Message from Our Head of Department
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Dear Colleagues, Students, Alumni, and Friends,
It is my pleasure to extend warm greetings to all readers as we launch the inaugural issue of the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) Newsletter. This publication marks an exciting milestone for our department, providing a dedicated platform to share news, achievements, and insights from our vibrant community.
The purpose of this newsletter is to foster stronger connections among our faculty, students, alumni, and partners. Through regular updates, we aim to highlight the innovative research, impactful projects, and academic activities taking place within DSAI. We also hope to showcase stories of student successes, staff accomplishments, and opportunities for engagement.
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Looking ahead, we envision the DSAI Newsletter as a valuable resource that not only celebrates our collective successes but also inspires collaboration and engagement across our community. As we continue to grow and advance, your contributions and feedback will be essential in shaping the content and direction of future issues. Together, we can build a stronger, more connected community that drives excellence and innovation.
Thank you for your support and participation. I invite you to explore this first issue and join us on this journey as we share the stories and achievements that define DSAI.
Yours Sincerely
Prof. TAN Kay Chen
Head of Department
Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
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Welcoming New Faculty Members
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We are delighted to welcome four new scholars who joined us in 2026:
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- Prof. LIANG Hualou (Chair Professor, joint appointment with LST): Expert in neural data science, machine learning, and biomedical NLP; AIMBE Fellow.
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Prof. CHEN Zhen (Assistant Professor): Focuses on multimodal AI for healthcare; recipient of the Hong Kong Young Scientist Award 2023.
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Prof. WU Xingyu (Assistant Professor): Specializes in autonomous AI systems, causality-based machine learning, and large foundation models.
- Prof. HU Yao (Research Assistant Professor): Researches medical multimodal AI, vision-language models, and privacy-preserving learning.
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Prof. WU Xiaoming Awarded in Faculty Awards for Outstanding Achievement 2025
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Prof. WU Xiaoming, Associate Professor, has been recognized with the “Individual Award in Research Student Supervision” as part of the Faculty Awards for Outstanding Achievement 2025. This award honors faculty members who demonstrate exceptional commitment to mentoring and guiding research students, selected by a Faculty Assessment Panel from a strong pool of nominees.
Prof. WU has an outstanding record of supervising research students, with 12 PhD and 2 MPhil candidates successfully completing their degrees in less than ten years since she joined PolyU. Under her supervision, her students have published extensively in top-tier AI conferences and journals across a broad range of areas, including machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, multimodal and medical AI, and generative models, making significant contributions to these fields. Her graduates have subsequently secured positions in leading industrial research laboratories and academic institutions worldwide.
Prof. WU’s dedication has empowered her students to become leaders in AI research and innovation. We warmly congratulate Prof. WU on this well-deserved recognition and thank her for her outstanding contributions to student supervision and the DSAI community.
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Research & Teaching Excellence
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Establishment of Sonic Pilot Limited: Advancing Smart Hearing Solutions
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Sonic Pilot Limited (聲馭科技), a new start-up led by Prof. WU Jibin, Assistant Professor, has recently been established to provide software services for smart hearing assistive devices. The company builds on the innovative AI-driven speech denoising technologies developed by Prof. WU and his research team at PolyU. Their pioneering work in speech enhancement has already gained international recognition, winning the champion title at the 2023 Intel Neuromorphic Deep Noise Suppression Challenge.
The global hearing aid market is projected to exceed US$8 billion by 2030, driven by the increasing prevalence of hearing loss and aging populations. Recognizing the growing demand for high-performance and affordable hearing solutions, the start-up aims to commercialize the advanced speech enhancement algorithms developed by Prof. WU’s team to improve the core speech processing capabilities of smart hearing aids. This initiative not only fosters industry-academia collaboration and provides valuable training opportunities for our students, but also contributes to societal well-being by empowering individuals with hearing loss, reducing social isolation, and promoting inclusivity. Sonic Pilot Limited exemplifies our commitment to translating research excellence into impactful real-world applications.
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Prof. HUANG Jian Awarded Teaching Development Grant for AI Education Innovation
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Prof. HUANG Jian, Chair Professor of Data Science and Analytics, together with co-investigators Prof. QI Houduo, Professor; Prof. HAN Ruijian, Assistant Professor; Prof. JIANG Binyan, Associate Head (Teaching) and Associate Professor; and Dr LIAO Weihang Ryo, Teaching Fellow, as well as Prof. YUAN Yancheng, Assistant Professor from Department of Applied Mathematics, have been awarded the Teaching Development Grant (TDG) 2025 – 28 for their project, “A Large Model Based Data Agent for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Education” with total funding of HK$3,250,000.
This project addresses the challenge many students face in data science — complex coding requirements that can be a barrier, especially for those from non-technical backgrounds. Their solution, LAMBDA, is an open-source, code-free multi-agent platform that allows students to perform data science tasks using natural language. The platform’s “programmer” and “inspector” agents handle code generation and refinement, enabling students to focus on high-level concepts and creative problem-solving.
LAMBDA also benefits educators by making it easy to integrate the latest AI research and external algorithms, ensuring the curriculum remains current. Early pilots have shown increased student confidence and engagement, highlighting the platform’s transformative potential.
This project supports PolyU’s Education 4.0 initiative, advancing AI-driven, student-centred learning. By making data science more accessible, LAMBDA reinforces PolyU’s leadership in educational innovation and supports Hong Kong’s vision as a global hub for inclusive technology.
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DSAI Distinguished Seminar Series
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Since its launch in October 2025, the DSAI Distinguished Seminar Series has become a cornerstone for intellectual exchange and collaboration in the AI and data science field. In the past six months, we have hosted six seminars featuring world-renowned experts who shared insights on topics such as brain-inspired AI, evolutionary optimization, statistical challenges, graph deep learning, and intelligent systems in dynamic environments.
These seminars have provided valuable opportunities for staff and students to engage with distinguished speakers, exchange ideas, and explore the latest developments in DSAI.
The series will continue to bring thought-provoking seminars to our community. All are welcome to attend — keep an eye out for our emails and be sure to register early!
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Visits from Santa Laurensia High School and Tsinghua University
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In February 2026, DSAI was pleased to host two groups of visitors, fostering international exchange and academic engagement.
On 5 February 2026, students from Santa Laurensia High School in Indonesia visited PolyU, coordinated by the Global Engagement Office. As part of their visit, our teaching fellow Dr. LIAO Weihang Ryo delivered an engaging taster lecture titled "An Adventure in Data Science", offering the students a glimpse into the exciting world of data science.
The following day, 6 February 2026, we welcomed a group of students from the Department of Automation at Tsinghua University. During their visit, Prof. HU Yao, Research Assistant Professor, shared insights into the research work on advanced EEG foundation model development, featuring audio-enhanced decoding and heterogeneous electrode-adaptive representations. The visit also included lively discussions and exchanges between our PhD students, staff, and the Tsinghua visitors.
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As a DSAI student, I had the opportunity to go on exchange at the University of Waterloo in Canada. This experience was both eye-opening and deeply enriching. Immersed in a new academic culture, I gained fresh insights into innovation, emerging technologies, and global approaches to learning.
The academic environment fostered curiosity and independent thinking through engaging and interactive teaching methods. These approaches encouraged active participation and continuous engagement, prompting me to take greater ownership of my learning and to reflect more deeply on the material. Each class became a space for exploration, where ideas were not only introduced but also thoughtfully examined.
Beyond academics, Canada’s breathtaking landscapes made the journey truly unforgettable. The brilliance of autumn maple leaves and the quiet beauty of winter snowfall added to the richness of my experience. This exchange broadened my horizons and inspired me to think more deeply about my future path.
GUO Zhimeng
Year 4 Student of BSc (Hons) Data Science & Analytics
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During my internship at FWD, I worked as a backend developer on the Smart400 system, which runs on COBOL, a legacy programming language that is still important in the insurance industry. My main responsibilities included updating and releasing new insurance products, checking data flow across different policy areas, and conducting testing to ensure system reliability. I was also asked to develop an automation process using Power Automate to reduce manual work and improve efficiency.
Through the internship, I learnt how to adapt quickly to older systems, solve real-world challenges, and collaborate with experienced developers. My studies at DSAI really helped, courses like Programming Fundamentals and Data Analytics provided me the foundation to understand complex systems and pick up new programming languages faster, which made it easier for me to learn COBOL and navigate the Smart400 environment.
LEE Ming Hin
Year 3 Student of BSc (Hons) Financial Technology & Artificial Intelligence
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