Dr. Zexun Chen

Dr. Zexun Chen

Lecturer/Assistant Professor

University of Edinburgh

Profile

Hello there! I am currently a Lecturer and Assistant Professor in Predictive Analytics at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Before I landed here, I taught Computer Science at the University of Exeter. Before that, I worked as a research fellow at the University of Sussex from 2017 to 2019, followed by a postdoc role in Exeter’s Computer Science department from 2019 to 2021. You could say I have made my way around the UK academic world.

In terms of research, I am all about probabilistic machine learning and Bayesian non-parametric predictive methods. If it involves Gaussian Processes or Student-t Process modelling, I am in. These days, I am exploring topics like causal inference, time series forecasting, data-driven option pricing (yes, making sense of all that financial data), algorithmic fairness, and even the science of human mobility. It keeps things interesting.

I am currently leading a lively online Research Interest Group on Gaussian Process Modelling, which has around 850 members as of October 2024. We chat about Bayesian non-parametric modelling, Bayesian optimisation, inference, computation, and so much more. Feel free to join us on Slack if that sounds like your cup of tea.

On campus, I am also putting together a student-focused stats study group. It is a space where we dive into all things stats, complete with resources and tools to boost your skills. Check out the Statistics for Business School Research if you are curious to learn more.

For anyone thinking, I would love to do a PhD with this guy, keep an eye on the University of Edinburgh Business School’s PhD Programme. If you have questions or ideas, feel free to drop me an email or send me a message directly on Slack. Let us make some academic magic happen!

Interests
  • Gaussian Process
  • Bayesian Non-parametrics
  • Time Series
  • Algorithmic Fairness
  • Human Mobility
Education
  • PhD in Mathematics and Statistics, 2017

    University of Leicester, UK

  • BSc in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, 2013

    Shandong University, China

News

04/09/2024, New research reveals that human mobility patterns are highly predictable, driven by biological needs and social structures. This study highlights that even with limited data, understanding location-based contexts can significantly enhance predictions of movement trends, offering valuable insights for fields like urban planning and crisis management. If you are interested in this research, please follow this link.

13/04/2022, great work with our team! Think of your privacy, look around your social connections online, and you’ll have interest in this paper, please see link.

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Lecturer in Predictive Analytics
Aug 2021 – Present Edinburgh, UK

Deliver both online teaching and face to face teaching in Business School. Taught modules and programs include

 
 
 
 
 
Lecturer in Computer Science
Oct 2020 – Dec 2020 Exeter, Devon, UK

Deliver both online teaching and face to face teaching in Computer Science and Data Science. Taught modules include

  • Programming
  • Social and Professional Issues of the Information Age
  • Computer and Internet
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Researcher
May 2019 – Jul 2021 Exeter, Devon, UK

Join in

  • an US Army Research project: Identification of human mobility models using socio-spotio-temporal predictive models
  • BioComplex Lab
 
 
 
 
 
Research Fellow
Nov 2017 – Feb 2019 Brighton, East Sussex, UK

Join in

  • an EPSRC project: Injecting Ethical and Legal Constraints into Machine Learning Models
  • Predictive Analytics Lab (PAL)

Projects

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Recent Publications

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(2024). Dynamic predictability and activity-location contexts in human mobility.

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(2022). Contrasting social and non-social sources of predictability in human mobility. In Nat Commun.

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(2020). Tuning Fairness by Balancing Target Labels. In Front. Artif. Intell..

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(2019). Multivariate Gaussian and Student-t process regression for multioutput prediction. In Neural. Comput. Appl..

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Contact