Ning Zhang

Ning Zhang is a Senior Lecturer in Distributed Systems Security at the School of Computer Science, University of Manchester. She holds a BSc from Dalian Maritime University and a PhD from the University of Kent at Canterbury, both in Electronics Engineering. Prior roles include Research Associate at the University of York and Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Education:

• BSc in Electronics Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, China
• PhD in Electronics Engineering, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK

Research Interests:

• Security in networked and distributed systems
• Applied cryptography and privacy-preserving techniques
• Trust management and digital rights
• IoT, cloud, and mobile security

Her work focuses on authentication frameworks, adaptive security protocols, and privacy-preserving solutions for e-commerce, healthcare, and smart grids.

Research Trends: Recent articles emphasize IoT device security, low-power network routing, and privacy-friendly data processing. Her work bridges theoretical cryptography with real-world applications in healthcare and vehicular networks.

Awards:

• Best Student Paper Award (IEEE ICC/SUPERCOM'90)
• Co-recipient Best Paper Award (IEEE ISCC2004)

Advising & Grants: Supervisor of 37 PhD completions and currently guiding projects on IoT security and risk-aware routing. Active in the Centre for Digital Trust and Society.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Systems and Software Security group, focusing on secure protocols for distributed systems and IoT.