We are proud to announce that two staff members of our department have been recognised with the Faculty Awards for Outstanding Achievement 2026, presented by the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FCMS), for their exceptional contributions to teaching and research.
Award Recipients:
Prof. YANG Hongxia, Executive Director of the PolyU Academy for Artificial Intelligence (PAAI), Vobile Group Professor in Generative Artificial Intelligence, Associate Dean (Global Engagement) of the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, and Chair Professor of Generative Artificial Intelligence
- Individual Award in Research and Scholarly Activities
Prof. Yang is a world-renowned AI scientist who brings extensive expertise to the university. Prior to joining PolyU, she held senior leadership positions at leading global technology companies, including Alibaba Group and ByteDance. Her research at PolyU is currently at the forefront of the generative AI revolution, where she advocates a decentralised approach to technology. She has published over 150 papers in leading conferences and journals, and holds more than 50 patents. She has received numerous prestigious awards, including the highest honor of the 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) — the Super AI Leader (SAIL) Award, the Second Prize of the 2020 National Science and Technology Progress Award, the First Prize of the Chinese Institute of Electronics Science and Technology Progress Award in 2021, and both the Forbes China Top 50 Women in Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education Science and Technology Progress Award (First Class) in 2022. Since 2023, she has been recognised as an AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar and was named one of the Top 50 Women in AI worldwide by CoinDesk, as well as a WAIC SAIL Top 30 Projects honoree in 2025.
Dr LUI Wing Cheung Richard, Senior Lecturer
- Individual Award in Teaching
Dr Lui has received the Faculty Award in Teaching on multiple occasions throughout his career at PolyU. He is widely recognised for his commitment to educational innovation and excellence in teaching. With extensive experience in developing educational platforms and adopting innovative pedagogies, Dr Lui has led numerous UGC-funded projects at the departmental, cross-departmental, and institutional levels. These initiatives have focused on innovative learning pedagogies, game-based learning, cloud-based virtual laboratory platforms for software engineering and data analytics education, and GenAI-powered intelligent tutoring systems. His projects were shortlisted as finalists at the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2024 and received the Silver Award in the "AI in Education" category at the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2025.
The winners of the Faculty Awards for Outstanding Achievement were selected by a Faculty Assessment Panel, which includes Heads of Unit and is chaired by the Interim Dean of FCMS, from amongst a pool of well-qualified nominees put forward by individual departments under FCMS.
