Jinghai LI is professor at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He was president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China from 2018 to 2023, vice president of the CAS From 2004 to 2016.

He established the Energy-Minimization Multi-Scale (EMMS) model for gas-solid systems. The model has been extended to many different complex systems, and generalized into the EMMS paradigm of computation featuring the logical & structural similarity between problem, modeling, software and hardware, which has been implemented by constructing a supercomputer with capacity of 1 Pflops and has been used widely in chemical and energy industries. He is promoting Mesoscience based on the EMMS principle of compromise in competition as an interdisciplinary science.

He was vice president of International Science Council from 2018 to 2021, vice president of International Council for Science from 2014 to 2018, president of the Asian Association of Science Academics from 2007 to 2010, vice chairman of China Association for Science and Technology from 2011 to 2021. He holds memberships from CAS, TWAS, SATW, RAEng and ATSE.