PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kay Chen Tan

Also known as K C Tan, K Tan, K. C. TAN, K. C. Tan, K. Chen Tan

Kay Chen Tan is an AI researcher in computational intelligence whose work applies evolutionary search and knowledge transfer to optimization. He earned a BEng and PhD at the University of Glasgow in 1994 and 1997, then joined the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor in 1997. He edited IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine from 2010 to 2013 and IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation from 2015 to 2020, and received the IEEE CIS Outstanding Early Career Award in 2012. In 2019, he was a professor at CityUHK and coauthored a GAN-based multiobjective optimizer; he presented evolutionary transfer optimization at an IEEE CIS plenary in 2020 and served as the society's vice-president for publications from 2021 to 2024. Clarivate named him a Highly Cited Researcher in 2025, and he received the RGC Senior Research Fellowship for 2025/26 and the IEEE CIS Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award in 2026; as of October 2026, he is the founding head and Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Works
851
Citations
35,003
h-index
98
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1994–1997

    Glasgow degrees and NUS post

    He earns a BEng in 1994 and a PhD in 1997 at the University of Glasgow, where he works with the Centre for Systems & Control and Evolutionary Computing Group before joining the National University of Singapore's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as an Assistant Professor in 1997.

  2. 2010–2020

    IEEE journals and early award

    He serves as editor-in-chief of IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine from 2010 to 2013. From 2015 to 2020, he serves as editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation.

  3. 2012

    An IEEE early career award

    The IEEE CIS gives him its Outstanding Early Career Award in 2012.

  4. 2019–2024

    Evolutionary search and IEEE leadership

    In 2019, he is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at City University of Hong Kong. In an arXiv paper submitted in 2019, he and four coauthors propose a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm that trains generative adversarial networks (GANs) on parent solutions and samples offspring from the trained models. In July 2020, he gives an IEEE CIS plenary on evolutionary transfer optimization, which learns and transfers knowledge across problems; from 2021 to 2024, he serves as the society's vice-president for publications.

  5. 2025

    Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher

    Clarivate recognizes Tan as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2025.

  6. 2025–2026

    RGC Senior Research Fellow

    He receives the RGC Senior Research Fellowship for 2025/26 at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

  7. 2026

    An evolutionary computation award

    He receives the IEEE CIS Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award in 2026.

  8. As of October 2026

    Head and chair professor at PolyU

    He is the founding head and Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence in PolyU's Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Career

  1. Since 2020Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityFounding Head and Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence
  2. 2019–2024City University of Hong KongProfessor
  3. 1997–2023National University of SingaporeAssistant Professor
  4. 1994–1997University of Glasgow

Education

  1. 1997University of GlasgowPhD
  2. 1994University of GlasgowBEng

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Multiobjective Deep Belief Networks Ensemble for Remaining Useful Life Estimation in Prognostics2016 · IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems · 874 citations
  2. A Survey on Evolutionary Neural Architecture Search2021 · IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems · 659 citationsWith Mengjie Zhang
  3. A Competitive-Cooperative Coevolutionary Paradigm for Dynamic Multiobjective Optimization2008 · IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation · 593 citations
  4. A Multi-Facet Survey on Memetic Computation2011 · IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation · 513 citations
  5. A Generic Deep-Learning-Based Approach for Automated Surface Inspection2017 · IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics · 482 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Hong Kong Polytechnic University. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 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. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 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.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 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.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Kay Chen TAN - CityUHK Scholars scholars.cityu.edu.hk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Modern Industrial Automation Software Design by Lingfeng Wang, Kay CHen Tan - Books on Google Play play.google.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Prof. TAN Kay Chen | Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence polyu.edu.hk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. COMP Research Seminar- Evolutionary Computation at Work: Opportunities and Challenges polyu.edu.hk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization Driven by Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Plenary: Evolutionary Transfer Optimization resourcecenter.cis.ieee.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. [Lecture Invitation] Distinguished Lecture by Prof. Kay Chen Tan | Recent Advances in Evolutionary Transfer Optimization and Applications cityu-dg.edu.cn. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Awardees Database | Awards in UGC/RGC awards.ugc.edu.hk. Checked 20 October 2026.