The Late Palaeozoic Eastern Tethys Research Group (LPETRG), hosted at the NIGPAS, is an international cooperative research group of excellence and innovation aimed at advancing interpretive models on the patterns, evolutionary and dynamic processes (both biotic and environmental) and underlying mechanisms of the eastern Tethyan region during the Late Palaeozoic and through the Permian-Triassic transition.

The critical mass of the research group comprises 7 research professors, 3 associate research professors, and one adjunct/visiting international research professor, on strategic research directions and key projects as well as providing research leadership of international status. In addition, the research group currently hosts more than 10 research postgraduate students.

The scientific scope of the research group is necessarily broad in order to meet its fundamental objectives; however, it is particularly focused on the Late Palaeozoic and Permian-Triassic sedimentary records, including aspects of systematic palaeontology, evolutionary palaeobiology and biodiversity, stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry, palaeoecology and global change, palaeobiogeography and palaeogeography. Geographically, it is focused on the territory of China, but adjacent areas are also considered primarily through on-going international research collaborations.