Meet Our Academicians

Professor John Shi is Chair Professor of Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing and Director of the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Director of PolyU-Shenzhen Technology and Innovation Research Institute (Futian). Professor Shi has been regarded as an international leader in studying uncertainty modeling and quality control for spatial data and spatial analyses since the 1990s. He is also leading the international development of urban informatics. He serves as President of the International Society for Urban Informatics and Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Urban Informatics.

Over his career, he has made many breakthroughs and significant contributions in his field, receiving numerous accolades for his groundbreaking work. These include the ESRI Award for Best Scientific Paper by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in 2006; the State Natural Science Award (Second Award) in 2007, China’s highest award for fundamental research; the Wang Zhizhuo Award by the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in 2012; Founder's Award by the International Spatial Accuracy Research Association in 2020; and CPGIS Distinguished Scholar Award in 2021.

Professor Shi's expertise in smart-city technologies has garnered international recognition, winning Gold Medals at both the 2021 and 2023 Geneva Invention Expos, as well as winning the 2021 Smart 50 Awards and Gold Medal in 2023 Asia International Innovative Invention Exhibition.

With over 300 research articles published in journals indexed by Web of Science and 20 authored books, Professor Shi's work has had a far-reaching impact. He has been granted 44 patents as of July 2023. He is also listed among the world’s top 2% most cited researchers according to the standardized citation indicators published by Elsevier BV. In recognition of his academic excellence, Professor Shi was elected as an Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK), the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors.