2013年9月-2017年6月，BETWA西汉姆联官方官网法语系学士（外国语言与外国历史）

2017年9月-2018年9月，英国伦敦大学亚非学院非洲语言文化系硕士

2018年10月-2024年4月，荷兰莱顿大学语言学中心博士

2024年起，任BETWA西汉姆联官方官网博雅博士后

撒哈拉以南非洲本土语言，班图语支，比较句法研究，非洲法语国家研究

1.Li, Zhen. 2024. Word order, information structure and agreement in Teke, LOT: Amsterdam
2.Li, Zhen, Elisabeth J. Kerr, Allen Asiimwe, Patrick Kanampiu, Ernest Nshemezimana, Jenneke van der Wal (eds.). 2023. Bantu Universals and Variation. Special issue of Linguistique et Langues Africaines 9(1).
3.Li, Zhen, 2024. Information Structure in Teke, In Van der Wal, Jenneke (ed.), The expression of information structure in Bantu. Contemporary African Linguistics series of Language Science Press.
4.Li, Zhen. 2020. A note on the functional passives in Kukuya (Bantu B77, Congo). In Van der Wal, Jenneke, Heleen Smits, Sara Petrollino, Victoria Nyst, and Maarten Kossmann (eds.), Essays in African languages and linguistics: in honour of Maarten Mous, 267-286. Leiden: ASCL Occasional Publication 41.
5.李臻：《班图语言研究在欧洲：历史与现状》，贵州民族大学学报，2024年第1期
6.李臻：《在非洲进⾏语言学⽥野调查的经验——以调查刚果(布)的班图语言为例》，《中国非洲研究评论》第8辑，社会科学文献出版社，2020年

国家社科基金重大项目《世界华商史（非洲卷）》负责北非部分5.2万字，结项待出版；

国家社科基金中国历史研究院重大历史问题研究专项《非洲通史》（多卷本）,负责非洲古代语言的传播与重构章节；

现代非洲语言学学会（Association of Contemporary African Linguistics）会员

1.“Bantu word order from syntactic to discourse relations”, 52th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL), University of Florida, USA. (April 2021, online)  [with Allen Asiimwe, Patrick Kanampiu, Elizabeth Kerr & Jenneke van der Wal]
2.“IBV focus and subject agreement asymmetry in Teke”, 54th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL), University of Conneticut, USA, June 2023
3.“On the origin of preverbal focus in West-Coastal Bantu” in the 9th International Conference on Bantu languages, held by the Malawi University of Science and Technology, Blantyre, Malawi, June 2022
4.“Collaborative linguistics--experiences from the BaSIS project", in the conference “Enhancing Collaborative And Interdisciplinary Research On Languages Of Eastern Africa”, held by the Language Association of Eastern Africa (LAEA), Eldoret, Kenya  [keynote; co-presented with BaSIS team members], August 2021
5.“Agreement with preverbal and postverbal subjects in Kukuya", in the 51st Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL), held by Leiden University, Leiden, Netherland, August 2020