ISTD Head of Pillar Prof Li Xiaoli and Assistant Prof Sun Zhu have been invited to join the organising committee of the 40th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-26), one of the premier international conferences in the field of AI. Prof Li is one of the Exhibit Chairs, and Assistant Prof Sun has been appointed Co-Chair of the Undergraduate Consortium (UC).

Prof Li’s participation in AAAI-26 as Exhibit Chair is testament to his recognition internationally within the AI community for his leadership roles at top-tier conferences including NeurIPS, ICLR, KDD, ICDM, WWW, IJCAI, AAAI, ACL, and EMNLP—serving as Conference Chair, Area Chair, Workshop Chair, and Session Chair. Prof Li brings years of both academic and industry experience with over 380 research papers published in leading AI and data science conferences and journals. He has also led more than 10 collaborative R&D projects with partners across verticals including aerospace, telecommunications, insurance, and aviation.

Assistant Prof Sun’s appointment as Co-Chair of the Undergraduate Consortium highlights her influential role in AI research and education. Her work lies at the intersection of trustworthy user modelling, personalisation, and human-AI decision making. She has received multiple awards for both research and teaching, and actively contributes to the AI community through student mentorship, editorial service and leadership roles in academic and professional events.

The Undergraduate Consortium (AAAI-UC) offers undergraduates a unique opportunity to present their research, receive mentorship from senior AI researchers, and participate in the broader AAAI conference community. The AAAI-26 UC will be held in conjunction with the main conference in 2026 and aims to foster the next generation of AI scholars by providing a platform for early-stage research exposure and professional development.

As Co-Chair, Assistant Prof Sun will play a key role in shaping the programme, mentoring young scholars, and promoting a diverse and inclusive research environment. Her appointment reflects her ongoing commitment to nurturing emerging talent and advancing AI education and scholarship on a global scale. The 40th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-26) is happening in Singapore Expo from 20 – 27 January 2026.