Professor Gong graduated from the Department of Geography at Nanjing University, where he obtained both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and later received his PhD from the University of Waterloo in Canada. He subsequently pursued his academic career at York University and the University of Calgary. In 1994, he joined the University of California, Berkeley, and was promoted to Professor in 2001. In 2016, Professor Gong moved to Tsinghua University, where he became the founding Chair of the Department of Earth System Science, and in 2017 he was appointed Dean of the School of Science. He is the Vice Presidnet of the University of Hong Kong.

Professor Gong is a foreign member of Academia Europaea and a member of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, and served as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Geographic Information Sciences (now Annals of GIS). He has also been appointed as an advisor to Future Earth, working with scientists and researchers worldwide to advance sustainable development of the Earth system. In addition, Professor Gong has been invited by the medical journal The Lancet to serve as a member of its international expert advisory panel, and is also a member of the Earth Commission, working alongside leading scientists globally to promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.