Biography
Youqian is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prior to this role, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor Daniel Xiapu Luo and Dr. Grace Ngai. He earned his DPhil from the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Kasper Rasmussen. Before that, he completed his Master's degree at Imperial College London, working under the guidance of Professor Danilo Mandic, and his Bachelor's degree at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, mentored by Professor Chao Lu.
Youqian's research is driven by a vision to advance technology to make the world better for everyone. His work focuses on ensuring the security and reliability of cyber-physical systems, with expertise in areas such as sensors, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence (AI).
As a dedicated and experienced teacher and mentor, Youqian has successfully guided undergraduate and postgraduate students in publishing their research at top-tier venues.
In service to the academic community, Youqian actively contributes as a technical program committee member and reviewer for top-tier security conferences (e.g., USENIX Security, IEEE S&P) and journals (e.g., IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing).
Research Interests
- Cyber-Physical System Security
- Hardware Security
- Safety and Security of AI, and Embodied Intelligence
Recent Publications
- [CHI '25] "It Warned Me Just at the Right Moment": Exploring LLM-based Real-time Detection of Phone Scams
- Zitong Shen, Sineng Yan, Youqian Zhang, Xiapu Luo, Grace Ngai, and Eugene Yujun Fu
- Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- paper
- [AAAI '25] Is Your Autonomous Vehicle Safe? Understanding the Threat of Electromagnetic Signal Injection Attacks on Traffic Scene Perception
- Wenhao Liao, Sineng Yan, Youqian Zhang, Xinwei Zhai, Yuanyuan Wang, and Eugene Yujun Fu
- Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
- paper
- [AAAI '25] Combating Phone Scams with LLM-based Detection: Where Do We Stand? (Student Abstract)
- Zitong Shen, Kangzhong Wang, Youqian Zhang, Grace Ngai, and Eugene Yujun Fu
- Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
- paper
Opportunities
I am seeking highly self-motivated PhD students and research assistants with a strong interest in security of cyber-physical systems (e.g., sensors, actuators, and controllers), and embodied intelligence (e.g., autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots). If you are passionate about these research areas and eager to contribute to meaningful advances, please feel free to contact me to discuss possible collaboration. For PhD applicants, we can explore several prestigious scholarship opportunities, including the RGC Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS), the PolyU Presidential PhD Fellowship Scheme, the Joint PhD Supervision Scheme with Leading Universities, and the International PhD Fellowship Scheme.