Peng was born in Yantai, China. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Life Science at Fudan University and completed his PhD program in Institute of Plant Physiology & Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, focusing on molecular development study in rice and Arabidopsis.

He then moved to Canada and started his postdoctoral training at National Research Council Canada and University of Saskatchewan, studying plant abiotic stress response and embryonic development evolution in different species.

In October 2019, he joined GIFS and P2IRC, where he is working on improvement of crop water use efficiency and yield potential using his expertise in genetics, molecular biology and bioinformatics.