PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kai Qin

Also known as Kai (Alex) Qin

Kai Qin is an AI researcher whose work links machine learning with intelligent optimisation. He earned engineering degrees at Southeast University and Nanyang Technological University, then held research roles at Waterloo, INRIA and RMIT before joining Swinburne in 2017. At Swinburne, his team used machine learning and natural language processing to analyse patent text, and he coauthored a survey of evolutionary multitask optimisation. He became an IEEE Fellow in 2025 and, as of October 2026, directs the Intelligent Data Analytics Lab and leads AI for Space.

Works
253
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 2001–2007

    Engineering degrees

    He earns a BEng from the School of Automation at Southeast University in 2001 and a PhD from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in 2007.

  2. 2007–2012

    Waterloo and INRIA research

    At Waterloo, he works as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Systems Design Engineering from 2007 to 2009. From 2010 to 2012, he works in INRIA Grenoble-Rhône-Alpes's MISTIS team, first as a postdoctoral researcher and then as an expert engineer.

  3. 2012

    An evolutionary computation award

    He receives the 2012 IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation Outstanding Paper Award.

  4. 2012–2017

    Research at RMIT

    He joins RMIT's School of Computer Science and IT in 2012 as a Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, then works as a lecturer and senior lecturer through 2017. His research interests include global optimisation, evolutionary computation, pattern recognition and computer vision.

  5. 2017–2021

    Swinburne and patent analysis

    In 2017, he joins Swinburne's Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering as an associate professor and becomes professor in 2021. In 2019, his team applies deep neural-network machine learning and natural language processing to text from Australia's patent office and scientific articles to predict how technologies evolve.

  6. 2023

    An evolutionary multitask survey

    He coauthors the 2023 survey “Evolutionary Multitask Optimization in Real-World Applications: A Survey,” which reviews evolutionary multitask optimization algorithms.

  7. 2025–2026

    IEEE Fellow and IJCNN chair

    In 2025, he becomes an IEEE Fellow for contributions to the synergy between machine learning and intelligent optimisation. From 2025, he serves as Vice President for Education at IEEE's Computational Intelligence Society, and in 2026 he chairs the IJCNN program.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and AI4Space lead

    As of October 2026, he is a professor at Swinburne and directs its Intelligent Data Analytics Lab. He is Deputy Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute and Program Lead of AI for Space, a program that applies AI to Earth-observation data. His research links machine learning with intelligent optimisation.

Career

  1. Since 2017Swinburne University of TechnologyAssociate Professor, Professor
  2. 2012–2017RMIT UniversityVice-Chancellor's Research Fellow; Lecturer; Senior Lecturer
  3. 2010–2012INRIA GrenoblePostdoctoral Researcher
  4. 2007–2009University of WaterlooPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2007Nanyang Technological UniversityPhD
  2. 2001Southeast UniversityBEng

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Kai Qin. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Swinburne University of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes Inria. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Inria. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Kai Qin yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Homepage of Kai QIN (Alex) alexkaiqin.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Kai (Alex) Qin – VISION AND IMAGE PROCESSING (VIP) RESEARCH GROUP vip.uwaterloo.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellows - RMIT University rmit.edu.au. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Homepage of Kai QIN (Alex) alexkaiqin.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Analysing data to predict the evolution of technologies | Swinburne swinburne.edu.au. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Evolutionary Multitask Optimization in Real-World Applications: A Survey | Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Technology ojs.istp-press.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Homepage of Kai QIN (Alex) alexkaiqin.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Swinburne highly cited researchers reach the top in 12 fields swinburne.edu.au. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. AI4Space | Space Institute | Swinburne swinburne.edu.au. Checked 21 October 2026.