Lingnan appoints AI expert Prof Xin Yao as Vice-President (Research and Innovation)
The Council of Lingnan University approved the Search Committee’s recommendation to appoint Prof Xin Yao as Vice-President (Research and Innovation) and concurrently Tong Tin Sun Chair Professor of Machine Learning, effective from 22 January 2024, for a term of five years.
Prof Yao will oversee and steer the development of research, innovation and knowledge transfer at the University, and provide leadership for the research institutes and centres with the Associate Vice-President (Strategic Research).
He said, “I am deeply honoured to have this opportunity to assume the role of Vice-President (Research and Innovation) at Lingnan, playing a contributing role for the development of the University. Moving forward, I will dedicate myself to transferring Lingnan's outstanding research achievements into tangible impacts that benefit the wider society. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies to address various social challenges, I aim to elevate Lingnan's global influence in research. With the core spirit of Lingnan’s liberal arts education, I will collaborate with the Lingnan community to nurture the next generation of talent in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), affirming Lingnan’s motto: Education for Service.”
Prof Yao obtained his bachelor's degree in computer science and technology from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1982. Three years later, he earned his Master's degree in computer science and technology at the North China Institute of Computing Technology, and then received his PhD in computer science and technology from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1990. Between 1992 and 1999 he was a lecturer, senior lecturer, and associate professor at the School of Computer Science at the Australian Defence Force Academy and the University of New South Wales, and from 1999 to 2016, he was a Chair Professor of the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham in the UK. From 2016 until joining Lingnan University, Prof Yao was the Chair Professor and Head of Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China, and a part-time Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham.