David Zhang graduated in Computer Science from Peking University. He received a MSc and PhD in Computer Science from the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). From 1986 to 1988 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Tsinghua University and then an Associate Professor at the Academia Sinica, Beijing. In 1994 he received his second PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Currently, he is a Chair Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he is the Founding Director of the Biometrics Technology Centre (UGC/CRC) supported by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 1998. He also serves as Visiting Chair Professor in Tsinghua University and HIT, and Adjunct Professor in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Peking University, National University of Defense Technology and the University of Waterloo.

He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Image and Graphics (IJIG); Book Editor, Springer International Series on Biometrics (KISB); Organizer, the first International Conference on Biometrics Authentication (ICBA); Associate Editor of more than ten international journals including IEEE Transactions; Technical Committee Chair of IEEE SMC and the author of more thanSpeaker of the IEEE Computer Society, and a Fellow of both IEEE and IAPR.