Dr Yan received his Bachelor in Engineering in Metallurgy from University of Science and Technology, Beijing, P. R. China in 1994. During 1994 to 1996, he served as a Section Chief in the 750m^3 blast furnace workshop of the Ironworks, Shanghai Yi-gang Company, Bao Steel Group, China. He received his PhD in Materials Science and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001. Since that, he joined Queen Mary university of London as a academic visitor and research assistant to carry on his research on functional ceramics and thermoelectrics. He has published 136 papers with H-index=36. His research area includes: Processing and analysis of the microstructures and properties of advanced materials with textured, nano- and metastable structures; current interests covering dielectrics, ferroelectrics, thermoelectrics, ceramic-CNT composites and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS).