The Institute has been vigorously implementing the strategy of “strengthening the Institute through talent.” It is committed to building a high-level faculty team with rich teaching experience, outstanding research strength, a well-structured echelon, and an innovative spirit. It has now formed a clearly structured and highly collaborative team framework.

The Institute currently has 14 on-campus faculty members, including four high-level talent appointments, such as National “Ten Thousand Talents Program” Leading Talents, Taishan Scholars of Shandong Province, and Haidai Scholars of Shandong University of Finance and Economics. Among them are 1 professor, 2 associate professors, 3 tenure-track associate professors, 3 lecturers, and 5 faculty postdoctoral fellows, forming a sound development echelon led by academic leaders, supported by young and middle-aged key members, and supplemented by postdoctoral researchers. In addition, the Institute has 13 part-time faculty members from within and outside the university, including six high-level talent appointments such as Taishan Scholars of Shandong Province and Haidai Scholars of Shandong University of Finance and Economics. It has successfully created a dual-driven talent ecosystem and disciplinary development pattern that combines full-time and part-time faculty in collaborative research.

The Institute has appointed Keith William Hipel, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, as an advisor, and has formed a core academic research team led by a National “Ten Thousand Talents Program” Leading Talent. Together with Ocean University of China and Liping Fang, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Institute jointly established a Ministry of Education “Overseas Master” (2018–2022) Teaching and Research Team. It also joined forces with relevant units within the university to establish the “Marine Economy and Management Innovation Team” (9 members), which won the Shandong Provincial Education System Model Worker and Outstanding Talent Innovation Competition Award (Yin Kedong Innovation Studio). In addition, the Institute is the chair institution of the Open Economy Professional Committee of the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics, a national second-level academic society, further strengthening its academic influence and organizational leadership in related fields.