Prof. Zhang Qian received her PhD in Computer Science from Wuhan University in 1999. She worked with Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing, before joining HKUST faculty in 2005. She is now Tencent Professor of Engineering and Chair Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. She founded the Huawei-HKUST Innovation Lab and directs the HKUST Digital Life Research Center. She held concurrent appointment as Changjiang Chair Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2012-2015).

Prof. Zhang' s research interests surround the next-generation wireless networks, Internet of Things in healthcare and wellness management, mobile computing and system, network economics, wireless sensor networks etc. She has served on the editorial boards of numerous academic publications, including IEEE Transactions of Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, Elsevier Computer Communications, and Elsevier Computer Networks, for example.

Prof. Zhang was elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for her "contribution to the mobility and spectrum management of wireless networks and mobile communications". She received MIT TR100 (MIT Technology Review) world’s top young innovator award. She also received the Best Asia Pacific Young Researcher Award by IEEE Communications Society. She won the Outstanding Overseas Young Scientist Award by the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2006. She also won the Second Prize of the State Natural Science Award in 2012 and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Science and Technology Innovation Award in 2012.