Prof. Gong Zheng was born in Zhangjiagang of Jiangsu Province in October 1975. He obtained his bachelor degree in Harbour and Waterway Engineering in 1997 and his PhD degree in Harbor, Coastal and Offshore Engineering in 2002 at Hohai University. From December 2002 to September 2006, he worked in the Water Development Research Center of Taihu Basin Authority. Since September 2006, he has been working at Hohai University. From September 2010 to September 2011, he was a visiting scholar at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. From January to February in 2018, He was engaged in the research as a senior visiting scholar at Auckland University, New Zealand.

He is the dean of College of Harbour, Coastal and Offshore Engineering, the academic leader of the team in the direction of comprehensive treatment and protection of estuaries and coasts of the State Key Laboratory of Hydrology, Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering Science, and the director of the Key Laboratory of Coastal Marine Resources Development and Environmental Safety of Jiangsu Province, and the headof the Field Observation and Research Station  Jiangsu Radiation Sand Ridge Tidal Beach Wetland Ecosystem of the Ministry of Education, the member of editorial board of Ocean Engineering and Progress of Water Resources and Hydropower Science and Technology, the director and secretary general of the 10th Council of Jiangsu Ocean Limnology Society.

He is mainly engaged in teaching and scientific research in the fields of harbour, coastal and offshore engineering. The major research fields are bio-dynamic-geomorphic evolution process of tidal flat system, estuarine and coastal dynamics and sediment movement. He presided over more than 10 projects including National Science Fund for Outstanding Youth, National Key R&D Program, National Natural Science Foundation, Jiangsu Marine Science and Technology Innovation Project, Jiangsu Water Conservancy Major Technical Research Project, and Jiangsu Transportation Science and Technology and Achievement Transformation Project. He has also participated in 30+ other research projects, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China Key International(regional) Cooperative Research Subjects,973 Plan Research Project and Scientific research and production project. He has published more than 80 papers in various journals, such as Water Resources Research, Earth-Science Reviews, Geomorphology, Continental Shelf Research, Remote Sensing, Advances in Water Science, and co-editing 3 monographs. He owned eleven national invention patents. In 2016, he was awarded the second prize for scientific and technological progress by the Ministry of Education (Rank 1), in 2011 he was awarded the second prize for scientific and technological progress by the State (Rank 3), in 2010 he was awarded the first prize for scientific and technological progress by the Ministry of Education (Rank 3), and in 2013 he was awarded the second prize for scientific and technological progress by the State (Rank 10). In 2009, he won the first prize in the national lecture competition for young teachers majoring in water conservancy. 

In 2012, he was selected as the New Century Excellent Talents Support Plan of the Ministry of Education, and in 2016, he was employed as a Jiangsu distinguished professor. In 2019, he won the National Science Fund for Outstanding Youth.