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I have a multidisciplinary background in chemical and civil engineering, chemistry and materials science. Currently, I am the UQ leader of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life, based at USC. I apply my expertise to understand the effects of fungal decay and moisture intrusion in timber connections, as well as the improvement of the fire performance of timber. I supervise 6 PhD students.

Mehmet Yildirimoglu is a Senior Lecturer of Transport Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering. Mehmet received his B.Sc. degree in civil engineering from the Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2009, M.Sc. degree in civil engineering from the Rutgers University in 2011 and Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2015. Prior to joining the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland in 2016, he was a Postdoctoral researcher at EPFL, Switzerland. His research revolves around large-scale traffic modeling, dynamic traffic assignment, data mining techniques and real-time traffic management.

Dr Tesfa Yimer is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland. Tesfa’s PhD was on mental health systems in low resource settings, particularly focusing on depression and alcohol use disorder. His research interest is on addiction and mental health epidemiology.

Prof. Hongzhi Yin works as an ARC Future Fellow and Professor and director of the Responsible Big Data Intelligence Lab (RBDI) at The University of Queensland, Australia. He has made notable contributions to predictive analytics, recommendation systems, graph learning, social media analytics, and decentralized and edge intelligence. He has received numerous awards and recognition for his research achievements. He has been named to IEEE Computer Society’s AI’s 10 to Watch 2022 and Field Leader of Data Mining & Analysis in The Australian's Research 2020 magazine. In addition, he has received the prestigious 2023 Young Tall Poppy Science Awards, Australian Research Council Future Fellowship 2021, the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2016, UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award 2019, 2024 and 2025 Computer Science in Australia Leader Award, AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Honorable Mention in Data Mining (2022-2025), 2024 and 2025 ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholar (top 0.05%). His research has won 8 international and national Best Paper Awards, including Best Student Full Paper Award at CIKM 2024, Best Paper Award - Honorable Mention at WSDM 2023, Best Paper Award at ICDE 2019, Best Student Paper Award at DASFAA 2020, Best Paper Award Nomination at ICDM 2018, ACM Computing Reviews' 21 Annual Best of Computing Notable Books and Articles, Best Paper Award at ADC 2018 and 2016. His Ph.D. thesis won Peking University Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award 2014 and CCF Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award (Nomination) 2014. He has ten conference papers recognized as the Most Influential Papers in Paper Digest, including KDD 2021 and 2013, AAAI 2021, SIGIR 2022, WWW 2023 and 2021, CIKM 2021, 2019, 2016, and 2015. He has published over 360+ papers with an H-index of 88 (25000+ citations), including 270+ CCF A/CORE A* and 80+ CCF B/CORE A, such as ICML, KDD, SIGIR, WWW, ACL, WSDM, SIGMOD, VLDB, ICDE, NeurIPS, AAAI, IJCAI, ACM Multimedia, ECCV, IEEE TKDE, TNNL, VLDB Journal, and ACM TOIS. He has been the leading author (first/co-first author or corresponding author) for 280+. He has been an SPC/PC member for many top conferences, such as AAAI, IJCAI, KDD, ICML, ICLR, NeurIPS, SIGIR, WWW, WSDM, VLDB, ICDE, ICDM, and CIKM. He has been serving as Associate Editor/Guest Editor/Editorial Board for Neural Networks (JCR Q1, CCF B, 中科院一区), Science China Information Sciences (JCR Q1, CCF A, 中科院一区), Data Science and Engineering (JCR Q1, 中科院一区), Journal of Computer Science and Technology (JCST, CCF B), Journal of Social Computing, ACM Transactions on Information Systems 2022-2023 (JCR Q1, CCF A, CORE A, 中科院一区), ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology 2020-2021 (JCR Q1), Information Systems 2020-2021 (CORE A*), and World Wide Web 2020-2021 and 2017-2018 (CORE A, CCF B). Dr. Yin has also been attracting wide media coverage, such as The Australian, SBS Radio Interviews, UQ News, Sohu.com, Faculty News of EAIT, IEEE Computer Society, ACM Computing Reviews.

I am now looking for highly motivated Ph.D. students. The University of Queensland ranks in the top 50 as measured by the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities. The University also ranks 40 in the QS World University Rankings and 41 in the US News Best Global Universities Rankings. The University of Queensland is the best in Australia according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), which has now ranked UQ in the #1 position for 2 consecutive years. Please find the following two PhD scholarships.

• https://study.uq.edu.au/study-options/phd-mphil-professional-doctorate/projects/building-trustworthy-information-recommendation-system

• https://study.uq.edu.au/study-options/phd-mphil-professional-doctorate/projects/build-trustworthy-information-recommendation-system

Latest News

1. [9 December 2025] I have been recognized as 2025 ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholar (top 0.05% of all scholars), #3 in Data Mining, #8 in Information Engineering.

2. [24 November 2025] Our research paper "ProEx: A Unified Framework Leveraging Large Language Model with Profile Extrapolation for Recommendation" was accepted by the top conference KDD 2026 (CCF A and CORE A*). Congratulations to Yi.

3. [8 November 2025] Our research paper "SmartAgent: Chain-of-User-Thought for Embodied Personalized Agent in Cyber World" was accepted by the top conference AAAI 2026 (CCF A and CORE A*). Congratulations to Jiaqi.

4. [4 November 2025] We have released the first survey on Reasoning-Aware Recommender Systems in the LLM Era.

5. [28 October 2025] My ARC Discovery Project 2026 "Advancing Federated Learning for Unified Urban Spatio-Temporal Predictions" has been successfully granted and funded.

6. [13 October 2025] I was invited to be Area Chair for ACL Rolling Review (ARR).

7. [1 October 2025] I have been recognised in the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List Career Long (2022-2025) and Single Year (2020-2025).

8. [25 Sepbember] I was invited to be an SPC for dual tracks of The Web Conference 2026.

9. [28 August 2025] I have been recognised in the "2025 AI 2000 Global Artificial Intelligence Scholars List" and awarded the "2025 AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Award Honorable Mention" in both areas of Data Mining (Ranked #43) and IR and Recommendation (Ranked #60).

10. [26 August 2025] Our research work "Towards Propagation-aware Representation Learning for Supervised Social Media Graph Analytics" was accetped as regular research paper by the top confernce ICDM 2025 (CORE A*, acceptance rate 13.5%).

11. [5 August 2025] We have 4 research papers accepted by the top conference CIKM 2025 (CORE A).

    • Harnessing Large Language Models for Group POI Recommendations

    • Efficient Multimodal Streaming Recommendation via Expandable Side Mixture-of-Experts

    • HGAurban: Heterogeneous Graph Autoencoding for Urban Spatial-Temporal Learning

    • NR-GCF: Graph Collaborative Filtering with Improved Noise Resistance

12. [10 July 2025] Our survey paper "On-Device Recommender Systems: A Comprehensive Survey" has been accepted by Data Science and Engineering (Q1, 中科院一区).

13. [25 June 2025] Our ARC Linkage Project "Revolutionise Australian Strata Management with Large Language Model" has been granted and funded.

14. [5 May 2025] I was invited to serve as Area Chair for the top data mining conference ICDM 2025 (CORE A*).

15. [23 May 2025] I was ranked #52 in Australia among Best Scientists for 2025 and have also been recognized with the Computer Science Leader Award for 2025 in Research.com.

16. [15 May 2025] We have four research papers and one applied data science paper accepted by the top conference KDD 2025 (CORE A*, CCF A).

    • Progressive Generalization Risk Reduction for Data-Efficient Causal Effect Estimation

    • Contrastive Graph Condensation: Advancing Data Versatility through Self-Supervised Learning

    • Data Watermarking for Sequential Recommender Systems

    • FLUID-MMRec: Stein-Guided Entropic Flow for Multi-Modal Sequential Recommendation

    • Multi-task Offline Reinforcement Learning for Online Advertising in Recommender Systems

17. [11 May 2025] Our research work "RobGC: Towards Robust Graph Condensation" has been accepted by the top journal TKDE 2025 (CORE A*, CCF A). Congratulations to Xinyi.

18. [1 May 2025] Our research work "Enhancing Treatment Effect Estimation via Active Learning: A Counterfactual Covering Perspective" has been accepted by the top conference ICML 2025 (CORE A*, CCF A). Congratulations to Hechuan.

19. [4 April 2025] We have four full research papers accepted by the top conference SIGIR 2025 (CORE A*, CCF A).

    • ID-Free Not Risk-Free: LLM-Powered Agents Unveil Risks in ID-Free Recommender Systems

    • Diversity-aware Dual-promotion Poisoning Attack on Sequential Recommendation

    • Towards Distribution Matching between Collaborative and Language Spaces for Generative Recommendation

    • STAR-Rec: Making Peace with Length Variance and Pattern Diversity in Sequential Recommendation

20. [2 April 2025] Congratulations to the four new doctors, Dr. Wei Yuan, Dr. Jing Long, Dr. Yuting Sun and Dr. Ruiqi Zheng, who were awarded their PhD by The University of Queensland.

21. [10 March 2025] Our survey paper "A Survey on Point-of-Interest Recommendation: Models, Architectures, and Security " has been accepted by TKDE 2025 (CORE A*, CCF A).

22. [21 Feb 2025] Our joint foundation work "On the Trustworthiness of Generative Foundation Models– Guideline, Assessment, and Perspective" has been released on both arXiv and Hugging Face. This research is the result of a broad collaboration with leading universities and research institutions worldwide, including the University of Notre Dame, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Stanford University, University of California, Santa Barbara, IBM Research, Microsoft Research, The University of Queensland and more.

23. [20 Feb 2025] I have been recognized as a Highly Ranked Scholar - Prior 5 Years (top 0.05% of all scholars) and #15 in Data Mining on ScholarGPS.

24. [26 January 2025] Our survey paper "Graph Condensation: A Survey" has been accepted by TKDE 2025 (CORE A*, CCF A).

25. [20 January 2025] We have three full research papers and one demo paper accepted by the top conference WWW 2025 (CORE A*, CCF A).

    • Rethinking and Accelerating Graph Condensation: A Training-Free Approach with Class Partition

    • On-device Content-based Recommendation with Single-shot Embedding Pruning: A Cooperative Game Perspective

    • Epidemiology-informed Network for Robust Rumor Detection

    • BiasNavi: LLM-Empowered Data Bias Management

26. [18 January 2025] We have two research papers accepted by AAAI 2025 (CCF A, CORE A*) for Oral Presentation.

    • Efficient Traffic Prediction through Spatio-Temporal Distillation

    • Rethinking Cancer Gene Identification through Graph Anomaly Analysis

Ming Yong is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the UQ Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation and the School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland, under the mentorship of Prof. Xiwang Zhang since February 2025. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Monash University (2021–2025), where he worked under the supervision of Dr. Zhikao Li, Prof. Xiwang Zhang, and Prof. Huanting Wang. At UQ, Ming’s current research focuses on developing high-performance porous membranes for applications in protein purification, lithium recovery, and redox flow batteries.

Emily is an experienced evaluator and policy analyst whose experience is designing, collecting and interpreting high quality evidence to improve outcomes for priority groups. She has deep, strategic knowledge of the Australian public sector, working alongside government agencies to design, implement and evaluate large, complex social policy initiatives.

Emily's motivated by helping her clients to use evaluation and research to understand the people they serve - conumers, service providers, Executive sponsors, advocacy groups - to deliver tailored programs and achieve better outcomes both for people and human service systems.

Her ability to build rapid rapport, synthesise complex information and balance perspectives means she is an in-demand strategic facilitator and trusted advisor to the executives of government agencies.

Her work creates impact because of her ability to connect information and people. She's great at taking complex information and making it simple and easy to action.

I have over 10 years of research and work experience in the field of mining land rehabilitation, acquiring a total of>3.5 million in fund support from the Australian government, research council and mining companies. My extensive experience in industrial engagement, field trial design and application also increased my growth as the leader in sustainable mining waste management.

I am an Advanced Queensland research fellow in the leading global research group of Ecological Engineering of Mine Wastes at the Sustainable Mineral Institute (SMI). My research interest is investigating important molecular and cellular processes in eukaryotes that first arose in bacteria and archaea, and microbial metabolic activities control numerous geochemical cycles in soil formation for sustainable mineral waste management. I have intensive work experience on multiple representative mining wastes, including Cu-Au, Pb-Zn, Iron ore, Uranium mine waste rock and bauxite tailings and residues.

My research strength lies in my multidisciplinary work and research program spans the interface between environmental microbiology, geochemistry, and plants. My expertise includes 1) mineral characterization, 2) soil and rhizosphere element cycling, 3) next-generation sequencing and online-controlled bioreactor techniques. Through the integrated application of environmental 'omics approaches, stable isotope analysis and imaging would give new insights into the fundamental element cycling processes of mined land mining wastes, and upon which I could develop novel biotechnology and methodology to prime sustainable mined land management and bioinoculum product with the field validated designated performance.

Dr Zhenjiang You is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Chemical Engineering. He holds a PhD in Fluid Mechanics. He conducts research on mathematical modelling, numerical simulation and experimental study of flows in porous media, and their applications in petroleum/chemical/mechanical/mining/civil engineering, energy, environment and water resources. He develops new theories and models for colloidal/suspension transport in porous media, innovative technologies for enhanced gas/oil production, and applicable tools for reservoir engineering, production engineering and geothermal industry. He has received research funding support from ARC, NERA, DMITRE, ARENA and a range of Australian and international companies. He collaborates with researchers in Australia, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, China, Russia, USA, Brazil and Iran.

His teaching contributions include Reservoir Engineering, Well Test Analysis, Reservoir Simulation, Field Design Project, Mathematical Modelling and Fluid Mechanics for Petroleum Engineers, Formation Damage, Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery, Unconventional Resources and Recovery, etc.

Liz Young is the Research Director of the Queensland Decarbonisation Hub and an applied researcher focused on climate transitions, sectoral decarbonisation, and policy innovation. She brings over 20 years of experience in the Queensland Government, including more than a decade in senior leadership roles shaping environmental and climate policy.

Before transitioning to academia, Liz played a central role in major state-wide initiatives such as the Clean Economy Jobs Bill, which legislated Queensland’s 2035 and 2050 emissions reduction targets; the introduction of bioregional planning as part of national environmental reforms; and the development of Queensland’s Protected Area Strategy. Her leadership has spanned a broad policy portfolio including climate adaptation, environmental planning, protected areas, First Nations economic transition, and sustainability planning for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Liz holds a PhD in Political Science and an Executive Master of Public Administration (ANZSOG), and was an Australian Parliamentary Fellow. She brings deep expertise in how public policy, institutional settings, and stakeholder dynamics shape environmental outcomes, and is committed to bridging the gap between research and policy through co-production, public sector capability-building, and institutional change.

I obtained my BSc.(Hons) from the University of New South Wales in Australia, then went on to pursue a PhD at the Australian National University’s Research School of Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Anthony Hill. After stints at the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh as a research fellow in groups of Andrew Weller and Polly Arnold respectively, I began my independent career at the National University of Singapore in 2014. Since then I have focused on methodology development using pincer complexes and frustrated Lewis pairs to address challenges in small molecule activation, in particular the selective activation of carbon-halide and carbon-chalcogen bonds. My achievements have been recognized with research awards including Asian Chemistry Prizes from Japan and China (2018) and the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award in 2019. In 2022 I was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship, which I assumed at the University of Queensland in mid-2023. The theme of the research for this fellowship is the recycling and repurposing of fluorocarbons through selective activation using organometallic techniques.

Charlotte Young is a research fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research at The University of Queensland. Charlotte is a qualitative researcher with interdisciplinary interests spanning sociology, public health, health promotion, and migration studies. Her research focuses on the systemic drivers of migrant health inequities and how they can be redressed. Charlotte is also interested in the ways migrants adapt and respond to systemic and structural drivers of inequity. Recently, she has been exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted migrant and refugee background tertiary students and how young culturally and linguistically diverse social media influencers have been promoting COVID-safe behaviours online. Charlotte also explores immigrant organisations as critical settings to influence health and wellbeing. She is passionate about producing impactful research to affect positive change and tackling migrant health problems in solidarity with the communities they affect. Charlotte also has experience conducting evaluation research for large-scale health interventions.

Dr Tarli Young is a Research Fellow in the Social Identity and Groups Network (SIGN) at the University of Queensland, specialising in wellbeing science and social identity interventions. Her work focuses on promoting thriving and flourishing in individuals and groups through innovative, evidence-based approaches.

With expertise in social connection, mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and positive psychology, Tarli develops and tests interventions to enhance mental health across diverse populations, including aid workers, veterans, and elite athletes transitioning into retirement. Her research explores expansive identities and ethics, and their impact on wellbeing and morailty.

Key areas of expertise include:

• Social identity and health
• Mindfulness and ACT-based interventions
• Aid worker and veteran mental health
• Positive psychology and wellbeing science
• Thriving, flourishing, and social connection
• Expansive identities
• The connection between ethics and wellbeing

Tarli is a recipient of multiple research awards and grants and serves as Deputy Director of SIGN and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Wellbeing. Her work bridges academia and real-world impact, fostering connection, wellbeing, and resilience in high-meaning, high-stress careers.

I have a keen interest in the evolutionary relationships that underpin symbioses, particularly those involved in plant disease. There are countless examples of how diseases have impacted different crops throughout history, and this is an ongoing issue that deleteriously impacts food security. My research involves developing a better understanding of the epidemiology of plant diseases and pests, and delivering improved diagnostics and field management. Working with collaborators and international experts, my work involves research on a broad range of plants that are affected by bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, nematodes and arthropod pests. I have a strong interest in the biotic factors that govern soil health and the methods by which we can promote the development of beneficial microbial communities.