Cong Yao is a doctoral researcher at the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) research group and a member of the Health and Aging Law Lab (HALL). He started his PhD in October 2022 under the supervision of Prof. dr. Paul Quinn.

Currently, Cong is working on the SUN project (Social and hUman ceNtered XR) funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program. His work focus on legal and ethical research of extended reality in the scenario of rehabilitation, work safety and the communication of people with verbal communication diseases. Also, Cong is engaged with the ARC II project (Awareness Raising Campaign for SMEs) funded by the European Commission, focusing on awareness raising and the GDPR compliance guidance for small and middle-sized entrepreneurs.

In 2021, Cong completed his Master of Laws (LL.M) in Advanced Studies in Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, the Netherlands. His master thesis focused on Internet intermediaries' liability for counterterrorism, in which he discussed the trend from "Notice and Take-down" to "Notice and Stay-down" for online terrorist content regulation with the protection of human rights. Besides, Cong obtained his Juris Master's degree (JM) in China in 2019. During his Master's study in China, Cong participated in a National Social Science project focusing on personal data protection. He focused his research on biometric data protection and the comparative analysis between the developing Chinese Data Protection Law and the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Besides, Cong also holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and Technology in China.

Cong's research interests include Health Data, Sensitive Data, Legal and Ethical Issues of Advanced Technologies, and Human Rights.