Prof. Benjamin W. Wah Chairman, Research Grants Council (2013-2020)

Professor Benjamin Wah is a world-renowned computer scientist whose work has advanced the fields of nonlinear optimisation, artificial intelligence, and multimedia networking.  His foundational research has established optimisation frameworks that underpin efficient AI search, resource allocation in large-scale systems, and constraint satisfaction problems, with broad applications from communications to modern machine learning.  As Provost of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), he was instrumental in strengthening the university's global partnerships, fostering interdisciplinary research, and enhancing postgraduate training programmes.  He led significant initiatives to expand strategic funding opportunities and attract top-tier academic talent, bolstering CUHK's position as a leading research institution.  Before his tenure at CUHK, he contributed to shaping the University of Illinois's research footprint in Asia as the director of the Advanced Digital Sciences Centre in Singapore, where he accelerated the translation of cutting-edge computing research into industry applications.  His leadership and scholarly contributions have been recognised with the highest honours in his field, reflecting a career dedicated to both fundamental discovery and its real-world impact.  He continues to influence the direction of AI and complex systems research through his advisory roles.