Yilian Zhang received the B.Sc. degree in Automation from East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China, in 2010. She was then admitted in a consecutive Master-Ph.D. program in Control Science and Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China and received the Ph.D. degree in Control Science and Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China in 2015.
From December 2012 to June 2014, she was sponsored by China Scholarship Council as a visiting Ph.D. student with the Centre for Intelligent and Networked Systems at Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia. She is now a Lecturer with key Laboratory of Marine Technology and Control Engineering, Ministry of Communications, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China.