Researcher

Ling Shao

Also known as 邵岭

Ling Shao is a computer-vision researcher whose work on human action recognition and video understanding earned an IAPR Fellowship in 2018. After a D.Phil. at Oxford in 2005, he worked as a senior scientist at Philips Research, then as a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield and a chair professor at Northumbria University. From 2018 to 2021, he served as chief executive of the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence, and from 2019 to 2021 as provost of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Mohammed bin Rashid awarded him the Medal for Scientific Distinction in 2023. He joined Terminus Group as chief scientist in 2022, and as of October 2026 he is its president and chief AI officer.

Timeline

  1. 2002–2005

    An Oxford doctorate

    He earns an M.Sc. at Oxford in 2002 and a D.Phil. in 2005.

  2. 2005–2009

    Senior scientist at Philips

    He works as a senior scientist at Philips Research in Eindhoven from 2005 to 2009.

  3. 2009–2016

    Senior lecturer, then chair professor

    He joins the University of Sheffield as a senior lecturer in 2009 and becomes a chair professor at Northumbria University in 2014.

  4. 2018

    An IAPR fellowship

    The International Association for Pattern Recognition names him a Fellow in 2018 for contributions to human action recognition and video understanding.

  5. 2018–2021

    CEO of the Inception Institute

    He becomes CEO and chief scientist of the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence in 2018. In 2019 he also becomes provost and executive vice-president of the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, and both roles end in 2021.

  6. 2022

    Chief scientist at Terminus

    He joins Terminus Group in 2022 as chief scientist and president of Terminus International.

  7. April 2023

    A medal for scientific distinction

    Mohammed bin Rashid awards him the Medal for Scientific Distinction in April 2023.

  8. As of October 2026

    President and chief AI officer

    He is president and chief AI officer of Terminus Group, and he outlines key areas for robotics and physical AI at the second Moscow Startup Summit.

Sources and credits

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  1. Ling Shao - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Ling Shao | USERN Profile usern.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. CATCH - Professor Ling Shao catch.sites.sheffield.ac.uk. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. 2018 IAPR Fellows – International Association for Pattern Recognition iapr.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Presenter - SIGGRAPH Asia 2024 asia.siggraph.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. FinancialContent - Terminus Group Appoints Chief Scientist for the Research and Development of Intelligent IoT technology markets.financialcontent.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Mohammed bin Rashid honours winners of the 4th MBR Medal for Scientific Distinction mediaoffice.ae. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. The Future of AI, Robotics, and Technology Entrepreneurship Discussed at Moscow Startup Summit | Capital Newspaper capitalethiopia.com. Checked 14 October 2026.