Qian Zhu (朱倩)

DEKE Lab, School of Information, Renmin University of China
Information Building 323
qian(dot)z@ruc(dot)edu(dot)cn · zhuqian.org

Education

2020–2024
Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong
Advisor: Prof. Xiaojuan Ma
2017–2020
M.S. in Computer Science
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing
Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISCAS)
Advisor: Prof. Cuixia Ma
2013–2017
B.Eng. in Digital Media and Technology
Shandong University (SDU), Shandong
Advisor: Prof. Juan Liu

Professional Experience

2025–
Assistant Professor (Lecturer), School of Information
Renmin University of China (RUC), Beijing
DEKE Key Lab of Data Engineering and Knowledge Engineering
2024–25
Visiting Scholar, School of Information
Renmin University of China (RUC), Beijing
IDEAS Lab
2023-2024
Visiting Researcher, School of Interactive Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Immersive Visualization & Interaction Group · Mentored by Dr. Yalong Yang
2023
Research Assistant, Computational Media and Arts
HKUST(GZ), Guangzhou
Collaborative Interactive Visualization & Analysis Lab · Mentored by Dr. Wei Zeng
2022
Ph.D. Student Internship, Human-Machine Lab
Huawei Tech. Investment Co., Ltd., Shenzhen
Mentored by Dr. Zhenyi He

Selected Publications

Conference and Journal Papers (strictly peer-reviewed)

2026
Zhiyao Yang, Zhan Wang, Yihan Hou, Qian Zhu, Wei Zeng. Less is More Afar: Responsive Design for Situated Visualization Based on Viewing Distance. Virtual Reality 2026.
2025
Zhan Wang, Qian Zhu, David Yip, Fugee Tsung, Wei Zeng. CineFolio: Cinematography-guided Camera Planning for Immersive Narrative Visualization. Visual Informatics 2025.
2025
Tao Lu, Qian Zhu, Tiffany Ma, Wong Kam-Kwai, Catherine Xie, Alex Endert, Yalong Yang. Ego vs. Exo and Active vs. Passive: Investigating the Individual and Combined Effects of Viewpoint and Navigation on Spatial Immersion and Understanding in Immersive Storytelling. ACM CHI 2025.
2025
Hanfang Lyu, Xiaoyu Wang, Nandi Zhang, Shuai Ma, Qian Zhu, Yuhan Luo, Fugee Tsung, Xiaojuan Ma. Signaling Human Intentions to Service Robots: Understanding the Use of Social Cues during In-Person Conversations. ACM CHI 2025. Honorable Mention Award
2024
Qian Zhu, Zhuo Wang, Wei Zeng, Tong Wai, Weiyue Lin, Xiaojuan Ma. Make Interaction Situated: Designing User Acceptable Interaction for Situated Visualization in Public Environments. ACM CHI 2024.
2024
Qian Zhu, Tao Lu, Shunan Guo, Xiaojuan Ma, Yalong Yang. CompositingVis: Exploring Interactions for Creating Composite Visualizations in Immersive Environments. IEEE VIS 2024 (TVCG).
2024
Qian Zhu, Dakuo Wang, Shuai Ma, April Yi Wang, Zixin Chen, Udayan Khurana, Xiaojuan Ma. Towards Feature Engineering with Human and AI's Knowledge: Understanding Data Workers' Perceptions in Human & AI-Assisted Feature Engineering Design. ACM DIS 2024.
2024
Yilin Ye, Qian Zhu, Shishi Xiao, Kang Zhang, Wei Zeng. The Contemporary Art of Image Search: Iterative User Intent Expansion via Vision-Language Model. ACM CSCW 2024.
2023
Qian Zhu, Linping Yuan, Zian Xu, Leni Yang, Meng Xia, Zhuo Wang, Hai-Ning Liang, Xiaojuan Ma. From Reader to Experiencer: Design and Evaluation of an Interactive VR Data Story for Promoting the Situation Awareness of Public Health Threats. IJHCS 2023.
2022
Qian Zhu, Leo Yu-Ho Lo, Meng Xia, Zixin Chen, Xiaojuan Ma. Bias-Aware Design for Informed Decisions: Raising Awareness of Self-Selection Bias in User Ratings and Reviews. ACM CSCW 2022.
2022
Meng Xia, Qian Zhu, Xingbo Wang, Fei Nie, Huamin Qu, Xiaojuan Ma. Persua: A Visual Interactive System to Enhance the Persuasiveness of Arguments in Online Discussion. ACM CSCW 2022.
2020
Cuixia Ma, Jiancheng Song, Qian Zhu, Kevin Maher, Zeyu Huang, Hong-An Wang. EmotionMap: Visual Analysis of Video Emotional Content on a Map. Journal of Computer Science and Technology 2020.

Short Papers, Posters, and Extended Abstracts

2025
Xiaofeng Dou, Jiahe Dong, Shuhao Zhang, Qian Zhu, Quan Li. Danmaku Avatar: Enabling Asynchronous Co-viewing Experiences in Virtual Reality via Danmaku. ACM CHI 2025 LBW.
2023
Weiyue Lin, Ting Li, Liu Liu, Qian Zhu. "Unfold and Go Touch": A Portable Method for Making Existing Touchscreens Accessible to Blind and Low Vision People in Self-Service Terminals. ACM CHI 2023 LBW.
2019
Qian Zhu, Shuai Ma, Cuixia Ma. Pre-screen: Assisting Material Screening in Early-stage of Video Editing. ACM UIST 2019 Adjunct.
2019
Qian Zhu, Shuai Ma. What Did I Miss? Assisting User-adaptive Missed Content Reviewing in MOOC Learning. ACM UIST 2019 Adjunct.

Honors & Awards

Academic Awards

2025
Best Paper Honorable Mention Award, ACM CHI 2025, Yokohama, Japan

Service Awards

2025
Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews, ACM CHI '26, full paper
2025
Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews, ACM UIST '25, full paper
2025
Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews, ACM CHI '25, full paper
2024
2× Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews, ACM CHI '24, full paper
2024
Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews, ACM CHI '24, Late-Breaking Work
2023
Special Recognition for Outstanding Reviews, IEEE VIS '23, full paper

Fellowships & Scholarships

2023–24
Overseas Research Award, HKUST
2023–24
Hong Kong Postgraduate Studentship, HKUST
2020–22
Huawei Ph.D. Fellowship, Huawei Tech. Co. Ltd.
2019
First-class Scholarship for Outstanding Students, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2017
Outstanding Undergraduate, Shandong University

Teaching

Fall 2026
Human-Computer Interaction
Renmin University of China
Spring 2026
Advanced Python Programming
Renmin University of China

Teaching Assistant

Fall 2021, 2023
COMP 4462 Data Visualization (by Prof. Xiaojuan Ma)
HKUST
Spring 2021
COMP 1029P Python Programming (by Lecturer Gibson Lam)
HKUST

Academic Service

Program Committee

2026
ACM CHI Subcommittee AC, IEEE PacificVis PC, VINCI PC

Conference Reviewing

Venue
ACM CHI (2022–2026) · ACM UIST (2022–2026) · IEEE VIS (2022–2026) · EuroVis (2025) · IEEE PacificVis (2024) · ACM SIGGRAPH Asia (2024) · ACM DIS (2024) · ACM CSCW (2022–2023) · ACM CHI LBW (2022–2025) · VINCI (2024) · ChinaVis (2022)

Journal Reviewing

Journal
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS, 2025) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI, 2021) · Journal of Computer Science and Technology (JCST, 2019)

Mentoring Experience

2025
Yi Hua (Bachelor, South China University of Technology) · Ziyao Zhang (Parson) · Rui Zhang (Tsinghua University) · Yupei Luo (Bachelor, RUC) · Yifan Wang (Master, RUC; co-advisor: Yunhan Wang)
2024
Tao Lu (Master, Georgia Tech; co-advisor: Yalong Yang) · Zhiyao Yang (PhD, HKUST(GZ); co-advisor: Wei Zeng)
2023
Yilin Ye (PhD, HKUST(GZ); co-advisor: Wei Zeng) · Zhan Wang (PhD, HKUST(GZ); co-advisor: Wei Zeng) · Zhuo Wang (Undergrad, Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University) · Weiyue Lin (Master, Peking University)
2021–22
Zian Xu (Undergrad, HKUST; co-advisor: Xiaojuan Ma) · Zixin Chen (Undergrad, HKUST; co-advisor: Xiaojuan Ma)
2020
Fei Nie (Undergrad, HKUST; co-advisor: Xiaojuan Ma)