Ying holds a PhD in Digital Technologies from the Institute for Digital Technologies at Loughborough University as a recipient of a full scholarship. She was a visiting PhD student at the Affective Intelligence and Robotics (AFAR) lab, Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge. Her PhD research was rewarded with the 'Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad' from the China Scholarship Council (The highest government award granted by the Chinese government to doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers who conduct research and have received doctorates overseas, globally selects 650 young talents from different disciplines every year).
Before earning her PhD., Ying received her Master of Research (MRes) Sport Business Degree with Distinction from the Institute for Sport Business at Loughborough University and a BSc Sport Economics and Management Degree at Beijing Sport University.
Before joining Birmingham, she served as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Marketing at the University of Southampton and the University of East Anglia.