Yao Zhang was born in Tianjin, China, in 1960. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in marine technology in 1983 and 1986, respectively, from Dalian Maritime University (DMU), Dalian, P.R.C. He is currently working towards the Ph.D. degree in marine technology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.
From 1986 to 1992, he worked in the Department of Navigation at DMU as an Assistant Lecturer (1986), a Lecturer (1988), and later an Associate Professor (1991). His current research interests include dynamical system identification and adaptive control by neural networks and the applications of neural networks to marine problems.