About me

Dr. Xian Xu (徐娴，徐嫻) is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Department of Digital Arts and Creative Industries, Lingnan University, Hong Kong. She is also an Associate at Cambridge Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge. Before joining Lingnan University, she served as a Research Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the Division of Arts and Machine Creativity (AMC) and the Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas (EMIA) at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

Her research and creative practice span arts and technology, data-driven storytelling, human–computer collaboration, and immersive learning in the Metaverse. Dr. Xu has published extensively in top-tier venues such as ACM CHI, ACM SIGGRAPH, ACM Multimedia, IEEE VIS, and IEEE VR. Her artistic works have been exhibited internationally, including at ACM SIGGRAPH, the ICRA Art Program, and the Asia Digital Art Festival. Her VR-based educational project and paper received a Best Paper Honorable Mention Award at IEEE VR 2025.

Dr. Xu received her PhD in Computational Media and Arts from HKUST VisLab, where she was recognized as an Outstanding Ph.D. Graduate under the supervision of Prof. Huamin Qu. She also holds an MFA in Drama Studies (Film and TV) and a BA in Directing (Film and TV Producing) from The Central Academy of Drama, where she consistently ranked first in her cohort and was awarded multiple National Scholarships. She has also completed research visits at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Xu is actively engaged in the global academic and creative community. She has served as Associate Chair for major international conferences such as ACM CHI and ACM CSCW, and co-chaired the inaugural HKUST AI Film Festival, which received over 700 submissions from 82 countries and was covered by more than 300 international media outlets. She also spearheaded the design and launch of innovative Art-Tech courses at HKUST, culminating in student exhibitions at the Shaw Auditorium that garnered strong acclaim and media attention. Her work and perspectives have been featured in interviews by Cable TV Hong Kong, RTHK, and other leading media.

Beyond academia, Dr. Xu is also an accomplished creative writer and screenwriter. She is a million RMB screenplay awardee, and her co-written TV drama Our Glamorous Time, with a production budget of over 400 million RMB, premiered on Dragon TV and Zhejiang TV, achieving top national ratings. She is the author of the best-selling nonfiction book I Like To Be Independent, which has sold more than one million copies across China.

She is also deeply passionate about cinema and travel. Her journeys have taken her across numerous countries, experiences that continually broaden her perspective and inspire her work. She finds great joy in capturing fleeting moments through the lens of a camera and transforming them into enduring expressions through the art of writing.

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