Center of Deep Sea Research was set up in 2017. The center gathered a group of outstanding young scientists from other institutions and different branches of the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The center is equipped with "Kexue" scientific vessel and "Faxian" ROV and offshore laboratories on biology, geochemistry and high pressure experiments. Based on integrated studies on a variety of research fields, the center aims at frontiers in deep sea research, with main interests on deep sea ecosystem, evolution of species, hydrothermal systems, physical oceanography and plate tectonics, etc.

Ultimately, the Center strives to establish world-class facilities, including an international deep-sea research data repository, a deep-sea sample bank, and a deep-sea gene repository.