Zhanguo is an expert on integrated soil, land and water resources management with particular emphasis on assessment of soil/land degradation and conservation using GIS, remote sensing and environmental radionuclides/isotopes tracers. He is/was responsible for GEF/UNEP/FAO Project: Global Assessment of Land Degradation and Improvement (GLADA), the World Bank funded Project: Land Degradation & Risk Mapping in Turkey (TULADA) and the Netherlands PvW funded Project: Green Water Management & Credits for China (GWC-China) and was involved in the IFAD-funded project: Green Water Credits in Kenya(GWC-Kenya). He has been involving in several other projects including: EU FP-7 Project: Desertification Mitigation and Remediation of Land (DESIRE), EU FP-7 Project: Preventing and Remediating Degradation of Soils in Europe through Land Care (RECARE), EU Horizon2020 Project: interactive Soil Quality Assessment in Europe and China for Agricultural Productivity and Environmental Resilience (iSQAPER), World Bank funded project Land Use Planning for Enhanced Resilence of Landscapes for Madagascar (LAUREL) and EU Project: Chittagong Hill Tracts Improved Natural Resources Management, Bangladesh (CHARM). He has contributed to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) Project: the Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Development on towards mapping global soil degradation. He has been actively involving in the development of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technology (WOCAT) – a global network on knowledge and database dedicated to sustainable land management (SLM). 

Zhanguo has published 56 peer reviewed papers; 7 book chapters; 5 reviewed abstract in proceedings; and 23 technical reports.