The State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC) is the leading Chinese Research Institute on matters concerning the Land-Sea interface. Now it is expanding its research scope to marine sciences, with special focus on marginal sea. SKLEC was established by the State Planning Commission of China in 1989 and went into operation in December 1995. Presently, SKLEC employs more than 60 fulltime faculty and staff members and has about 260 MSc and PhD students providing a high level training base for Chinese and International education. With top-class research facilities and strong financial support from the central government and local sectors, SKLEC provides world-class interdisciplinary research on estuarine, coastal and marine systems through the application of theoretical and applied approaches to solving the challenges arising from natural and anthropogenic pressures at the land-ocean interface. SKLEC provides solutions and develops opportunities from the challenges encountered through the very diverse and large scale coastal developments at the local, national and global levels. SKLEC focuses mainly on the following fields: (1) Transportation of substances from land to ocean; (2) Estuarine and coastal morphodynamics and sedimentary dynamics; (4) Hydrodynamics and coastal engineering; (3) Coastal and marine biogeochemical processes; (5) Impacts of global climate change and human activities on coastal and marine ecosystems. SKLEC is committed to equipping future scientists and professionals with the interdisciplinary skills and expertise necessary to address the complex issues facing the world’s estuarine and coastal regions. SKLEC has MSc (3yrs) and PhD (4~6yrs) programs in the following fields: Marine and coastal physical geography; Wetlands ecology; Estuarine and coastal science; Port, coast and offshore engineering; Physical oceanography; Chemical oceanography; Marine geology; Marine biology; Remote sensing and GIS application; and Environmental sciences. SKLEC is an open lab which encourages all kinds of joint research. We have cooperation with more than 40 overseas institutes in more than 20 countries, with joint international projects running. Address: State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, China, 200062 Email: office@sklec.ecnu.edu.cn Telephone: +86-21-62232887 Fax number: +86-21-62546441 Website: http://www.sklec.ecnu.edu.cn/