Industrial Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition based on Signal Processing and Computer Vision, System Identification, and Human-AI Interaction
Summary
Prof. Yifan Zhao is a Chair Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo. He is a Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellow and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). He previously served as a full Professor at the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University (UK), where he was also the Academic Lead of the Through-Life Engineering Service Laboratory. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Control Theory and Control Engineering from the Beijing Institute of Technology in 2000 and 2003, respectively, and his Ph.D. in Automatic Control and Systems Engineering from the University of Sheffield (UK) in 2007. He has published over 200 high-quality academic papers, including more than 30 top-tier journal papers in IEEE Transactions, as well as papers in top international conference proceedings such as CVPR, MICCAI, and CIRP. He has authored 6 books and holds 3 international patents. He has supervised 6 postdoctoral researchers, over 20 PhD students, more than 80 master's students, and 10 international visiting scholars. He has led and participated in numerous major research projects funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Royal Academy of Engineering, Innovate UK, and international leading companies such as Airbus and Jaguar Land Rover, with a total funding exceeding 80 million RMB. In terms of knowledge transfer, his research outcomes have been successfully applied in aircraft design and maintenance, smart manufacturing, autonomous driving, and smart construction.
Education
2003–2006: Ph.D. in Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK
2000–2003: M.Sc. in Control Theory and Control Engineering, School of Electromechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology
1996–2000: B.Eng. in Control Theory and Control Engineering, School of Electromechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology
Work Experience
2026–: Chair Professor, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo
2023–2026: Full Professor, Cranfield University, UK
2019–2023: Associate Professor, Cranfield University, UK
2013–2019: Assistant Professor, Cranfield University, UK
2007–2013: Research Associate/Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, UK
Academic Roles
2022–present: Associate Editor, Space: Science & Technology
2021–present: Associate Editor, Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering
2023–present: Associate Editor, Bioengineering
Awards and Honors
2025: Selected for the Stanford-Elsevier Top 2% of Scientists
2021: National Outstanding Self-Financed Student Supervisor Award, China Scholarship Council
2021: Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellow
2019: Denny Medal, Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (UK)
2019: Best Paper Award (for a paper published in Automatica), Czech Academy of Sciences
2019: Fellow, Higher Education Academy (UK)
Selected Publications (*corresponding author)
[1]. Xie, W., Caglar, H., Deng, K., Ayre, D., & Zhao, Y*. (2026). LayupFormer: A deep generative model for composite laminate layup design. Composites Science and Technology, 275, 111490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2025.111490
[2]. Yang, L., Lodh, A., Qiu, J., Castelluccio, G. M., & Zhao, Y*. (2026). Attention-based multi-head feature-fusion network: A generalised method for hot deformation behaviour prediction in low-alloy steels. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 165, 113464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2025.113464
[3]. Wang, S., Zhao, Y., Zhang, Z., & Zhao, Y.* (2025). A robust machinery action recognition in construction using a mixed graph convolution block. Expert Systems with Applications, 291, 128540. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2025.128540
[4]. Dong, A., Starr, A., & Zhao, Y.* (2025a). An interpretable temporal convolutional framework for Granger causality analysis. IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, 13(3), 665-679. https://doi.org/10.1109/JAS.2025.125396
[5]. Liu, H., Tinsley, L., Deng, K., Wang, Y., Starr, A., Chen, Z., & Zhao, Y.* (2024). A Fiber-Guided Motorized Rotation Laser Scanning Thermography Technique for Impact Damage Crack Inspection in Composites. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 71(3), 3163–3172. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIE.2023.3265034.
[6]. Yang, L., Shan, X., Lv, C., Brighton, J., & Zhao, Y.* (2022). Learning Spatio-Temporal Representations With a Dual-Stream 3-D Residual Network for Nondriving Activity Recognition. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 69(7), 7405–7414. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIE.2021.3099254.
[7]. Shan, X., Cao, J., Huo, S., Chen, L., Sarrigiannis, P. G., & Zhao, Y.*(2022). Spatial–temporal graph convolutional network for Alzheimer classification based on brain functional connectivity imaging of electroencephalogram. Human Brain Mapping, 43(17), 5194–5209. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25994.
[8]. Zhou, J., Du, W., Yang, L., Deng, K., Addepalli, S., & Zhao, Y.* (2022). Pattern Recognition of Barely Visible Impact Damage in Carbon Composites Using Pulsed Thermography. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 18(10), 7252–7261. https://doi.org/10.1109/TII.2021.3134184
[9]. Yang, L., Dong, K., Ding, Y., Brighton, J., Zhan, Z., & Zhao, Y.* (2021). Recognition of visual-related non-driving activities using a dual-camera monitoring system. Pattern Recognition, 116, 107955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patcog.2021.107955.
[10]. Du, W., Liu, H., Zhao, Y., Sirikham, A., Addepalli, S., & Zhao, Y.*(2021). A Miniaturized Active Thermography System to Inspect Composite Laminates. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 17(5), 3314–3323. https://doi.org/10.1109/TII.2020.3030619.
[11]. Yang, L., Dong, K., Dmitruk, A. J., Brighton, J., & Zhao, Y.* (2020). A Dual-Cameras-Based Driver Gaze Mapping System With an Application on Non-Driving Activities Monitoring. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 21(10), 4318–4327. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2019.2939676.
[12]. Zhao, Y.*, Zhao, Y., Durongbhan, P., Chen, L., Liu, J., Billings, S. A., Zis, P., Unwin, Z. C., De Marco, M., Venneri, A., Blackburn, D. J., & Sarrigiannis, P. G. (2020). Imaging of Nonlinear and Dynamic Functional Brain Connectivity Based on EEG Recordings With the Application on the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 39(5), 1571–1581. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMI.2019.2953584.
[13]. Marsot, M., Mei, J., Shan, X., Ye, L., Feng, P., Yan, X., Li, C., & Zhao, Y.* (2020). An adaptive pig face recognition approach using Convolutional Neural Networks. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 173, 105386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2020.105386.
[14]. Sirikham, A., Zhao, Y.*, Nezhad, H. Y., Du, W., & Roy, R. (2019). Estimation of Damage Thickness in Fiber-Reinforced Composites using Pulsed Thermography. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 15(1), 445–453. https://doi.org/10.1109/TII.2018.2878758.
[15]. Zhao, Y.*, Addepalli, S., Sirikham, A., & Roy, R. (2018). A confidence map based damage assessment approach using pulsed thermographic inspection. NDT & E International, 93, 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2017.10.001.
[16]. Font comas, T., Diao, C., Ding, J., Williams, S., & Zhao, Y.* (2017). A Passive Imaging System for Geometry Measurement for the Plasma Arc Welding Process. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 64(9), 7201–7209. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIE.2017.2686349.
[17]. Bai, F., Gagar, D., Foote, P., & Zhao, Y*. (2017). Comparison of alternatives to amplitude thresholding for onset detection of acoustic emission signals. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 84, 717–730. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2016.09.004.
[18]. Zhao, Y.*, Mehnen, J., Sirikham, A., & Roy, R. (2017). A novel defect depth measurement method based on Nonlinear System Identification for pulsed thermographic inspection. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 85, 382–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2016.08.033.
[19]. Zhao, Y., Wei, H. L., & Billings, S. A. (2012). A new adaptive fast cellular automaton neighborhood detection and rule identification algorithm. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics, 42(4), 1283–1287. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSMCB.2012.2185790.
[20]. Zhao, Y., & Billings, S. A. (2006b). Neighborhood detection using mutual information for the identification of cellular automata. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part B (Cybernetics), 36(2), 473–479. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSMCB.2005.859079.
