2000-2004:  Undergraduate, Archaeology Department, Shandong University
2004-2010:  PhD, Geography Department, Lanzhou University
2008-2009:  Visiting Scholar, Anthropology Department, UCLA
2009-2010:  Monrepos Archaeological Research Center and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution 

Environmental archaeology; Paleolithic Archaeology; Stone tool analysis; Prehistoric human adaptation to high-elevation environment: Prehistoric human history of the Tibetan Plateau

2011.01- 2015.05: Lecturer, Key laboratory of west China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University.
2015.06-2019.11:  Associate Professor, Key laboratory of west China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environment Sciences, Lanzhou University.
2019.12-today:  Professor, Key laboratory of west China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environment Sciences, Lanzhou University.

1.  Environmental Archaeology
2.  The Human History: Evolution and Adaptation

1.  Dongju Zhang and her collaborators have found Middle Pleistocene Denisovans on the Tibetan Platea by studying Xiahe mandible. This is the earliest human activity evidence on the Tibetan Plateau and the first Denisovan fossil evidence in East Asia. It is important to understand early human adaptation to high-elevation environments and complicate Middle Pleistocenene human evolution studies in East Asia. It is published in Nature in May, 2019.

2. Dongju Zhang and her team have done many archaeological surveys and excavations in northeastern Tibetan Plateau, when they found many Paleolithic sites and obtained rich archaeological remains, important to understand human spread and adaptation to Tibetan Plateau. Parts of their studies have been published in Science, Science Bulletin, China Science and other important journals.

3. Dongju Zhang and her team did new excavation in Dadiwan site, the most famous Neolithic site in Northwest China, where they found as early as 60-thousand-year Paleolithic records before early-middle Neolithic remains in the site. They discussed human adaptation strategies during the last Glatial Period and the origin of agriculture. Part of the study have been published in Science Bulletin.  

2022, The 17th China Youth Science and Technology Award
2021, The 10th Gansu Youth Science and Technology Award
2020, The 17th China Young Female Scientist Award
2019, The 12th Tibetan Plateau Science and Technology Award

NSFC Outstanding Youth Fund project, 2024-2028
NSFC Key projects, 2022-2026
The second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP), 2022-2024

1.	Chen, F.*, Welker, F., Shen, C.-C., Bailey, S.E., Bergmann, I., Davis, S., Xia, H., Wang, H., Fischer, R., Freidline, S.E., Yu, T.-L., Skinner, M.M., Stelzer, S., Dong, G., Fu, Q., Dong, G., Wang, J., Zhang, D. *, Hublin, J.-J. *, 2019. A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau, Nature, 569: 409-412.
2.	Duan, Y., Sun, Q., Werne, J.P., Zhao, H., Zhang, D., Zhang, N., Liu, J., Wu, D., Chen, F., 2019. Mid-Holocene moisture maximum revealed by pH changes derived from branched tetraethers in loess deposits of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 520, 138-149. 
3.	Zhang DJ, Xia H, Chen FH. 2018. Early human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau. Science Bulletin, 63: 1598-1600.
4.	Zhang DJ*, Zhang NM,Wang J, Ha BB, Dong GH, Chen FH*. 2017. Comment on "Permanent human occupation of the central Tibetan Plateau in the early Holocene". Science, 357: eaam8273. 
5.	Miao, Y., Zhang, D., Cai, X., Li, F., Jin, H., Wang, Y., Liu, B., 2017. Holocene fire on the northeast Tibetan Plateau in relation to climate change and human activity, Quaternary International 443, 124-131. 
6.	Zhang, N., Dong, G., Yang, X., Zuo, X., Kang, L., Ren, L., Liu, H., Li, H., Min, R., Liu, X., Zhang, D., Chen, F., 2017. Diet reconstructed from an analysis of plant microfossils in human dental calculus from the Bronze Age site of Shilinggang, southwestern China, Journal of Archaeological Science 83, 41-48.
7.	Liu, H., Cui, Y., Zuo, X., Li, H., Wang, J., Zhang, D., Zhang, J., Dong, G., 2016. Human settlements and plant utilization since the late prehistoric period in the Nujiang River valley, Southeast Tibetan Plateau, Archaeological Research in Asia 5, 63-71. 
8.	Zhang D J, Dong G H, Wang H, Ren X Y, Ha P, Qiang M R, Chen F H. 2016. History and possible mechanisms of prehistoric human migration to the Tibetan Plateau. Science China Earth Sciences, 59: 1765-1778. 
9.	Dong, G. H., Zhang, D. J., Liu, X. Y., Liu, F. W., Chen, F. H., Jones, M., 2015. "Response to Comment on "Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 B.P."." Science 348(6237): 872. 
10.	Chen, F. H., Dong, G. H., Zhang, D. J., Liu, X. Y., Jia, X., An, C. B., Ma, M. M., Xie, Y. W., Barton, L., Ren, X. Y., Zhao, Z. J., Wu, X. H., Jones, M. K., 2015. Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP. Science, 347: 248-250. 
11.	Zhang DJ, Chen FH, Bettinger RL, Barton L, Ji DX, Morgan C, Wang H, Cheng XZ, Dong GH, Guiderson TP, Zhao H. 2010. Archaeological records of Dadiwan in the past 60 ka and the origin of millet agriculture. Chinese Science Bulletin, 55 (16): 1636-1642.
12.	Elston R, Dong GH, Zhang DJ, 2011. Late Pleistocene intensification technologies in Northern China. Quaternary International. 242: 401-405. 
13.	Morgan C, Barton L, Bettinger R, Chen FH, Zhang DJ. 2011. Glacial Cycles and Palaeolithic Adaptive Variability on China's Western Loess Plateaux. Antiquity. 85:369-379.
14.	Bettinger RL, Barton L, Morgan C, Chen FH, Wang H, Guilderson TP, Ji DX, Zhang DJ. 2010. The Transition to Agriculture at Dadiwan, People's Republic of China. Current Anthropology, 51 (5): 703-714.

1.	Yao, J. T., Xia, H., Li, T., Lin D. P., Li, Y. X., Shen, X. K., Wang, J., Zhang, D. J.*, 2022, The evolution of prehistoric arrowheads in northern China and its influential factors, Science China Earth Sciences, 66(9): 2109-2124
2.	Zhang, D. J., Chen, F. H., 2022, Intensive millet–pig systems supported the rise of complex societies in North China, Nature Sustainability 5: 739-740.
3.	Yang, J. S., Zhang, D. J. #,*, Yang, X. Y. #,*, Wang, W. W., Perry, L., Fuller, Q. D., Li, H. M., Wang, J., Ren, L. L., Xia, H., Shen, X. K., Wang, H., Yang, Y. S., Yao, J. Y., Gao, Y., Chen, F. H., 2022, Sustainable intensification of millet–pig agriculture in Neolithic North China, Nature Sustainability 5: 780-786.
4.	Shen, X.K., Perreault, C., Xia, H., Yao, J. T., Liu, Y. S., Zhang, D. J.*, Chen, F. H., 2022, Exploitation of lydite and jasper by Epipaleolithic foragers in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 14: 123.
5.	 Cheng, T., Zhang, D. J., Zhao, H., Yang S. L., Li, B.*, 2022, Bleachability of pIRIR signal from single-grain K-feldspar, Quaternary Geochronology 7: 101321.
6.	Zhang, N. M., Cao, X. Y.*, Xu, Q. H., Huang, X. Z., Herzschuh, U., Shen, Z. W., Peng, W., Liu, S. S., Wu, D., Wang, J., Xia, H., Zhang, D. J.*, Chen, F. H., 2022, Vegetation change and human-environment interactions in the Qinghai Lake Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, since the last deglaciation, CATENA 210: 105892.
7.	Cheng, T., Zhang, D. J.*, Smith, G. M., Jöris, O., Wang, J., Yang, S. L., Xia, H., Shen, X. K., Li, Q., Chen, X. S., Lin, D. P., Han, Y. Y., Liu, Y. S., Qiang, M. R., Li, B.*, Chen, F. H., 2021, Hominin occupation of the Tibetan Plateau during the Last Interglacial Complex, Quaternary Science Reviews 265: 107047.
8.	Xia, H., Zhang, D. J.*, Wang, Q., Wu, D., Duan, Y. W., Chen, F. H., 2020, A study of the construction times of the ancient cities in Ganjia Basin, Gansu Province, China, Journal of Geographical Sciences 30: 1467-1480. 
9.	Wang, J., Xia, H., Yao, J. T., Shen, X. K., Cheng, T., Wang, Q. Q., Zhang, D. J.*, 2020, Subsistence strategies of prehistoric hunter-gatherers on the Tibetan Plateau during the Last Deglaciation, Science China Earth Sciences 63: 395-404.
10.	Zhang, D. J.*, Xia, H., Cheng, T., and Chen, F.H., 2020, New portraits of the Denisovans, Science Bulletin 65: 1-3. 
11.	Zhang, D. J.*, Xia, H., Chen, F. H., Li, B.*, Slon, V., Cheng, T., Yang, R. W., Jacobs, Z., Dai, Q. Y., Massilani, D., Shen, X. K., Wang, J., Feng, X. T., Cao, P., Yang, M. A., Yao, J. T., Yang, J. S., Madsen, D. B., Han, Y. Y., Ping, W. J., Liu, F., Perreault, C., Chen, X. S., Meyer, M., Kelso, J., Pääbo, S.*, Fu, Q. M.*, 2020, Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau, Science 370: 584-587.
12.	Chen, F. H. #, *, Welker, F.#, Shen, C.-C.#, Bailey, S. E., Bergmann, I., Davis, S., Xia, H., Wang, H., Fischer, R., Freidline, S. E., Yu, T.-L., Skinner, M. M., Stelzer, S., Dong, G. R., Fu, Q. M., Dong, G. H., Wang, J., Zhang, D. J.*, Hublin, J.-J.*, 2019, A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau, Nature 569: 409-412. 
13.	Zhang, D. J.*, Xia, H., Chen, F. H., 2018, Early human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau, Science Bulletin 63: 1598-1600. 
14.	Zhang, D. J.*, Zhang, N. M., Wang, J., Ha, B. B., Dong, G. H., Chen, F. H.*, 2017, Comment on “Permanent human occupation of the central Tibetan Plateau in the early Holocene”, Science 357: eaam8273. 
15.	Zhang, D. J.*, Dong, G. H., Wang, H., Ren, X. Y., Ha, P., Qiang, M. R., Chen, F. H.*, 2016, History and possible mechanisms of prehistoric human migration to the Tibetan Plateau, Science China Earth Sciences 59: 1765–1778.