Guo Zhiyuan is a Professor of Law at China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) in Beijing, where she specializes in Criminal Procedure, Evidence, International Human Rights Law and Law and Society Studies. She is the Vice Dean of the College of Criminal Justice, CUPL, Adjunct Professor at Buffalo State College(US), Chinese University of Hong Kong, and School of Law, University of Galway (Ireland), she is also a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at US-Asia Law Institute, New York University School of Law. Prof. Guo was appointed as Guanghua Visiting Scholar at NYU School of Law from 2008-2009 and as Sohmen Visiting Scholar at Faculty of Law, Hong Kong University in 2011. She was appointed as a Fulbright Research Scholar and visited Stanford Law School for the 2015-2016 academic year. She was appointed as Academic Writing Fellow of Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in February 2019.  She was also appointed as Asian Law Institute (ASLI) Visiting Fellow for spring 2025.

Prof. Guo has published extensively on academic journals in both Chinese and English languages. Her research interests include Exclusionary Rules of Evidence, Plea Bargaining, Lay Participation, Effective Counsel, Criminal Mental Health Law, Anti-Corruption Policies in China, and Technology and Criminal Justice. Prof. Guo lectured across the world, including but not limited to New York University (U.S.), University of California at Davis (U.S.), University of Vienna (Austria), University of Zagreb (Croatia), University of Pompeu Fabra (Spain), G D Goenka University (India), FGV Direito SP (Brazil), University of Bucharest (Romania) and University of Lisbon (Portugal).