Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Research Assistant
(Ref. 260114007)
[Appointment period: twelve months]
Duties
The appointee will assist the project leader in the research project - “The structural evolution of the Chinese aviation network during and after the pandemic: a machine learning-based approach”. He/She will be required to:
(a) be responsible for collection, cleaning, integration, and analysis of aviation-related data, including flight schedules, passenger and cargo traffic, airline networks, on-time performance, and operational metrics;
(b) develop and maintain aviation data analytics pipelines and dashboards to support market analysis, operational decision-making and industry benchmarking;
(c) apply AI and big data technologies (e.g., Python, SQL, Spark) to extract insights from large-scale structured and unstructured aviation datasets, including ADS-B, flight schedules and text reports; and
(d) conduct predictive modelling and scenario analysis, such as passenger flow forecasting, delay propagation modelling and airline/airport network evaluation.
Qualifications
Applicants should:
(a) have an honours degree or an equivalent qualification, preferable in the disciplines of Statistics, Physics or Computer Science;
(b) have solid background in computer science, and proficiency in Python programming;
(c) be skilled in common databases, with strong operational and maintenance abilities;
(d) have excellent communication and technical learning skills, with strong problem-solving abilities and the capability to work independently;
(e) be passionate about AI technology, with familiarity and experience in using of common large language models; and
(f) have good communication skills in both Chinese and English.
Applicants are invited to contact Dr Jiehong Qiu via email at jiehqiu@polyu.edu.hk for further information.
Conditions of Service
A highly competitive remuneration package will be offered.
Consideration of applications will commence on 21 January 2026 until the position is filled.
Posting date: 14 January 2026