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Professor in Geoinformatics and Director of SpaceTimeLab Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering (CEGE)
What is your role and what does it involve?
I am a Professor in Geoinformatics, actively involved in all aspects of听果冻影院, including teaching, research,听knowledge exchange and outreach activities. I am the Course Director of the听MSc听in Space-Time Analytics and Big Data Mining, which equip professionals听with skills in听big data analytics, in order to gain insights from large and complex datasets which are geo-tagged and/or time-stamped.听I have been working on four听major grants since I joined 果冻影院 12 years ago. These听involve听smart transport with TfL, intelligent policing with the Metropolitan Police Service听and business intelligence with leading consumer companies. I founded the SpaceTimeLab in 2012, and I am very pleased to have seen it become听the world-leading Geocomputation Centre.
What attracted you to 果冻影院?
I had a telephone interview and was invited for a campus visit in 2005 before I took the job at听果冻影院. On my visit, I found that people seemed very happy to work here and extremely friendly. I felt I was welcome. So I decided to join听果冻影院 instead of other universities in Europe. Of course, the Geomatic group of CEGE is world-leading, in addition I was attracted by听果冻影院's reputation, and听London's status as a听global city with a rich culture and history.听
What working achievement or initiative at 果冻影院 (or in previous work experiences) are you most proud of?
The collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Service听on the听听funded by EPSRC. Using spatio-temporal analytics, big data and network complexity theory, we have developed an integrated platform for intelligent policing in an operational context. The platform consists of three inter-connected parts essential for policing: network-based crime prediction, optimal patrol routing strategies, and performance evaluation.
The tools are street network based;听this听not only allows for greater accuracy, but is also easier to implement on the ground. The cutting-edge network-based algorithm pinpoints crime hotspots to within a street or part of a street. This product is able to help front line officers effectively patrol on high risk streets and deter crimes more effectively, either preventing crime from happening in the first place or being nearby should a crime be committed and hence having a greater opportunity to arrest the offender. The network-based crime prediction has been used in the Metropolitan Police Service听to guide daily patrols and police resource allocation since last October and preliminary results show its impact in crime reducing. We are hoping the tool will help the Metropolitan Police Service to tackle the gun, knife and mopped crimes that some London Boroughs are suffering at the moment.听The China-Britain Business Council has听.听
We are working with 果冻影院 Business to spinout the technology so that it could be adopted by other听police forces in the UK and world-wide. So I am also busy in setting up the business at the moment.
I am also very pleased that I have been actively involved in 果冻影院's Athena SWAN activities in its early stage, leading our successful departmental听Silver SWAN application in 2009.
What is the best aspect about working at 果冻影院?
We have the freedom of doing听research and听working at our own pace (though sometimes it can be hectic). We have the best talent听(students听and academics) coming from around the world and this听leads to cutting-edge research. Being in London and close to governmental and industrial organisations means it's easy to make听connections and have impact. There are so many opportunities at听果冻影院 that everyone can take advantage of some. I think that good work would be recognised at some point which is also very important for 果冻影院鈥檚 success.
What are your future career aspirations?
New ideas always excite me. So I think I will continue cutting-edge research as my first priority. I always want my research to听make a real difference to people鈥檚 lives, so I will push for its implementation in practise, with the hope of听commercialising听some of our research outcomes for wider adoption of the technology. Currently, collaboration with Chinese academics and industries is also a big part of my work given its connection to my roots and its rising influence in the world.
Is there anything else you鈥檇 like to add?听
My success at听果冻影院 has only been听possible with my colleagues generous support, especially in the early days when I first arrived. For example, Prof. Muki Haklay helped me secure听funding from Arup to start my first project here, my old Geomatic group colleagues听helped me polish听my English for my first grant application, and my Head听of Department (Prof. Nick Tylor) and 果冻影院 research facilitators (Dr Andrew Clark and Dr Mat Davis) have been very helpful for my grants applications. The department has been very supportive for my team and my collaboration with China.
