Professor Sheng Lianxi graduated from Jilin Normal University (now the Northeast Normal University) in 1975.

He chairs the Council of Northeast Normal University (NNU) and has been enjoyed  a government special allowance since 1993. As a senior scholar, he was invited to visit the University of Illinois, USA from 1996 to 1997. He obtained his Ph. D. degree in 2000 from the Northeast Forestry University, Haerbin.  

Before he came to the current position he served as Deputy Dean of the Environmental Science Department, Director of Office for Science and Technology, and the Vice-President of NNU. He also has a number of social titles as a member of the Tenth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the President of the Ecology Committee of Jilin, the Director of the Ecological Education Committee under the Ecology Society of China, the Dean of the National Laboratory of Swamp Environment Protection and Recovery Ecology, the Deputy-Director of the Teaching Committee for Environmental Majors under the Ministry of Education, a member of the Chinese Committee for the International Biological Diversity Plan, a member of the Decision Consulting Expert Group of Jilin Province, a member of the People's Political Consultative Conference of Jilin Province, and Deputy Chief Editor of the Journal of Applied Ecology.