Dr Jian Zhang

Profile

My research lies at the intersection of operational research (OR), computer science, and transportation engineering. I focus on developing innovative OR models and algorithms for optimisation problems in transportation, logistics, mobility, healthcare, and energy systems. I am particularly interested in sequential decision-making under uncertainty, including dynamic and stochastic vehicle routing problems, using prescriptive analytics and reinforcement learning approaches. My work has been published in leading OR and transportation journals, including European Journal of Operational Research, Transportation Science, and Transportation Research Part E. I have also led research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

Before joining LUBS, I worked as a Research Associate at King’s College London (KCL) from 2025 to 2026, as an Assistant Professor at South China University of Technology (SCUT) from 2022 to 2025, and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) from 2020 to 2022. I hold a PhD in Automation from Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté (now Université Marie-et-Louis-Pasteur) and BEng and MEng degrees in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Research interests

• Approximate dynamic programming
• Reinforcement learning
• Combinatorial optimisation
• Vehicle routing problem
• Transportation, logistics, and mobility

Qualifications

• PhD in Automation, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France
• MEng in Electrical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University
• BEng in Electrical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University

Student education

• LUBS5308M Business Analytics and Decision Science
• LUBS5965M Operations and Supply Chain Management

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Technology, Operations and Supply Chain Analysis