News

Prof. CHEN Changwen as IEEE T-BIOM Associate Editor-in-Chief

We are delighted and proud to announce that Prof. CHEN Changwen, Chair Professor of Visual Computing, has recently been appointed as Associate Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of IEEE Transactions on Biometrics, Behavior, and Identity Science (T-BIOM). Prof. Chen is the only editor from Hong Kong in T-BIOM.   Prof. Chen joined COMP in 2021 as Chair Professor of Visual Computing. His research expands a broad range of topics in multimedia communication, Internet of Video Things,  multimedia systems, image/video processing, machine learning, and multimedia signal processing. Prof. Chen has been the Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Transactions on Multimedia from January 2014 to December 2016. He has also served as the Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology from January 2006 to December 2009. He has been an Editor for several other major IEEE Transactions and Journals, including the Proceedings of IEEE, IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications, and IEEE Journal of Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems. He has served as Conference Chair for several major IEEE, ACM and SPIE conferences related to multimedia video communications and signal processing.   T-BIOM publishes original articles on all aspects of biometrics (i.e. recognising people through their physiological or behavioural traits such as face, fingerprint, iris, and signature), including theory, applications, systems, and surveys. Prof. Chen will help EiC in selecting best papers and organising special issues in the newly emerging areas within the scope of T-BIOM.

COMP x CAA Academic-Industry Seminar Series – Data Analytics (Jun 2022)

Committed to encouraging knowledge exchange between academia and industry, COMP and the Computing Alumni Association (CAA) co-organised the fourth seminar of the "COMP x CAA Academic-Industry Seminar Series" via Zoom on 21 June 2022. With more than 100 participants comprising our students, faculty members and alumni, the seminar was started with a warm welcome by Dr Henry Chan, Associate Professor and Associate Head of COMP. Dr Chan then introduced the first speaker, Dr Ken Yiu, Associate Professor, to present his research about approximate range aggregate queries with error guarantees. The research was published at the EDBT conference in 2021. Ken demonstrated different examples and models to introduce the application of range aggregate query. His research interest includes databases, in particular, query processing techniques for spatiotemporal data and multi-dimensional data. Mr Gary Tang, Associate Data Scientist of OOCL, at the same time an outstanding graduate of COMP, was invited to share practical experience with the data science industry. Gary showed great interest in a data science career before he graduated from COMP. He shared his insight into the future trend, roles and duties of a data scientist and the challenges. At the end of his presentation, he provided handy tips on how to equip oneself in the job searching process. The seminar was well received by the participants, who also actively participated in the Q&A session and were especially interested in the data science career path. We believe the seminar can inspire students who wish to pursue development in this field.

COMP Best Project Award Competition 2022

COMP successfully organised the online Best Project Award Competition on 18 June 2022 to recognise students’ outstanding performance in their Capstone Projects. Six shortlisted students joined the final contest and competed for the awards. The panel of judges was formed by our faculty members and representatives from the technology sector, including Hong Kong Cyberport, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, and InfoTech Services (HK) Limited. Each student was given fifteen minutes to present the project, finish a demonstration and undergo Q&A. All the projects fully demonstrated the depth of background study, breadth of the design and methodology, as well as excellent implementation and evaluation. Also, the high level of presentation skills shown by students was impressive.   After careful and thorough consideration, our judges selected the winners and a virtual award presentation ceremony was held accordingly. In addition to the Best Project Awards, two contestants were selected to receive the InfoTech Job Market Driven Scholarship, based on the quality and relevancy of their projects in adopting hot skills highly sought by the IT industry. We are proud to present the awardees here and let’s take this opportunity to congratulate them on receiving the awards.   Award Project Title Awardee Champion InfoTech Job Market Driven  Scholarship Touch-free User Interaction Wang Ka Man First Runner-up Award Enhancement of Amblyopia Treatment and Monitoring in Children via an Ocular Gymnastics Application German Sharabok Second Runner-up Award InfoTech Job Market Driven Scholarship Game Development Lee Chi Kin

COMP Career talk cum Mentorship Gathering

COMP and the Computing Alumni Association (CCA) co-organised a career talk cum mentorship gathering on 13 May 2022. The topic of the career talk this time was “Coding in Action: from TDD to BDD”, which covered an overview of practical software development. The event echoed the mentorship kick-off in January 2022 which aims to prepare students for future careers and line students up with professional practitioners and industry executives. Dr Hong-va Leong, our Associate Professor and Associate Head (Teaching & Learning) gave a warm welcome to all the participants. Ms Silvia Ihensekhien, Hon. Secretary of Computing Alumni Association (CAA), at the same time a mentor, then introduced the speaker Mr Raymond Cheung. Raymond is a Software Engineer at Societe Generale and an alumnus of COMP. He has extensive experience in developing various scalable systems in risk management and trade captures, such as pre-trade negotiation services of equity derivative trading; data pipelines to ingest and transform data and trade captures optimisation. Raymond is now based in London and joined us online to share first-hand experience in the overseas job market and some useful tips for interviews. In the Q&A session, Raymond further discussed the future work trends in the IT industry, and it was delightful to see the active participation of our students. The talk was engaging and inspiring, which provided students with more insights into career development. Various breakout rooms were arranged for both mentees and mentors to exchange ideas and gain personal advice. We hope that students can keep up the momentum and strengthen their skills to stand out in the competitive job market.

COMP x CAA Academic-Industry Seminar Series – Cybersecurity (Apr 2022)

The third seminar of the "COMP x CAA Academic-Industry Seminar Series" was held virtually on 27 April with the topic of “Cybersecurity”. Around one hundred students and alumni participated in the session. The seminar series is co-organised by COMP and the Computing Alumni Association (CAA) to encourage knowledge exchange between academia and industry. Dr Daniel Luo, Associate Professor of COMP, started the seminar with his recent research on defending against sophisticated mobile malware. He is known for his expertise in mobile security and smart contract security in Hong Kong, and his research interests include mobile, IoT and system security and privacy, blockchain and smart contract security, as well as network security and privacy. He introduced their systems that can unpack hardened mobile malware and their proof-of-concept (PoC) tool that demonstrates how easily mobile malware can evade existing detection approaches. The industrial speaker this time was Ms Silvia Ihensekhien, Chief Information Security Officer of ShipServ, at the same time an awardee of 2019 COMP Alumni Award and mentor from COMP. Silvia is one of the few female leaders in the shipping eCommerce industry in Hong Kong, her hands-on experience in internet security is also well recognised. She gave an in-depth introduction to ransomware - one of the most common cyber-attacks, and provided helpful advice on how to prevent ransomware attacks. In the discussion that followed, our faculty members concurred that cybersecurity is critical and found new angles on cybersecurity applications. Dr Henry Chan, Associate Professor and Associate Head (Partnership & Collaboration) of COMP hosted the seminar and Q&A session.

MSc in Blockchain Technology Info Seminar 2022

The Info Seminar for MSc in Blockchain Technology (MScBT) was smoothly concluded on 11 May 2022, attracting more than 120 participants. The Info Seminar was delivered on Zoom and live-streamed in Mainland China. Dr Xavier de Carné de Carnavalet, Research Assistant Professor, started the info seminar with a brief introduction to the background and applications of Blockchain Technology in the industry and Metaverse. Dr Korris Chung, Associate Professor, gave an overview of the Department of Computing, while Dr Daniel Luo, Associate Professor and Programme Leader, further explained the programme structure and curriculum. MScBT is the first taught master programme in Hong Kong specialising in Blockchain technology. It is designed for professionals proficient in blockchain and related technologies to analyse, design, implement and evaluate Fintech and other related systems, products and services. The programme also covers key Fintech technologies and applications. Blockchain technology was emphasised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in its “Fintech 2025” strategy and the “Enhanced Competency Framework on Fintech” launched last year, which has demonstrated the great potential of this area. Upon completion of this programme, graduates will be equipped with the knowledge and skill set that could enhance their competitiveness in the career market.

Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU Faculty of Engineering

In celebration of PolyU's 85th Anniversary, the Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award (OPAA) was introduced to publicly give public recognition to outstanding PolyU graduates for their professional achievements and significant contributions to the community and their alma mater. The Award was organised at three levels, i.e. Department level, Faculty/ School level and University level with 4 achievement categories, namely “Professional Achievement”, “Entrepreneurial Achievement”, “Scholarly Achievement”, and “Community Service Achievement”. We are happy to announce that Mr Darron Sun, Head of Information Technology, Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), is a recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award in Professional Achievement of PolyU Faculty of Engineering. Also, there is another alumni awardee this year - Dr Abraham Lam, Director of MEGA Automation Ltd and Shenzhen FUSQUARE Technology Ltd., who received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award in Entrepreneurial Achievement of PolyU Faculty of Engineering. Mr Darron Sun received two Master's degrees from PolyU, i.e., the Master of Science in Information Systems and the MBA degree. After graduation, he has made significant contributions to the Department of Computing, initiating and driving a new Mentorship Programme in particular. He also provided various internship opportunities to COMP students in recent years. He is currently serving as the President of Computing Alumni Association (CAA). Apart from PolyU, he is actively involved in various social and community services. Mr Sun was named to the World Association for Cooperative & Work-Integrated Education (WACE) Co-op Hall of FAME in 2018 in recognition of his efforts in nurturing the next generation of professionals. Dr Abraham Lam acquired his bachelor's degree in Information Technology and PhD from the Department of Computing. His research interests include wireless sensor networks, building automation and smart building applications. Knowing the difficulties and challenges of industries, Dr Lam is keen to apply information and communication technologies to the built environment and contribute to the development of a smart and sustainable city. He is also an active evangelist to adopt emerging technologies into facility and property management. He established an R&D team in Qianhai, Shenzhen to bring the research work into real-world applications. Dr Lam’s successful technopreneurial journey has been featured by many media and associations. To recognise his outstanding performance and excellent leadership, he was awarded the Greater Bay Area (GBA) Youth Leader in 2018 and elected the outstanding alumni award in 2019 by the Department. He also provides support to the Department as the COMP Mentor under the COMP Mentorship Programme and serves as the external member of the Departmental Advisory Committee. Under the rigorous assessment and review of candidates’ qualifications and performance done by the FENG judging panel, the award selection is based on candidates’ achievements in the field and their contributions to the community as well as PolyU. Congratulations to Mr Darron Sun and Dr Abraham Lam on receiving the honours! Click to view the Result announcement by FENG

Global Game Jam 2022

The Global Game Jam (GGJ) 2022 was held virtually from 20 to 30 January, attracting over 26,000 jammers from 680 jam sites in 10 countries. This year, the GGJ Hong Kong site was co-organised by Cyberport and COMP, which was the 11th biggest among all jam sites worldwide, with 241 jammers from students to professional game designers who created 59 games remotely. The best teams in nine different categories were awarded. Amongst them, two COMP teams received the Best Engagement Game and Best AR Game respectively. Mr Wu Chun-Hung, (BSc (Hons) in Computing, Year 4) teamed up with Mr Zachary Sin (COMP PhD Student) and two staff of COMP to design and develop the game “Human Nature” within a week. They finally won the Best Engagement Game award. Responding to the continued environmental crisis, “Human Nature” is themed on the duality of human and nature. To take charge of the universal development of humanity, players need to reduce pollution and balance the needs of humans and that of the planet. They could learn about the environmental and economic impacts and how to avoid global disasters when acquiring different resources. On the other hand, three COMP undergraduates, including Mr Benedict Nicholas, Mr Coa Michael and Mr Hadi Nelsen (All from BSc (Hons) in Computing, Year 3), together with a schoolmate from the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, won the Best AR Game award with their controllable AR game “Mono”. This game runs through a fairy tale full of philosophical sayings in a simple and smooth art style. In the game, white squares in bright light are separated from opposite black shadows. Players need to build blocks in a way that matches the given puzzle projection. The team used Unity along with the Vuforia and Dotween package libraries to make the game compatible with AR. Under the global theme of the word “Duality”, the teams formed by local participants were required to complete the full game development cycle from ideation to testing, including programming, art, game, sound and user interface design and testing in the time span of 240 hours. GGJ is the world's largest game jam event taking place around the globe, typically at physical locations, providing a creative platform for talented individuals to contribute to game development. It encourages participants to foster new friendships, increase their confidence and boosts opportunities within the community.

PolyU Outstanding Students Award Scheme 2021

We are glad to announce that our final year student, Mr Zhang Caiqi, (BSc (Hons) in Computing, Year 4), has been awarded the “Outstanding Student Award of Faculty” and “Outstanding Student Award of Department” for his excellent academic performance, active involvement in extra-curricular activities and exemplary personal qualities. This year, a total of 26 students were selected as outstanding students at the departmental level while eight outstanding students were recognised at the faculty/ school level. Caiqi is an all-round student who has exceptional accomplishments in both academic and non-academic pursuits. He has received the Dean's Honours List in 3 consecutive years and numerous competitive scholarships throughout his study at PolyU COMP. Caiqi also got the opportunities to further explore overseas by conducting research at UCLA and Cambridge. Apart from study and research, Caiqi enthusiastically participated in co-curricular activities such as competitions and volunteer services. He is currently the third debater in the University’s mandarin debate team and the PolyU Student Ambassador. He also spares no effort to support community services by providing voluntary teaching services in China, Cambodia, and Vietnam and participating in local voluntary work that helped the elderly. The Outstanding Students Award (OSA) Scheme is one of the most prestigious award schemes at PolyU which is set up to award full-time final-year students who excel in both academic and non-academic pursuits as well as recognise high achievers. Congratulations to Mr Zhang Caiqi on receiving the honour!

Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU COMP 2022

The year 2022 marks the 85th Anniversary of PolyU, and in celebration of this important milestone, the University has introduced the Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award (OPAA) to publicly recognise our distinguished alumni’s diverse accomplishments and contributions to the community and their alma mater. OPAA was conducted at three levels: Department level, Faculty/School level and University level with 4 achievement categories, namely “Professional Achievement”, “Entrepreneurial Achievement”, “Scholarly Achievement”, and “Community Service Achievement”. We are glad to announce that Mr Andy Wan, Head of Transformation & Delivery, Chief Operating and Information Office of AXA Hong Kong and Macau, is the recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award in “Professional Achievement” of PolyU Department of Computing. Andy received a Higher Diploma in Information Systems in 2000 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computing four years later, both from PolyU. Building his career from the ground up as an IT programmer, Andy has worked in two different Global Fortune 500 multi-national insurance companies. He has been dedicated to the wealth management and financial services industry for 20 years, with extensive experience across various domains, such as technology, operation, distribution, project management, digital and business transformation for the local and regional offices. Being a passionate leader with a strong inner drive, Andy’s distinguished achievements, exemplary leadership and professionalism have helped him gain a high reputation from the industry. Apart from the active participation in our alumni activities, Andy also provided great support to the Department and PolyU, particularly in the COMP Mentorship Programme, in which he has served as the Mentor since 2020. Moreover, in the career talk, ‘Preparing to build a Professional Journey’, Andy shared his professional knowledge, leadership mindset and career journey with our students. Under the rigorous assessment and review of candidates’ qualifications and performance done by the judging panel, the award selection is based on candidates’ achievements in the field and their contributions to the community as well as PolyU. For COMP previous alumni award, please find the details here. Congratulations to Mr Andy Wan on receiving the Outstanding Alumni Award of the PolyU Department of Computing!