Prof. Xiaoli Li, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

IEEE Fellow ；AAIA Fellow

Prof. Li is currently a department head (Machine Intellection department, consisting of 100+ AI and data scientists, which is the largest AI and data science group in Singapore) and a principal scientist at the Institute for Infocomm Research, A*STAR, Singapore. He also holds an adjunct professor position at Nanyang Technological University (he was holding an adjunct position at the National University of Singapore for 6 years). He is an IEEE Fellow and a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA). Prof. Li is also serving as KPMG-I2R joint lab co-director. He has been a member of the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC) of ESG Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) since 2020. Moreover, he serves as a health innovation expert panel member for the Ministry of Health (MOH), an expert panel member for the Ministry of Education (MOE), and an AI advisor for the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO), Prime Minister's Office, highlighting his extensive involvement in key government and industry initiatives.

The machine intelligence department has established itself as a leader in the industry, with a proven track record of successful collaborations with various partners, including SIA, KPMG, Lam Research, Global Foundations, DBS, Singtel, Mclaren, AIA, Standard Chartered Bank, NEC, and NCS. Moreover, the department has also achieved remarkable success on the international stage, having won prestigious competitions such as the IJCAI Competition (Stage 1), which is considered the top AI conference in the world, in 2015, and the KDD Cup (Part of the First Place Winning Team), which is the best data mining competition in the world, in the same year. Additionally, the department also emerged victorious in the GE Flight Quest Challenge in 2013, further solidifying its reputation as a world-class research team.

Prof. Li's research interests span a wide range of topics, including data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and bioinformatics. He is highly respected in the academic community and has served in various leadership positions (area chairs, senior PC members, workshop chairs, and session chairs) in the most prominent AI/data mining/machine learning-related conferences, such as KDD, ICDM, SDM, PKDD/ECML, ACML, PAKDD, WWW, IJCAI, AAAI, ACL, and CIKM. Additionally, he has also edited six books and has numerous highly cited papers, with over 20,000 citations and 70+ h-indexes. 

Prof. Jiyou Jia, Peking University, China

Dr. Jiyou Jia is a full professor and the Head of the Department of Educational Technology, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, China and is also the founding director of International Research Center for Education and Information at Peking University. He was invited to work as a guest professor in 2015 by School of Education, Technical University of Munich, Germany, and Distinguished Professor at Institute for Research in Open and Innovative Education, the Open University of Hong Kong in 2017. His research interests include educational technology and artificial intelligence in education, especially in TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning), math education with ICT, and decision making support system. Jia has published more than 150 articles in internationally or nationally peer-reviewed journals and conferences including Computers and Education, Knowledge-Based Systems, etc. He has edited one book and authored another one, both written in English and published by IGI Global, USA. He is also the author of one Chinese book and one book in German. He serves as a reviewer for several international journals indexed in SCI/SSCI, a co-chair or PC member of more than 20 international conferences including ICCE, ICALT and GCCCE, and an advisory expert for some scientific and governmental organizations. He has been responsible for a dozen of national projects and international cooperation projects. His research has won a number of national and international prizes including Outstanding Paper Award from Emerald Publishing 2023, the First Class Award of the Fifth National Award for Outstanding Achievements in Educational Research, from Ministry of Education, China 2016, and IAAI (Innovative Application of Artificial Intelligence) Deployed Application Award by AAAI (Association of Advancement of Artificial Intelligence), USA, 2008.

Research fields: educational technology and artificial intelligence in education

Prof. Guandong Xu, The Education University of Hong Kong, China

IET Fellow 

Professor Xu Guandong is a leading expert in data science, artificial intelligence, and social computing. His groundbreaking research has earned him multiple international accolades. A trailblazer in applying disruptive technologies, Professor Xu is committed to advancing interdisciplinary research and innovation.

He has secured over 10 million AUD in research funding from the Australian Research Council, government bodies, and industry partners. His work focuses on recommendation systems, information retrieval, data-driven knowledge discovery, and social computing, resulting in over 240 publications in top journals and conferences. He consistently ranks among the top 2% of scientists globally, with extensive citations of his work.

Professor Xu is the founding Editor-in-Chief of "Human-Centric Intelligent Systems" (Springer) and an Associate Editor for the "World Wide Web Journal" (Springer). As the founding chair of the advisory committee for the International Conference on Behavior and Social Computing, he actively promotes academic exchange and mentorship of young scholars.

In recognition of his contributions, Professor Xu was named a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in 2021 and the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in 2022. His research has significantly influenced the advancement of data science and AI, driving practical innovation in these fields.

Prof. Ismail Suardi Wekke, Director The Academia of Papua, Indonesia

Ismail Suardi Wekke is an Indonesian scholar and academic known for his expertise in Islamic education and religious studies. Graduated from Universiti Kebangsaan Indonesia with a kind  support International Fellowship Program Ford Foundation. He has made significant contributions to the academic discourse in Indonesia, particularly in the realm of integrating Islamic values into modern educational frameworks.

Wekke has been affiliated with various academic institutions in Indonesia, engaging in research across diverse aspects of Islamic education, including curriculum development and the implementation of effective pedagogical methods. His work has resulted in publications in reputable academic journals and books. Last joined, he is a director of cooperation in Universitas Muhammadiyah Barru (Indonesia).

Beyond his academic pursuits, Wekke is also active in organizations dedicated to promoting education and cultural dialogue in Indonesia. His dedication to enhancing the quality of Islamic education has garnered him recognition within both academic and societal circles. He is a member of scientific committee SEAAM (Southeast Asia Academic Mobility).