Dr Enrico SANTUS
Director (AI and ML), Bayer
Doctor of Philosophy (2017)
Currently the Director (AI and ML) at Bayer, Dr Santus is honoured for his professional achievement in the domains of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). He was granted the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship to pursue a PhD in Computational Linguistics at PolyU, followed by three years of postdoctoral fellowships at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Dedicated to the research and application of AI for various purposes including sentiment analysis, fintech, healthcare and fake news detection, Dr Santus contributes his skills and insights to the exploration, design and implementation of various AI solutions for pharmaceutical and crop sciences in his current appointment.
Being recognised as a young and innovative expert in the field, Dr Santus is a successful, talented and interdisciplinary player with a strong presence in both the academia and industry. An active NLP champion who has published over 69 papers in top-tier conferences and journals, he has received numerous grants and awards. As an advisor to several laboratories, foundations and start-ups, Dr Santus has been repeatedly covered by mainstream media around the world for his high-impact projects.
Ms Zelia WONG Kit-ying
Director, ZEE (HK) Limited
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Language Studies for the Professions (2008)
Ms Wong is an award-winning professional event presenter with a heart to serve the community. As a PolyU undergraduate, she volunteered to teach ethnic minority students Chinese; as a graduate, she has leveraged her expertise, invested time and energy to help the underprivileged.
Volunteering for several charitable organisations concurrently, she has hosted fundraisers to help deprived students in remote areas of Mainland China, initiated the largest sign language class to promote social inclusion, and taught public speaking courses for local NGOs such as Border District, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, and Reading Dreams Foundation.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she hosted over 20 online talks on pandemic relief measures, provided online training courses for more than 200 businesses in conjunction with the Employees Retraining Board, and offered free online classes for children from low-income families.
Her success in the industry notwithstanding, Ms Wong never hesitates to give back to her alma mater. She was the master of ceremonies for the Outstanding PolyU Alumni Award Presentation Ceremony and several departmental homecoming dinners. She also gave guest lectures and served as a mentor in PolyU’s Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies.
