He previously served as director of Purple Mountain Observatory and vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
[citation needed] In August 1992 he joined the Purple Mountain Observatory, where he was promoted to associate research fellow in August 1999 and to research fellow in March 2002.
In February 2019 he was appointed director of the Purple Mountain Observatory.
[4] He is also the chief scientist of China's Dark Matter Particle Explorer.
[6] On 10 October 2024, Chang was appointed president of the University of Science and Technology of China, replacing Bao Xinhe [zh].