Yan Zhang

Biography

Dr Yan Zhang is an academic and professional in Engineering Management and the built environments, with extensive experience in both industry and higher education. She is currently a Lecturer in Engineering Management at Southern Cross University and has taught and conducted research at the University of Melbourne.

She holds a PhD in Infrastructure Engineering from the University of Melbourne and adopts an interdisciplinary approach that integrates engineering, public health, and management to address complex challenges in the built environment.

She is also affiliated with the Centre for Youth Mental Health (Orygen), contributing to interdisciplinary projects on youth mental health, climate change, and environmental determinants of wellbeing.

Prior to academia, Dr Zhang gained nearly a decade of industry experience in facilities and corporate real estate management at Jones Lang LaSalle and Cushman & Wakefield, leading multidisciplinary projects, stakeholder engagement, and operational management across large portfolios. She also holds professional credentials including LEED AP (Building Design and Construction, US) and Certified First-Class Constructor (China’s highest-level national constructor licence).

Yan's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals

Research

Yan’s research spans indoor environmental quality, occupant health, workplace wellbeing, and the intersection of climate change and mental health in the built environment. She has led and contributed to interdisciplinary research projects using mixed methods, including survey research, in-depth interviews, qualitative coding, and statistical modelling, as well as the development of decision-support tools.

She has published a R Shiny application to support building managers in quantifying and visualising indoor respiratory infection risk, energy, and cost outcomes under different facilities management interventions. Her research broadly centres on facilities management and healthy buildings, with growing interests in indoor mould, housing health, and connection to nature in built environments.