Dr. David Yip is a veteran in the field of creative industries and media education. He has more than 20 years of teaching and management experience in the field. He is currently an assistant professor and an associate professor of practice in computational media and art at HKUST (GZ) with joint appointment in HKUST. He is also the Director of the CMA Lab. David holds a Doctor of Education from the University of Bristol.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley and the School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California, David joined the Hong Kong TV and film industry as a TV producer. He later became a founding faculty of the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong in 1998. Since 2011, David joined the Open University of Hong Kong (now Hong Kong Metropolitan University) and established popular programs in Animation, Visual Effects and Interactive Entertainment programs as associate professor and program leader. He has led graduates to win important awards. As a writer, director and producer, David is active in applied projects, consultancy and advisory work for the Hong Kong SAR Government, creative industries, and higher education.

In terms of academic works, David has published several book chapters on interactive media and visual storytelling in Springer. His and his students’ papers have been published in ACM CHI, IEEE AIART, IEEE ICET, IEEE VIS, VINCI, AHFE, and other conferences. He is also a reviewer for ACM Multimedia, IHSED, AHFE and other seminars.

Research keywords:

Creative AI and Art, Expanded Cinema,

Automative Narrative

Nolan is a research member of the HKUST (GZ) Creative Arts and Technology Team. His practice based research interest explores the critical and creative potentials of creative-AI in art and cinematic narratives. His artworks have been exhibited in countries and regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. He is the finalist of Arte Laguna Prize. (23'24 edition) He has previously served as a lecturer in Art and Technology at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts and holds the Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Creative Media from City University of Hong Kong.

Research keywords:

Storytelling, Computer Graphic, Metaverse, AIGC

Zhihua is a research member of the HKUST (GZ) Creative Arts and Technology Team. He holds a master's degree from the College of Computer Science and Technology at Zhejiang University. His research interests encompass the deep integration of narrative and computer grapdahics, storytelling in the metaverse, and the intersection of AIGC (Artificial Intelligence in Games and Creativity) with artistic creation. As a computer science researcher, he has been invited to serve as a reviewer for the SIGGRAPH conference. Previously, he worked as a game engine engineer at 37 Interactive Entertainment.

Research keywords:  

AI-assisted Filmmaking, Storytelling, Virtual Production

Junrong is a research member of the HKUST (GZ) Creative Arts and Technology Team. She graduated from Sun Yat sen University and later obtained a master's degree in film from the California College of the Arts (CCA). Her research focuses on generative artificial intelligence-assisted storytelling and narrative, as well as virtual production. As a director and planner, she has been involved in the creative development and production of various stage plays, films, and web drama. At this stage, she aims to further expand the possibilities of merging new technologies with art and explore the boundaries of creativity.

Research keywords: Nostalgia, Emotion Share & Requests, Cognition and Memory, Artistic interactive expression

Han Lei graduated from the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts with a bachelor's degree in Future Media, specializing in audiovisual interaction. He is a curator and a new media interaction designer. As an art creator, his works have been exhibited in Beijing, London, Osaka, Brussels, and Hong Kong in the past. Currently, his research focuses on the integration of human-computer interaction with multimodal emotion computing as the main application, as well as innovative attempts in emotion-based future expression, interactive storytelling of memories, and user nostalgic experiences through new media.

Research keywords: Virtual Production, Interactive Storytelling, Film Education in the Metaverse

Wenchuan graduated from the Cinematography Department of the Beijing Film Academy and is currently a MPhil in Computational Media and Arts at HKUST(GZ). His research encompasses virtual production, interactive storytelling and film education in the metaverse. As a filmmaker, he has previously served as the assistant director for "The YinYang Master,” and worked as the director of photography for various theater movies, series, and short films, including "Flags Fly”, “The Hope of The Spring”, “Shimmer Summer” and others.

Research keywords: Spacial Storytelling, Human Computer Interactive Installation, Central Asian Culture Narrative Metaverse

Joshua Nijiati Alimujiang studied civil engineering and architectural design at Southwest Jiaotong University and Shibaura Institute of Technology. He’s now an M.Phil. in computational media and arts at HKUST(GZ). Born and raised in Urumqi, Joshua creates. His work focuses on exploring a breadth of architecture and combining various fields of multimedia and art expression in the hope of breaking traditional boundaries and create strong visual languages. He is also working as a student member in Diversity and Equal Opportunities Committee at HKUST (GZ) since 2023 and student member in American Society of Civil Engineers since 2021.

Research keywords: AI Agent, Narrative Game, Human Computer Interaction

Xiaoyun graduated from the School of Computer Science at Wuhan University and is currently a MPhil student in Computational Media and Art at HKUST (GZ). His research areas include the practice of artificial intelligence technology in artistic creation and human-computer interaction, including design research on AI agent systems.

Research keywords: Interactive Storytelling, Transmedia Storytelling, AIGC

Yuelu graduated from Yonsei University in South Korea with a major in Media Communication. Currently, she is a MPhil in Computational Media and Arts at HKUST(GZ). Her research focuses primarily on interactive narrative content creation under the intervention of AI agents in the metaverse. Her research areas include interactive storytelling, transmedia storytelling, and AIGC.

Research keywords: Digital Display and Digital Human Design

Yeming graduated from the Communication University of Zhejiang and is currently a Research Assistant in Computational Media and Arts at HKUST(GZ). His research encompasses Digital Display and Digital Human Design. He has worked for digital display design companies and has experience in virtual character design. He has designed virtual spokespeople for many high-profile commercial brands such as Red Bull, Philips and HYLink. He has also worked on the development of Alibaba Tmall's metaverse platform. He has designed digital VR content for the Shaoxing Lanting Calligraphy Museum, and his digital display content has been showcased at the World Internet Conference.