Lijun Zhang is a full Professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence & Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) since 2021. Prof Zhang started his career as a lecturer at the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, the University of Pretoria (UP) in July 2014. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2017 and Associate Professor in 2019. He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Pretoria in 2016 under the supervision of Prof. Xiaohua Xia, his MEng from Wuhan University under the supervision of Prof. Xiangtao Zhuan in 2012, and his BEng from Wuhan University in 2010.

He is a technical signatory for the measurement and verification of energy savings accredited by the South African National Accreditation System and a professional engineer registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa. He was also the incumbent of the Exxaro Junior Chair on Energy Efficiency from October 2014 to July 2019. He served as an Associate Editor for Protection and Control of Modern Power Systems, Specialist editor for SAIEE Africa Research Journal and as a technical committee member of a number of international conferences.

He is a recipient of the Exceptional Young Researcher Award from the University of Pretoria (2019), Promising Young Researcher rating from NRF South Africa (2017), IFAC Control Conference Africa Best Poster Paper Award (2017), Innovation Doctoral Award for Non-South Africans from the NRF, South Africa (2014), first-class prize of the 4th Freescale Cup University Smart Car Racing Contest from the Minister of Education, China (2009), and so on.