Professor Dr Yanguo Jing is the Dean of the Faculty of Business, Computing and Digital Industries, Leeds Trinity University. He is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence. Prior joining LTU, Professor Jing was a Professor in Artificial Intelligence and an Associate Dean in Coventry University, having held senior leadership roles in all three faculties – namely the Faculty of Business and Law, the Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.  

Professor Jing has a PhD (Heriot-Watt University), a MSc, a 1st class BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. He has over 20 years’ teaching, research and enterprise experience in the UK and in China. Yanguo is a Certified Management & Business Educator, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Charter IT professional and a Principal Fellow of the Advance HE (PFHEA). 

Prof. Jing’s prime research interests are applied Artificial Intelligence. His recent research work focuses on the use of machine-learning methods to capture interaction and user behaviour patterns that can be used to develop intelligent applications. This research has been applied in applications such as medical domain, business analytics, sports analytics, and user behaviour pattern recognition in social networks and extra-care/ Assisted Living settings. He participated in several research, KTP and consultancy projects with sponsors and clients such as Cadent Gas, Pfizer, Welsh Government, KPIT, UK’s Comic Relief charity and JISC in the UK. Prof. Jing is interested in using technologies (e.g. Mobile and Internet) to support teaching and learning. He has over 10 years’ experience in facilitating online teaching in higher education. He chaired several national workshops on Teaching and Learning using Mobile and Tablet Devices. His work has led to a series of research papers in this area. 

Prof. Jing has been the PI in winning over £30M executive education and apprenticeship contracts from the public sector and businesses. These include the Cabinet Office’s flagship programme - Future Leaders Scheme from 2019 to 2022, Chevening Ethiopia Leadership Fellowship from 2019 to 2022, Level 7 Senior Leader MBA apprenticeship contract from Ministry of Justice in 2020-2022, and the Financial Fraud e-learning project with the City of London Police and the Cabinet Office in 2019-2022. He also oversaw the launch of the PCDA and DHEP programme for the City of London Police between 2021-2022. He is a member of the Executive Education Committee, Chartered Association of Business Schools, and has been instrumental in supporting key SME support programmes such as Help to Grow: Management, and Small Business Leadership Programme. 

Prof. Jing works very closely with industry, employers and professional associations which enables him to teach students the most relevant workplace knowledge and to provide them with real-world case studies taken from research and industry projects, so that they can see the relevance to their future career. Prof. Jing is passionate about working with business to address digital skill shortages and work force upskilling. He has been instrumental in securing the successful bid for the national Institute of Coding (IoC) in the UK, which aims to address digital skills shortages in the industry and to create a talent pipeline of appropriate digital skills from diverse backgrounds.  Yanguo is interested in providing students opportunities to learn by applying their knowledge to real life projects while at the university. He set up a Work-Related Learning framework, which has been adopted in a university-wide scheme in the UK. He was the managing director of a successful university software company which was set up to provide university computer science students real commercial work experience on live projects. 

He has won several awards including a University Staff Excellency Award for Best Enterprise Initiative from Coventry University, and a University Teaching Fellow award recognizing his excellence in teaching and learning from London Metropolitan University.   

Qualifications:

PhD in Computer Science, 2004, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Thesis title: A model based intelligent interface agent architecture

Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, London Metropolitan University, 2003 

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2004

MSc in Computer Science, Dalian Maritime University, China, 2000

BSc (Hon) in Computer Science, 1^stclass, Dalian Maritime University, China, 1997

Experience: 

May 2016 – 2022, Associate Dean (Enterprise and Innovation) and Professor, worked in three faculties - Faculty of Business and Law, Faculty of Engineering, Enviornment and Computing, and Faculty and Arts and Humanities, Coventry University.  

2021 - 2022, Chair of Coventry University China Group  

September 2002 - April 2016, Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Lecturer, Head of Faculty Enterprise, London Metropolitan University. Managging Director of the university software agency.

1999 - 2002 Heriot-Watt University, PhD Researcher and lab tutor (PT) 

1997-1999, Dalian Maritime University, China, Teaching Assitant (PT) and Master researcher student

Teaching Experience

Technology and its Social, Legal and Ethical Context,  Real World Project (sponsored by real clients), Individual UG Project, Professional Work Placement, Individual Master Project, International Field Trip, Information Management System, E-commerce, AI, Mobile Applications Development, Web Applications Development, Work Related Learning, Work Placement.

• AI and machine learning
• Data analytics
• User modeling and adaptive user interfaces
• Security framework for mobile devices
• Student entrepreneurship and employability
• Enterprise and innovation
• Technology-assisted teaching and learning