Li's research is directed at understanding global to regional-scale palaeogeography and tectonic histories, and geodynamic processes in general. His most significant work has been in the evolution of supercontinents Rodinia and Nuna, supercontinent-superplume cycles and their possible coupling mechanism, and the tectonic history of East Asia and Australia. Li's research generally involves multidisciplinary collaboration, utilises methodologies such as global to regional tectonostratigraphic analysis, orogenic/basin analysis, palaeomagnetism/rock-magnetism, geochronology/thermochronology, geochemistry, big-data approach, and geodynamic modeling.