under the internationally renowned coal geologist and mineralogist, Professor Colin Ward, in 2008. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Geology from the University of New South Wales in Australia in 2012. In 2020, she received Distinguished Young Scholars of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and in 2023 she was awarded the Distinguished Contribution Award by the TSOP. Professor Zhao has served as the Chair of the John Castano Membership Award Committee and the Dal Swaine Award Committee of the TSOP. She has been involved in several significant research tasks, including projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Key Research and Development Program. Professor Zhao is a core member of the National Natural Science Foundation Innovation Group. Additionally, she has received two first prizes for Natural Science from the Ministry of Education.