Zhaoyuan has engaged in doctoral research on the question of science and religion in Late Qing (1895 -1905) reformist thought at the University of Sussex (2012-2016) and is currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Oxford. Concurrently, he is an Associate Professor in Translation Studies in the School of Foreign Languages at Lanzhou Jiaotong University in Northwest China. He has published a dozen translations including Newton - A Very Short Introduction, and his research work on Translation Studies is focused on the translation of modern religious texts. In recent years, Zhaoyuan has actively participated in promoting a discourse on science, religion and development in China, and he continues to actively foster academic partnerships between British and Chinese historians and institutions.