Prof. Yongxiang Lu is the Founding President of ISDE (2006-2011), an Academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). He served as Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 10th and 11th National People's Congress, PRC (2003-2013), President of Chinese Academy of Sciences (1997-2011), Executive President of Presidium of CAS Academic Divisions (1997-2011), Vice Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology (1985-1996), Vice President of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS, later known as the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World) from 1998 to 2006, President of Zhejiang University (1988-1995), etc., and was elected Co-chairman of Inter-Academy Council in 2005.

He graduated from Machinery Department of Zhejiang University in 1964, and obtained his doctorate in Engineering Science from RWTH Aachen University in Germany in 1981. He holds a number of honorary Doctorates, including from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Honorary Doctor of Engineering, 1995), the City University of Hong Kong (Honorary Doctor of Engineering, 1997), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Honorary Doctor of Science, 2003), the University of Melbourne, Australia (Honorary Doctor of Laws, 2003), the University of Nottingham, UK (Honorary Doctor of Science, 2004), the Open University of Hong Kong (Honorary PhD Degree of Science, 2004), Loughborough University, UK (Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science, 2005), the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Honorary Doctor Degree of Engineering Sciences, 2005), the University of Auckland, New Zealand (Doctor Degree of Engineering honoris causa, 2006), the University of Minnesota, US (Honorary Doctor of Science, 2006), the Linköping University, Sweden (Doctorate Degree honoris causa, 2006), the National University of Engineering, Peru (Honorary Doctor of Engineering, 2006), etc.

He holds a number of academic appointments. He has been an Honorary Foreign Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (1999), an Honorary Foreign Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2004), an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK (2004), a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science (2004), a Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2005), a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2006), etc.

He has achieved more than 20 patents in China, Europe and the United States, and published over 250 papers on research and engineering education as well as five monographs.  As a professor, he has supervised 25 master's degree students, 30 Ph.D. students and five postdoctoral researchers. He received an extensive list of honors, including two National Invention Awards in 1988 and 1989, National Engineering Higher Education Prize of China in 1989 and in 2005, the super prize for Guanghua Science Foundation (1993), the Gold Badge for Science of Culture of Public President of Italy (2004), the first prize of National Higher Education Scholarship (2005), the Abdus Salam Medal of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (2006) and the Harnack-Medaille of Max-Planck Gesellschaft (2006).