PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Tieniu Tan

Tieniu Tan is a computer-vision and pattern-recognition researcher whose work includes iris-based personal identification. He earned a bachelor's degree at Xi'an Jiaotong University and master's and doctoral degrees at Imperial College London. After working at the University of Reading, he returned to China in 1998 and joined CASIA's National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition. A 2003 paper with Li Ma, Yunhong Wang and Dexin Zhang describes iris recognition from image sequences; honors include an IAPR Fellowship in 2006, a Royal Academy of Engineering International Fellowship in 2014 and the 2022 King-Sun Fu Prize. Since September 2022, he has chaired Nanjing University's CPC Council and, in 2026, delivered the first class to incoming postgraduate students.

Works
804
Citations
49,077
h-index
108

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1984–1998

    Studies and early appointments

    He earned a BSc from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 1984 and MSc and PhD degrees from Imperial College London in 1986 and 1989. After his doctorate, he joined the University of Reading and returned to China in 1998 to join CASIA's National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition.

  2. 2003

    Reading iris patterns

    In IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Tan coauthored a paper with Li Ma, Yunhong Wang and Dexin Zhang. It describes identifying people from iris-image sequences by selecting a clear image and extracting texture features with spatial filters.

  3. 2006

    An IAPR fellowship

    IAPR named him a Fellow for contributions to computer vision and pattern recognition.

  4. 2014

    Elected an international fellow

    The Royal Academy of Engineering elected him an International Fellow in 2014.

  5. 2016–2022

    A post in Hong Kong

    In December 2016, he became Deputy Director of the Central Government's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, a role he held before taking the Nanjing University Party Secretary post in September 2022.

  6. 2022

    A biometrics prize

    He received the King-Sun Fu Prize for contributions to biometrics with practical applications.

  7. 2026

    Teaching new postgraduates

    Since September 2022, he has chaired Nanjing University's CPC Council. He is a CAS academician; before this post, he served as vice president and deputy secretary-general, directed CASIA and its National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition. At Nanjing University's 2026 postgraduate opening, he delivered the first class to incoming students.

Sources and credits

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  1. Tan Tieniu-Nanjing University nju.edu.cn. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Personal identification based on iris texture analysis oamonitor.ireland.openaire.eu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. IAPR - IAPR Fellows old.iapr.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Tan Tieniu Elected To Royal Academy Of Engineering – Asian Scientist Magazine asianscientist.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. news.gov.hk - A robust economy improves lives news.gov.hk. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Professor Tan Tieniu Appointed As Party Secretary of Nanjing University njunju.nju.edu.cn. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. King-Sun Fu Prize – International Association for Pattern Recognition iapr.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. Opening Ceremony and the "First Class" for 2026 postgraduate students held-Nanjing University nju.edu.cn. Checked 14 October 2026.