The Hainan Research Center for Chelonian Conservation is located in the South Longkun Road Campus of Hainan Normal University. Its personnel, numbering over 100, is comprised of faculty and students from the Chelonian Conservation Research Team of Hainan Normal University. Among them are 14 full-time educators, including five professors and five associate professors, 12 of which have doctoral degrees. There are also postdoctoral fellows, doctoral candidates, and postgraduate and undergraduate students. In addition, we have established a wide range of collaborative relationships with counterparts at home and overseas. All colleagues interested in chelonian conservation will be welcome to join our center to protect this sacred and important taxon and make it flourish, joining with us as we work for biodiversity conservation and eco-civilization construction.

      Our work mainly involves the conservation of and research into chelonian species within and outside China. We have created a chelonian museum and established the first chelonian rescue station ever within a domestic higher education institute. We also conduct scientific popularization and cultural inheritance work, including social service activities such as species identification and law enforcement training for China’s General Administration of Customs, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, State Forestry Bureau, and relevant authorities at different levels across China, aiding these agencies in effectively preventing illegal trade. In terms of research, we have conducted studies on the ecology and conservation biology of more than one-third of chelonian species in China. These studies have revealed ecological adaptations, the reasons, and mechanisms of endangerment, and the threats of alien species invasion, and have promoted the protection of chelonians in China as well as the prevention and control of invasive alien species. At the same time, studies on wildlife diversity protection, legal policies, law enforcement management, institutional mechanisms, and other eco-civilization governance systems and capabilities were conducted.

      Our centre is funded by more than 20 national foundations, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China for major international cooperation, and over 300 papers have been published in Science, Nature, and other journals. It has been recognized nationally and internationally, including the Behler Award, SOPTOM Award, and Turtle Guardian Award, as well as the National Award for Outstanding Contribution to Aquatic Wildlife Conservation, National Award for Outstanding Science Popularization Work, the gold medal in the China Youth Volunteer Service Project Competition, National Exemplary Model Workers' and Employees' Innovation Workshop of the National Educational, Scientific, Cultural, Health and Sports System, Workers' Vanguard of Hainan Province, and Outstanding Postgraduate Tutor Team of Hainan Province. 

      Our centre has made outstanding contributions to the protection of turtles in China and chelonian-related scientific research, talent training, social services, and cultural inheritance. It has trained more than 400 undergraduates and master's and doctoral students who have won 11 national awards and more than 30 provincial awards under our team’s guidance. The Biodiversity Science and Technology Museum of Hainan Province, led by the team, has operated for free for more than 20 years, has received more than 800,000 visitors from various fields, and has been honoured by the Ministry of Science and Technology as a national science and technology education base for young generations. More than 900 volunteers have been trained through the centre, 100,000 hours of volunteer service have been provided by team members, and more than 500 sea turtles have been rescued. The story, "Turtle Homeward Bound" (a story about how a rescued turtle returned to the sea with the help of our turtle protection volunteer service team), has been reported by CCTV and other media for more than 300 times.

      Our team, comprised of managerial staff and academic experts, has played an important role in the successful approval of doctoral programs, master's programs, a postdoctoral mobile research station at Hainan Normal University, key ecology-related disciplines in Hainan Province, the key laboratory of tropical island ecology of the Ministry of Education, the national basic science talent training biology practice base, and the Hainan Province foreign academician workstation.