Zhiming Zhao received his Ph.D. in computer science in 2004 from the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He is an associate professor and the chair of the Multiscale Network Systems (MNS) research group in the Informatics Institute (IvI) at UvA. He is the technical manager of the Virtual Lab and Innovation Center (VLIC) of LifeWatch ERIC, a European research infrastructure in ecology and biodiversity science.

His research focuses on quality-critical distributed computing, data-intensive workflow management, virtual research environments, and digital twins. He is the Co-PI of the Dutch LTER-LIFE project and coordinates the UvA effort in EU projects ENVRI-HUB next, EVERSE, OSCARS and BlueCloud 2026 to develop a Digital Twin Virtual Research Environment, research assets search engine, and Cloud automation and optimization solutions.