Openings

The following positions are currently open and accepting applications. Please drop me an email at yhkuo at hku.hk if interested.

Ph.D./M.Phil. Students

We are looking for self-motivated and hardworking Ph.D./M.Phil. students to work on various research topics. Focuses are on the theory and applications of operations research techniques (in particular, discrete optimization and systems simulation) and data-driven approaches for decision-making problems in the domains of transportation and logistics planning and healthcare management. The students should have a good degree in a related discipline (e.g., Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, and Systems Engineering), a solid background in optimization, statistics, and simulation, and hands-on programming experience.

Outstanding applicants for the Ph.D. programme are strongly encouraged to apply for the HKU Presidential PhD Scholar Programme (HKU-PS) and Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPF), which offer a package of up to around HK$433,300 (US$55,560) in the first year, and up to around HK$413,300 (US$52,990) in each of the subsequent years during the normative study period. 

Regular full-time M.Phil./Ph.D. students are normally considered eligible to receive a Postgraduate Scholarship (the 2024 rate: HKD 18,760  per month; ~ USD 2,400 per month) during the normative study period. 

Our team members have successful records in winning prestigious fellowships/scholarships, such as HKPF, HKU-PS, University Postgraduate Fellowships (UPF), Dissertation Year Fellowship, Chu Tsun Hong Scholarship for Outstanding Research Achievement, Jessie Ho Memorial Postgraduate Fellowship, and Y S and Christabel Lung Postgraduate Scholarship for Engineering Students.

Our current and former research team members are graduates from leading global universities, such as QS/Times top 50 universities (Duke University, Imperial College London, KAIST, King’s College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Stanford University,  The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Hong Kong, The University of Sydney, The University of Toronto, Tsinghua University, and University College London), and world-class Mainland Chinese universities, such as Double First Class universities (Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing University of Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Jilin University, Nanjing University, Northeast Forestry University, Northeast Normal University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, South China Normal University, Southeast University, Tianjin University, and Tsinghua University).

Graduates from our group have made outstanding achievements:

• Jie WANG (Graduated in 2023; First and current position: Associate Professor, Southeast University)

• Benedict Jun MA (Graduated in 2024; First and current position: Postdoctoral Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

For more information regarding the M.Phil./Ph.D. programme, please refer to the HKPF, HKU-PS, HKU postgraduate scholarship information, the information on the HKU IMSE website, and the general information on application for M.Phil./Ph.D. admission. 

Some facts about HKU:

• Ranked 17th in QS World University Rankings 2025

• Ranked 2nd in QS Asian University Rankings 2025

Visiting Students

We regularly host visiting students (at Master's and Ph.D. levels) to work with us on research projects, focusing on data and systems engineering problems in the transportation, logistics, and healthcare industries. The main responsibilities include collecting, processing, and analyzing data and conducting computational experiments. Visiting students are expected to have good knowledge of mathematics, statistics, and simulation and strong programming skills.