Qiu was born and raised in Rong County, Sichuan.

[5] After the completion of his doctorate, Qiu joined Tsinghua University as a faculty member.

[1] Qiu served as director of the Department of Chemistry and deputy dean of the School of Sciences, Tsinghua University.

He was awarded as a Chang Jiang Scholar by the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2006.

In March 2018, he was appointed deputy director of the National People's Congress Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee.