Research team
Senior Research Fellow
Sumin Cao
Sumin Cao has a bachelor’s degree in hydraulic transmission and control and a master’s in fluid transmission and control, specialising in robotic systems and components. Both degrees are from Zhejiang University. He is a former Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu University.
He previously served in Jiangsu Province as Mayor of Taixing Municipal Government, Secretary of Taixing Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Director General of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and Executive Vice President of Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Currently he is the President of the Jiangsu Association for International Science and Technology Cooperation, Mentor in Science and Technology Entrepreneurship of the China Association for Technology and Entrepreneurship, part-time professor at Nanjing University of Technology, and Senior Research Fellow of the Digital Transformation Research Centre at XJTLU’s College of Industry-Entrepreneurs.
Verner Chan
Dr Verner Chan earned his doctoral degree in mechanical and industrial engineering from the University of Toronto, He was a visiting scholar at the California Institute of Technology and was appointed as Foreign Academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Engineering Sciences.
Dr Chan has served as a Lecturer at the School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology; Department Manager at Linamar Corporation; Technical Consultant at IBM; Chief Architect at Nokia; Global Supply Chain System Representative, appointed for Nokia in Gartner; and Intelligent Operation System Architecture Consultant at Huawei Technologies Company.
He is the founder and CEO of Bepsun, a Canada-based digital technology company that focuses on promoting digital and intelligent transformation among enterprises. Dr Chan’s publications include “200 Diagnostic Questions for Enterprise Intelligent and Digital Transformation”, “A Big Bridge Ahead: Developing the Future Enterprise Execution System”, “Practical Six Sigma Quality Breakthrough: The Road to Rapid, Precise and Accurate Management”, and three other books.
Xiaobing Xian
Professor Xiaobing Xian, a Senior Engineer recognised by the Chinese Ministry of Personnel and a CPC member, is an expert in data science and big data technology at the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology (CIT) . Professor Xian earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Jilin University in 1995 and a master’s degree in engineering from Beijing University of Technology in 2003. Professor Xian joined the academic staff of CIT last year.
Professor Xian has been dedicated to university informationisation and management for decades. Before becoming an academic staff member at CIT, he had served as the Deputy Director, Director, and Party Secretary for the Information Office of CIT. During these terms, Professor Xian led the drafting of key reports and standards, including the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for CIT’s informationisation, as well as many digitalisation and data management regulations that are applied at the university level. His research interests include data warehousing, decision support systems, university informationisation management, enterprise digital transformation, industrial Internet of Things (IoT), and industrial big data.
Professor Xian is a past recipient of the Jiangsu Provincial Science and Technology Award, and has led two provincial research projects and contributed to two additional projects. Other achievements include more than 20 academic theses, three patents, and more than 10 software copyrights. He has headed over 20 digital transformation projects and composed case studies recognised at high levels. For instance, the case study “Big data promotes the modernization of educational governance” was listed as the University Informationisation 2016 Annual Excellent Case by the Chinese Ministry of Education. Cases such as “Explore university data and improve scientific management”, “Practices and innovations in university asset management based on ‘cloud technology + big data + IoT + mobile internet’”，and “Integrated application of university hybrid cloud based on OPENID” obtained multiple entries in the Excellent Case Collection issued by the China Education Information Society. In 2023, his Industrial Big Data Experimental Innovation Project was granted the title of Suzhou Municipal Laboratory for Innovative Application of Big Data.
His research interests include data warehousing, decision support systems, university informationisation management, enterprise digital transformation, industrial IoT, and industrial big data.
Researcher
Lei Chen
Lei Chen is the Deputy Head of the Management Information Technology and System Office at XJTLU.
He has 20 years of practical experience in digitalisation. Chen specialises in base planning, design, and operation for intelligent and digital enterprises; enterprise data application product planning, design, and operation; information security; and enterprise digital transformation.
Xudong Feng
Xudong Feng is the Head of the Management Information Technology and System Office at XJTLU. He earned an MBA from Soochow University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Xiamen University.
His areas of focus include university information construction, strategic top-level design, information team building, IT service design and implementation, application software development, campus network construction, data centre design and management, campus intelligent facility construction and management, and strategic research on digital and intelligent campus construction.
Weiwei Hua
Weiwei Hua has a bachelor’s degree from Suzhou University in computer science and technology and is an information system architecture designer, senior systems development engineer, and an advanced high school information technology teacher. Her years of experience include work in the education industry and internet companies and for foreign companies. She has specialised in information system project construction theory and development and has served as Chief Technology Officer at multiple internet companies. She has a comprehensive knowledge of product development, front-end and back-end development, testing, and operation and maintenance. She successfully developed and maintained numerous large-scale government and enterprise projects and helped lead several government digital transformation projects. Additionally, she has applied for patents for multiple software technologies.
Her areas of focus include computer languages for both front- and back-end operations, including Java, Python, PHP, JavaScript, and Go; software systems maintenance and development; big data governance and analysis; data support for business decisions; computer system architecture design; and software design.
Xiangang Hu
Xiangang Hu is the Software System Development Team Leader of the Management Information Technology and System Office at XJTLU.
He has 10 years of experience in information system development and project management, specialising in enterprise information system architecture design, project management process standardisation, service management system development, enterprise data governance, and data visualisation.
Xinyang Li
Xinyang Li has a master’s degree in international management and marketing from the University of Sheffield in the UK. She is a certified educational psychology practitioner with rich experience planning and developing educational products.
Her research interests include front-end market investigation, project management, and digital brand building.
Rui Wang
Rui Wang has a master’s degree in law and is currently a PhD student at the National Academy of Governance. She is deeply involved in research and consultancy in the fields of higher education digital transformation and educational informatisation. Wang’s experience includes work at New Oriental, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, China Education and Research Network, and Tencent.
Wang’s research interests include digital transformation solutions for government, central state-owned enterprises and universities; innovative models of industry-education integration; and formation of the “five-in-one” method of integrating industry, education research, learning, and innovation.
Han Xin (Hanson)
Han Xin received a master’s degree in electronic technology and communication engineering in 2010 from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He joined XJTLU in 2012 and has served successively in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department, the Educational Development Unit (EDU) under the Institute of Leadership and Education Advanced Development (ILEAD), and the Centre of Educational Technology (CET) under the Centre for Knowledge and Information (CKI). He is currently the team leader of Systems Development at the Learning Mall office under CKI. He is responsible for developing, deploying, and maintaining the University’s online digital teaching and learning platform, Learning Mall Core; the online live lecture platform BigBlueButton, the e-portfolio system Connect, and a series of related online learning support platforms.
His areas of technical expertise include LAMP technology stack, Virtual Machine virtualisation, network and cloud platforms, online teaching and learning platforms, and innovative information and digital technology research.
Yiwei Zeng
Yiwei Zeng earned his master’s degree in electronical and communication engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University.
He is Deputy Head of the Management Information Technology and System Office at XJTLU.
He has more than 20 years of experience in informatisation and digitalisation transformation. He specialises in computer network and system integration, large-scale IT project management, and high-performance computing and communications engineering.
Zhefei Zhu
Zhefei Zhu is Manager of the Educational Technology and Technology Research and Development Team at XJTLU’s Learning Mall. An alumnus of both the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and La Trobe University, he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in information systems management. He joined XJTLU in 2014, undertaking pivotal roles within the Library, University Marketing and Communications (UMC), and the Learning Mall.
His expertise includes market research, technical product design, framework construction, project management, digital brand promotion, and use of educational technology.
In his roles at the Library and UMC, he managed initiatives including a library management system upgrade, library entrance modification, establishment of the library website, and construction of XJTLU’s official website. At the Learning Mall, he led the development and maintenance of a dual-architecture internal learning and teaching system and lifelong learning platform. With his focus on educational technology and information technology, he provides comprehensive support for the daily teaching and lifelong learning requirements of students and staff at XJTLU and the wider community.
Staff
Xin Bi
Dr Xin Bi is Director of the Digital Transformation Research Centre at XJTLU’s College of Industry-Entrepreneurs. He also holds other positions at XJTLU including Chief Officer of Data and Director of the Centre for Knowledge and Information.
He is Deputy Minister of Industry-Education Integration Specialised Committee of Jiangsu Block Chain Development Association, Secretary General of the Metaverse Committee of the Suzhou Software Industry Association, and a member of the copyright expert database of the Suzhou Intellectual Property Office.
Liwen Sha
Liwen Sha is Assistant to the Director of the Digital Transformation Research Centre and to the Director of the Centre for Knowledge and Information. She is a Certified Data Management Capability Maturity Assessment Model (DCMM) Professional and a DCMM Consultant. She is dedicated to digital enterprise services and digital talent training.