As Principle Investigator, Prof Zhang has brought in 10 million pounds (GBP) of research grants to the NCCA from the EPSRC, AHRC, EU FP7 and EU H2020 as well as other funding organisations. His research focuses on a number of topics relating to 3D computer animation, virtual human modelling and simulation, and physics-based animation. He is also interested in virtual reality, medical visualisation and simulation, and conversational AI.