Professor Zheng Yan is a Professor at Xidian University and Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. She obtained her Master's degree in Computer Organization and Architecture from Xi'an Jiaotong University, a Master's degree in Information Security from the National University of Singapore, as well as a Licentiate of Science in Network Technology and a Doctor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University).

From August 1997 to March 1999, she worked as a Research Scientist at Kent Ridge Digital Labs in Singapore (now I2R). Between March 1999 and July 2000, she served as a Software Engineer at Singalab, Singapore. From July 2000 to 2011, she was a Senior Researcher at Nokia Research Center, Finland. She has been a Professor at Xidian University since July 2011.

Her research focuses on trust management, blockchain, information and network security, privacy preservation, and data analytics. Over the past decade, she has led and participated in more than 30 ongoing and completed research projects, including key R&D programs of the Ministry of Science and Technology, key and general programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and international collaborative projects. She has published over 480 papers, edited 12 conference proceedings, and authored two English monographs. She has spearheaded more than 230 national and international patents. Several patented technologies have been adopted into international standards, and 154 patents have been deployed by industry.