Chao Chen

Chao Chen

Lecturer in Control Systems

Chao is not Chaos and not Ciao

About Me

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Control Systems with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom. My research interests include nonlinear systems, robust control, system phase theory and neuromorphic control.

I was a postdoctoral scholarship holder in the STADIUS Center of Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Belgium, under the supervision of Prof. Rodolphe Sepulchre. Prior to that, I held a postdoctoral fellow position in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong, China, under the supervision of Prof. Li Qiu.

I received my B.E. degree (hons) in automation from Zhejiang University of Technology, China, in 2016, and Ph.D. degree in electronic and computer engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2022. My Ph.D. supervisor is Prof. Li Qiu. In October 2023, my Ph.D. journey was interviewed by PhDs in Control in IEEE Control Systems Magazine. My Ph.D. dissertation is dedicated to answering the following two fundamental questions:

  • What is the phase of a nonlinear system?
  • What is the formulation of a nonlinear small phase theorem for feedback stability?

The origins of the questions may be traced back to Prof. George Zames’ pioneering work in 1966.

News

July 2026: We are pleased to announce that our invited session “A Phase Approach to Complex Systems and Networks” has been accepted for IEEE CDC 2026, organized by myself, Prof. Di Zhao (Nanjing University) and Prof. Jianqi Chen (Nanjing University).

Jun 2025: I am currently accepting international PhD students with a strong interest in theoretical and novel research. Please refer to FindAPhD and EEE, and email me with your CV if you are interested in joining my group. See also other PhD Scholarship opportunities. For Chinese applicants, you may wish to consider applying for the UoM-CSC Joint Scholarship.

Sep 2024: I will be joining the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Spring 2025.