Shanghai SURF is led by Prof. Wensheng Ding as Director and Dr. Sakdirat Kaewunruen as Chairman of International Advisory Committee. It includes research groups which are organized into four divisions.

The research groups of Shanghai SURF are each led by a senior researcher who is an internationally recognised scholar in the area. The research groups, as the nodes of a dynamic interactive network, organize themselves by common interest to form strong teams for major multi-disciplinary research projects to advance the frontiers of knowledge and technologies. The four divisions and the research groups under each division are listed below.