Curriculum Vitae
Dr Chao Chen
PhDAssistant Professor, School of Computer Science
Education
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE)
The University of Nottingham
Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Advance HE
Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (AFEHEA)
Advance HE
Ph.D. in Computer Science
The University of Nottingham
M.Sc. (Distinction) in Management of Information Technology
The University of Nottingham
B.Eng. (Hons) in Electronic and Information Engineering
Tianjin University of Technology
Employment
Assistant ProfessorCurrent
School of Computer Science, The University of Nottingham
Research Fellow & Teaching Associate
School of Computer Science, The University of Nottingham
Teaching Assistant
School of Computer Science, The University of Nottingham
Editorial Assistant (part-time)
IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems
Teaching Assistant (part-time)
School of Computer Science, The University of Nottingham
Software Engineer & Project Manager
Zijin Fulcrum Technology Co., Ltd., China
Awards & Achievements
Best Performance Award × 2 — MICCAI 2025 CARE Challenge
Sigma Team won both Liver Fibrosis Staging tasks (Non-Contrast MRI and Contrast-Enhanced MRI) at the CARE Challenge, MICCAI 2025, Daejeon, South Korea.
Nottingham Reward Scheme Award
Rewarding exceptional performance for staff whose contribution goes above and beyond the normal expectation of their role.
Runner-up Best Overall Group Project
Software Engineering Group Project for second-year undergraduate students, in collaboration with Atos.
Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad
The highest award the government gives to graduate students studying abroad, with approximately 500 recipients per year.
Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship for Research Excellence
University of Nottingham.
Invited Talks & Tutorials
1st Workshop on Computational Intelligence on Human Informatics (CIHI) · IEEE WCCI 2024 · Yokohama, Japan
Asks whether the standard practice of defining fuzzy set linguistic variables by hand is adequate once rule structure and model performance are taken into account. Demonstrates that data-driven optimisation of fuzzy set definitions can yield substantial gains over predefined sets — e.g. on Iris Classification, RMSE dropped from 0.2872 to 0.1421 and misclassifications from 22 to 4.
FUZZ-IEEE 2022 Tutorials · IEEE WCCI 2022 · Padua, Italy · with Prof. Jonathan M. Garibaldi
Three-part tutorial introducing the FuzzyR toolbox: (i) fundamentals and software usage, (ii) practical exercises with example fuzzy logic systems, (iii) wrap-up with discussion. Covers type-1 and interval type-2 fuzzy inference systems, optimisation via an extended ANFIS architecture, eight accuracy measures including UMBRAE, GUI tools, and the non-singleton extension.
Research
My research mainly addresses a central tension in AI: how to improve predictive performance without sacrificing interpretability. To this end, my work advances optimisation methods for inherently interpretable models, especially fuzzy inference systems, combining gradient-based, differentiable, and hybrid approaches to narrow the performance gap with modern deep learning while preserving transparent reasoning and principled uncertainty handling.
- Authored 35+ journal and conference papers, including publications in IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems and AAAI.
- Active research on AI for healthcare — medical image analysis, clinical decision support, and clinical knowledge discovery — with clinical partners in the UK and China.
- Lead author and maintainer of FuzzyR, an open-source Fuzzy Logic Toolkit for R — 78,000+ downloads on CRAN.
- Supervised 3 PhD students since October 2019 — 2 completed (2023, 2024), 1 ongoing.
Teaching
- From 2022/2023, Module Convenor of C++ Programming (COMP2006), an optional Level 2 module with approximately 200 students per cohort.
- From 2020 to 2022, Module Convenor of Fuzzy Logic and Fuzzy Systems (COMP4033), a Level 4 module for both PG and UG students.
- Since 2018, in charge of tutorials for Programming and Algorithms — designing materials and leading the tutor team.
- Supervising group and individual projects at both UG and PG levels since 2017.
- Since 2012, involved in teaching a wide range of modules through lab demonstrations, marking, and tutorial delivery.
Academic Service
Current Roles
Publication Chair
FUZZ-IEEE @ WCCI 2026, QAI 2026
Associate Editor
IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine
Special Session Co-organiser
Advances in Optimisation for Fuzzy Systems @ FUZZ-IEEE / IEEE WCCI 2026, Maastricht
Reviewing
Selected Publications
Full list of 30+ publications including journal papers, conference papers, software, and a book chapter.
View all →