Prof. Wei Zhao, Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology, China

Fellow, IEEE; Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences

Bio: Professor Zhao Wei is an Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences and an IEEE Fellow. He currently serves as Chair Professor, University Provost, Director of the University Academic Committee, and Dean of the Institute of Higher Education at Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology. Previously, he held positions including Rector of the University of Macau, Vice Chancellor of American University of Sharjah, Dean of the School of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Director of the Computer and Network Systems Division at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor of Texas A&M University.

Prof. Zhao has extensive experience across the broad domains of higher education and research administration. Among Chinese scholars who pursued their careers in the United States, Professor Zhao held one of the highest-ranking positions in both the U.S. federal government and American higher education institutions. In Hong Kong and Macau, he was the first mainland Chinese scholar to become a university rector through a global recruitment process. During his tenure as Head of the Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M University (1997–2001), the department's research funding quadrupled, and its undergraduate program rose to 17th place in national rankings. During his tenure as Rector of the University of Macau, the university was visited twice by Chinese national leaders, completed a new campus 20 times larger than the old one, and saw its world ranking soar from 2,000th to 270th.

Prof. Zhao has made remarkable contributions to advancing higher education and scientific research in China. In 2002, he initiated the "DragonStar Program" and served as its first Director. The DragonStar Program selects ten distinguished overseas Chinese professors from across the United States each year to return to China on a voluntary basis and teach graduate-level computer science courses. The program has received widespread acclaim, with feature reports by major media outlets including China Central Television (CCTV). In 2011, Professor Zhao was appointed by China's Ministry of Science and Technology as the Chief Scientist of the National Basic Research Program (973 Program) on the Internet of Things. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in science and education, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST-USA) and the Overseas Outstanding Contribution Award by the China Computer Federation (CCF).

Prof. Li Qing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Fellow, IEEE; Fellow, AAIA; Fellow, IET; DMCCF

Bio: Qing Li is currently a Chair Professor (Data Science) and the Head of the Department of Computing, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Formerly, he was the founding Director of the Multimedia software Engineering Research Centre (MERC), and a Professor at City University of Hong Kong where he worked in the Department of Computer Science from 1998 to 2018. Prior to these, he has also taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia). Prof. Li served as a consultant to Microsoft Research Asia (Beijing, China), Motorola Global Computing and Telecommunications Division (Tianjin Regional Operations Center), and the Division of Information Technology, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia. He has been an Adjunct Professor of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and the Wuhan University, and a Guest Professor of the Hunan University (Changsha, China) where he got his BEng. degree from the Department of Computer Science in 1982. He is also a Guest Professor (Software Technology) of the Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, China) -- the leading university of the Zhejiang province where he was born.

Prof. Li has been actively involved in the research community by serving as an associate editor and reviewer for technical journals, and as an organizer/co-organizer of numerous international conferences. Some recent conferences in which he is playing or has played major roles include APWeb-WAIM'18, ICDM 2018, WISE2017, ICDSC2016, DASFAA2015, U-Media2014, ER2013, RecSys2013, NDBC2012, ICMR2012, CoopIS2011, WAIM2010, DASFAA2010, APWeb-WAIM'09, ER'08, WISE'07, ICWL'06, HSI'05, WAIM'04, IDEAS'03,VLDB'02, PAKDD'01, IFIP 2.6 Working Conference on Database Semantics (DS-9), IDS'00, and WISE'00. In addition, he served as a programme committee member for over fifty international conferences (including VLDB, ICDE, WWW, DASFAA, ER, CIKM, CAiSE, CoopIS, and FODO). He is currently a Fellow of IEEE and IET/IEE, a member of ACM-SIGMOD and IEEE Technical Committee on Data Engineering. He is the chairperson of the Hong Kong Web Society, and also served/is serving as an executive committee (EXCO) member of IEEE-Hong Kong Computer Chapter and ACM Hong Kong Chapter. In addition, he serves as a councilor of the Database Society of Chinese Computer Federation (CCF), a member of the Big Data Expert Committee of CCF, and is a Steering Committee member of DASFAA, ER, ICWL, UMEDIA, and WISE Society.

Prof. Weijia Jia, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China

Fellow, NAAI; Fellow, IEEE

Bio: Prof. Weijia Jia is a Fellow of the National Academy of Artificial Intelligence (NAAI), a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE Fellow), and Dean and Chair Professor of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Future Networks at Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai.

Prof. Jia studied in the Department of Computer Science at Central South University from 1978 to 1982, where he received his Bachelor of Engineering degree. From 1982 to 1984, he continued his studies in the same department and received his Master of Engineering degree. From 1987 to 1988, he was a visiting scholar in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Ottawa, Canada. From 1988 to 1991, he served as a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at Central South University. From 1992 to 1993, he studied at the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons in Belgium and received his Ph.D. degree. From August 1993 to August 1995, he conducted postdoctoral research at the German National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD). From August 1995 to 2013, he served as a full-time Professor in the Department of Computer Science at City University of Hong Kong, as Director of the Future Networking Technology Center at its Shenzhen Research Institute, and as Chair of the Departmental Curriculum Committee. From 2014 to 2017, he served as a Zhiyuan Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. From 2018 to June 2020, he served as Chair Professor of Computer Science at the University of Macau, Director of the Centre for Data Science, and Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City.

In June 2020, Prof. Jia joined Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai as a Professor and Dean of the BNU-UIC Joint Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Future Networks, as well as Vice President of the United International College (UIC).

Prof. Jia has long been engaged in research in artificial intelligence and related fields. In 2016, he was named a Distinguished Member of the China Computer Federation (CCF).