2025/01 to present: Professor, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

2023/04-2023/10: Visiting scholar, Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, (ARCHE), Griffith University

2014/12 to 2024/12: Associate Professor, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

2013/05-2014/11: Assistant Professor, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

2011/03-2013/05: Postdoc, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

2009/02-2009/04 Visiting scholar, Institute of Environment, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), Australia.

2005/09-2011/01 Ph.D (Quaternary Geology), Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Geoarchaeology; Quaternary paleoecology; Megafaunal extinction since late Pleistocene and ecological impact in east Asia.

Zhao KL*, Wang M, Shan MC, Zhang YP, Zhou XY, Chen FY*, Li XQ,. The early Holocene ecology of hilly terrain reconstructed by plant remains from Ping'an Cave in northern China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 2022, 304: 104718.

2. Zhao KL, Wei HP, Zhao ZH, Zhang YP, Liu WQ, Wang J, Chen GH, Shen H, Du H, Cheng P, Shan Chen6, Jia WM, Zhou XY*, Li XQ. Synchronous change in the intensified millet cultivation and ecological environment from the early to middle Holocene on the Inner Mongolia Plateau, northern China. The Holocene, 2022.10. (Online) https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221138336

3. Zhang YP, Zhang Y, Hu SM, Zhou XY, Liu LJ, Liu JC, Zhao KL*, Li XQ. Pastoralism and Millet Cultivation During the Bronze Age in the Temperate Steppe Region of Northern China. Fronters in Earth Science, 2021, 9:748327. doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.74832

4. Yang QJ, Zhao KL*, Zhou XY, Wang J, Chen GH, Li DW, Zhao LX, Wang W, Li XQ*. Evaluation of the potential of surface pollen spectra from caves in SW China for vegetation reconstruction. Quaternary International, 2021, 591: 119-128.

5. Zhao KL*, Zhou XY, Ji M, Li XQ*. Palynological Evidence of Late Holocene Paleo-Monsoon in Eastern Pamir, Geophysical Research Letters, 2019, 46(16): 10015-10023.

6. Zhao KL*, Li XQ*, Xu H, Zhou XY, Dodson J, Liu JC. Increased winter-spring precipitation from the last glaciation to the Holocene inferred from a 13Corg record from Yili Basin (Xinjiang, NW China), Science China-Earth Sciences, 2019, 62(7): 1125-1137.

7. Zhao KL, Li XQ, Dodson J, et al. Climate instability during the last deglaciation in central Asia, reconstructed by pollen data from Yili Valley, NW China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 2013, 189, 8-17.

8. Zhao KL, Li XQ, Zhou XY, et al. Impact of agriculture on an oasis landscape during the late Holocene: palynological evidence from the Xintala site in Xinjiang, NW China. Quaternary International, 2013, 311: 81-86.

9. Zhao KL, Li XQ. Modern pollen and vegetation relationships in the Yili Basin, Xinjiang, NW China. Chinese Science Bulletin, 2013, 58: 4133-4142.

10. Zhao KL, Li XQ, Dodson J, et al. Climatic variations over the last 4000 cal yr BP in the western margin of the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, reconstructed from pollen data. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2012, 321-322, 16-23.

1. National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No.42471185): Climate change and modern human adaptation during late MIS3 in northern China. 2025/01-2028/12, Primary Investigator.

2. NSFC (No.42072212): The chronology and mechanisms of megafaunal extinction during late Pleistocene in NE China. 2021/01-2024/12, Primary Investigator.

3. Strategic Priority Research Program of one project from Chinese Academy of Sciences (No.XDB26030404): Quaternary paleoecology and human adaptation. 2018/01-2022/12, Primary Investigator.

4. NSFC (No.41772371): Holocene abrupt climate change and its impact on early agriculture in the loess/desert transition zone, north-central China. 2018/01-2021/12, Primary Investigator.

5. National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB953800): Extreme climate events, agriculture origin and human adaptation in eastern China since the deglaciation. 2015/01-2019/12, Participant.

6. NSFC (No.41102113): The vegetation and climate changes since 20 ka in Yili area, Xinjiang, NE China. 2012/01-2014/12, Primary Investigator.

National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB950200): Climate and environment change and human influence and adaptation in arid region since last glacial maximum in China. 2010/01-2014/12, Participant.