Aidong joined Oxford in 2014 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Science, and as a Research Fellow of Green Templeton College. Before moving to Oxford, Aidong was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at University of Surrey, where he started as a Lecturer in 2007 after working as a postdoctoral researcher in a number of academic organisations, including Chinese Academy of Science, Louisiana State University, RWTH Aachen, and University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Aidong studied Chemical Engineering in Hebei University of Technology and Dalian University of Technology and received a Bachelor's degree and a PhD in 1992 and 1997, respectively.