From 1963 to 1965, Chen was invited by British Royal Society and became a visiting scholar in department of nuclear physics at Oxford University and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,[1] studying serial electro-static accelerator and synchrotron.
From 1982 to 1984, he was a visiting scientist at Stony Brook University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
In August 1984, Chen became the vice president and dean of graduate school of Peking University.
In November 1993, Chen was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Maths and Physics section.
In December 1999, Chen was appointed to be the director of National Natural Science Foundation of China.