Zhang Yafen holds the title of Lecturer and serves as a full-time faculty member in the Civil Engineering and Water Conservancy programme within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at OUC. She earned her bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Southwest Jiaotong University in 2014, followed by a master's degree from the College of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Tongji University in 2017. In 2020, she successfully completed her doctoral studies at the School of Civil Engineering at Hokkaido University.

Her primary responsibilities encompass the development of teaching resources and course instruction in the realm of Civil Engineering and Water Conservancy. Her research pursuits revolve around diverse areas, including the investigation of concrete structures' durability, comprehensive management of concrete structures throughout their lifespan, research on slope stability, the development of geological disaster early warning systems, and exploration of teaching methodologies within the field of engineering in open education.