Dr. Stephen Law
University of Oxford, UK
Biography: Dr Stephen Law is currently Director of the CertHE and Director of Studies, Philosophy at Oxford University Department of Continuing Education. He was previousl Reader and Head of Department at heythrop College, University of London. He holds B.Phil and D.Phil degrees from The University of Oxford, where he held several lectureships and a three year stipendiary Junior Research Fellowship. He has published research in metaphysics, philosophy of language, later Wittgenstein and philosophy of religion. He is perhaps best-known for his popular introductory books on Philosophy, including The Philosophy Gym: 25 Short Adventures in Thinking.
Prof. William Hurst
Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
Biography: Dr. Hurst is an Associate Professor in Data Science and eXtended Realities in the Information Technology Group and Head of the Social Creative Technologies Lab at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. With over 100 international publications, his research spans a wide range of areas, including data science, creative technologies, critical infrastructures, simulation, and 3D graphics. Dr. Hurst’s work focuses on the intersection of emerging technologies and their applications in real-world problems, exploring how XR can enhance fields such as education, agriculture, and environmental sustainability. In 2024, he led several grant-funded projects, including pioneering work on virtual reality for data science education, gamification techniques for agricultural applications, and the development of software for immersive environments. His educational background includes a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, a PhD in Computer Science, an MSc in Web Computing, and a BSc (Hons) in Product Design.
Prof. Hua Dai
California State University Channel Islands, USA
Biography: Hua Dai is a Professor of Management Information Systems at Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics of California State University at Channel Islands, USA. Her research interests include electronic commerce, eService, big data and business analytics, blockchain and metaverse, outsourcing, IS cross-cultures, and recently, AI applications in business. Dr. Dai’s research has been published in European Journal of Information Systems, Information & Management, Decision Support Systems, The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, Electronic Markets, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, among others.
Dr. Sepi Chakaveh
University of Oxford, UK
Biography: Dr Sepi Chakaveh is a Departmental Lecturer in Data Science & Course Director of Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in
IT Systems Design, Department for Continuing Education, and a Research Member of Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK.
Dr Chakaveh has a BSc in Electronic Engineering and a PhD in Experimental Astrophysics and Space Sciences from the University of Kent. She has extensive experience as a Senior Scientist/Academic working both in the UK and Germany, including Imperial College London, Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, University of Göttingen, Fraunhofer Society and the University of Southampton where she was the co-founder and the former Director of Southampton Data Science Academy, the first UK online data science academy. She has recently received the Research Common Room Membership at Wolfson College.
Dr Chakaveh research focus is to design and engineer end-to-end, holistic data and AI-driven applications which solve real-life problems. In this context, she has developed many AI-based applications - for one of which she has won the Everywoman Innovator Award 2020 and ConnectTVT Technology Game Changer 2021. And in particular, her software innovation for Row4Ukraine supported an extraordinary Atlantic rowing mission. Her PixselChat, enabled clear communication between a team of injured British and Ukrainian servicemen as they set off to row 3,000 miles from Gran Canaria to Barbados.
Professor Dr Shuliang Li (李树良)
Fellow (lifelong) of the British Computer Society; Director and Chairman of Loxbridge High-Tech Forum, United Kingdom (https://loxbridge3i.co.uk);
Having held the posts as a Reader & Departmental Research Leader in the UK, and a distinguished & Sichuan 100 Talents professor in China
Loxbridge High-Tech Forum, United Kingdom
Education and Professional Training
Dr Li received his education and professional training from: Haiyang First High School (Shandong, China); Southwest Jiaotong University (China); the University of Edinburgh (UK); the University of Bedfordshire (UK); the University of Oxford (UK); the University of Cambridge (UK); Harvard University (USA); the University of Westminster (UK); Nvidia (USA); Meta (USA); and ARM Cambridge (UK).
Publications
Dr Li has authored and co-authored more than one hundred refereed journal articles, research papers, books, and other scholarly items. His publications have appeared in the international journals including Decision Support Systems, European Journal of Marketing, Expert Systems with Applications, Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Industrial Management & Data Systems, International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Mathematics, and Chinese Journal of Management Science, among others. He has also contributed numerous papers to conference proceedings published by IEEE. His research outputs have been widely downloaded and cited internationally.
Textbook Recognition
Two pages of Dr Li’s research were included in the renowned textbook Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems (7th edition, Prentice Hall International, 2005).
Conference leadership
Dr Li has chaired more than thirty international academic and research conferences, with proceedings published by Springer, ACM, and IEEE, and indexed by Ei Compendex, Scopus, and Google Scholar.
Research Excellence
Recognised for sustained international research excellence, Dr Li contributed to the UK Government’s Research Assessment Exercises (RAE) 2001 and 2008, and the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014.
Teaching and Supervision
Over the course of his academic career, Dr Li has taught and supervised more than 20,000 undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral (PhD) students across the UK, China, and other countries worldwide.
Title of Speech: The future and the next era of IT and AI