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Professor Kecheng Liu

Professor of Applied Informatics

Honourary Director, Informatics Research Centre
Programme Director MSc Informatics (Beijing)

Professor kecheng liu 397 3 Kecheng Liu 75e5pfi6i

Specialisms

  • PhD Supervision: Available ✔, 
  • DBA Supervision: Unavailable, 
  • Business Informatics, 
  • Business-IT Strategy, 
  • Strategic Information Systems, 
  • Business Process Modelling, 
  • Organisational Semiotics, 
  • Pervasive Informatics, 
  • Intelligent Information Systems, 
  • Information Services, 
  • Healthcare, 
  • E-Business, 
  • E-Government, 
  • China & Asia Pacific

Location

LG06, Henley Business School, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading

Professor Kecheng Liu is a Fellow of the British ComputerSociety, Fellow of the Charted Institute of Management, and Senior Fellow of theHigher Education Academy. He is a full professor and holds a chair of Applied Informatics in Henley Business School, University of Reading. Heis the founding Head of School of Business Informatics, Systems and Accounting(2011 - 2016) which consists of several cognate subject areas: businessinformatics, systems, accounting and financial management. He also founded andis the Honorary Director of Informatics Research Centre. During his academiccareer in British universities for more than 25 years, he has played numerousleadership roles such as director academic programmes at the Masters and PhDlevels, and head of school; and served in the University Senate since 2002. Hehas taught courses in business informatics, information management and systems,and digital strategy and leadership at undergraduate and postgraduate levels,including MBA and EMBA. During his extended sabbatical from 8/2016 to 5/2019, he served as the Executive Vice Chancellor of Wuhan College, a private university of 13,000 students in China sponsored by Charles Yidan Chen, one of the core founders of Tencent.

As an internationally renowned scholar in organisationalsemiotics and business informatics, more than 50 PhD students have graduatedunder his supervision. His research interests and publications span fromorganisational semiotics, digital strategy and architecture, enterpriseinformation systems, business-IT alignment, co-design of business and ITsystems, pervasive informatics, and intelligent spaces for working and living.Kecheng Liu is visiting professor in several universities in China (e.g. RenminUniversity, Beijing Institute of Technology, Shanghai University of Finance andEconomics, and Beijing Jiaotong University).

PhD research opportunity with Professor Kecheng Liu:

  • Visualisation and Data Analytics from a Semiotic Perspective

Please visit the "PhD Opportunity" tab for more information.

New book published in December 2015:

Organisational Semiotics and Business Informatics. Routledge. ISBN 9780415823562. Available for purchasing from Amazon

Topics or projects for DBA supervision:

  • Digital transformation
  • Digital and AI competences
  • Digital and AI in business
  • Digital business ecosystems

Reference: Liu, K. , Bai, J. , Noussia, K. and Wang, C. (2025) Semiotic analysis of human and artificial intelligence – knowing the limitations and building trustworthy AI. In: 15th International Conference on Logistics, Informatics and Service Science, 1-5 Aug 2025, Budapest. (In Press)
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Guo, H. , Scriney, M. and Liu, K. (2024) An ostensive information architecture to enhance semantic interoperability for healthcare information systems. Information Systems Frontiers, 26. pp. 277-300. ISSN 1572-9419 doi: 10.1007/s10796-023-10379-5
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Guo, J., Ou, X., Li, Y. and Liu, K. (2024) Can the carbon emissions trading pilot policy improve the ecological well-being performance of cities in China? Sustainability, 16 (2). 841. ISSN 2071-1050 doi: 10.3390/su16020841
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Guo, H. and Liu, K. (2023) The chasm of technology innovation in digital transformation: a study from the perspective of transformation informatics. In: Aldieri, L. (ed.) Innovation - Research and Development for Human, Economic and Institutional Growth. IntechOpen. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.111793
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Hou, L., Pan, X., Liu, K. , Yang, Z., Liu, J. and Zhou, T. (2023) Information cocoons in online navigation. iScience, 26 (1). 105893. ISSN 2589-0042 doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105893
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Chen, S., Li, X., Liu, K. and Wang, X. (2023) Chatbot or human? The impact of online customer service on consumers' purchase intentions. Psychology & Marketing, 40 (11). pp. 2186-2200. ISSN 1520-6793 doi: 10.1002/mar.21862
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Pan, X., Hou, L. and Liu, K. (2022) The effect of product distance on the eWOM in recommendation network. Electronic Commerce Research, 22 (3). pp. 901-924. ISSN 1572-9362 doi: 10.1007/s10660-020-09432-1
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Guo, J., Zhang, K. and Liu, K. (2022) Exploring the mechanism of the impact of green finance and digital economy on China’s green total factor productivity. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (23). 16303. ISSN 1660-4601 doi: 10.3390/ijerph192316303
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Zhu, H. and Liu, K. (2021) Temporal, spatial, and socioeconomic dynamics in social media thematic emphases during Typhoon Mangkhut. Sustainability, 13 (13). 7435. ISSN 2071-1050 doi: 10.3390/su13137435
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Wu, F., Gao, M., Yu, J., Wang, Z., Liu, K. and Wang, X. (2021) Ready for emerging threats to recommender systems? A graph convolution-based generative shilling attack. Information Sciences, 578. pp. 683-701. ISSN 0020-0255 doi: 10.1016/j.ins.2021.07.041
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Chen, D., Zhang, R., Feng, J. and Liu, K. (2020) Fulfilling information needs of online patients using domain knowledge in online health communities. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 37 (1). pp. 48-59. ISSN 1471-1842 doi: 10.1111/hir.12253
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, K. and Guo, H. (2020) Artificial intelligence and data analytics in digital business transformation before, during and post COVID-19. In: Billio, M. and Varotto, S. (eds.) A New World Post COVID-19. Edizioni Ca’Foscari. ISBN 9788869694424 doi: 10.30687/978-88-6969-442-4/025
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Wang, W., Li, W. , Zhang, N. and Liu, K. (2019) Portfolio formation with preselection using deep learning from long-term financial data. Expert Systems with Applications, 143. 113042. ISSN 0957-4174 doi: 10.1016/j.eswa.2019.113042
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Gua, H. and Liu, K. (2019) Hierarchical ontology graph for solving semantic issues in decision support systems. In: International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 3-5 May 2019, Crete, Greece, pp. 483-487.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Senyo, P. K. , Liu, K. and Effah, J. (2019) Digital business ecosystem: literature review and a framework for future research. International Journal of Information Management, 47. pp. 52-64. ISSN 0268-4012 doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.01.002
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Heim, I. , Kalyuzhnova, Y. , Li, W. and Liu, K. (2019) Value co‐creation between foreign firms and indigenous small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry: the role of information technology spillovers. Thunderbird International Business Review, 61 (6). pp. 911-927. ISSN 1520-6874 doi: 10.1002/tie.22067
Reference: Li, Q. and Liu, K. (2018) An abductive process of developing interactive data visualization: a case study of market attractiveness analysis. In: Liu, K. , Nakata, K. , Li, W. (V.) and Baranauskas, C. (eds.) Digitalisation, Innovation, and Transformation. Springer, pp. 289-298. ISBN 9783319945415 doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-94541-5_29
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Chen, D., Zhang, R., Liu, K. and Hou, L. (2018) Knowledge discovery from posts in online health communities using unified medical language system. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15 (6). 1291. ISSN 1660-4601 doi: 10.3390/ijerph15061291
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Hou, L., Pan, X. and Liu, K. (2018) Balancing the popularity bias of object similarities for personalised recommendation. The European Physical Journal B, 91 (3). 47. ISSN 1434-6036 doi: 10.1140/epjb/e2018-80374-8
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Zhang, R., Chen, D., Shang, X., Zhu, X. and Liu, K. (2018) A Knowledge-Constrained Role-Based Access Control model for protecting patient privacy in hospital information systems. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, 22 (3). pp. 904-911. ISSN 2168-2208 doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2017.2696573
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Pan, X., Hou, L., Liu, K. and Huayong, N. (2018) Do reviews from friends and the crowd affect online consumer posting behaviour differently? Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 29. pp. 102-112. ISSN 1567-4223 doi: 10.1016/j.elerap.2018.01.007
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, K. , Zhang, R., Yin, L., Sun, L. , Pan, X., Hou, L., Shang, X. and Yang, X. (2018) Medical service unity: an effective approach for medical care in rural areas in China. Rural and Remote Health, 18 (3). 4483. ISSN 1445-6354 doi: 10.22605/RRH4483
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Hou, L. and Liu, K. (2017) Common neighbour structure and similarity intensity in complex networks. Physics Letters A, 381 (39). pp. 3377-3383. ISSN 0375-9601 doi: 10.1016/j.physleta.2017.08.050
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Pan, X., Hou, L. and Liu, K. (2017) Social influence on selection behaviour: distinguishing local- and global-driven preferential attachment. PLoS ONE, 12 (4). e0175761. ISSN 1932-6203 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175761
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, K. , Hou, L., Liu, J. and Zhang, R. (2017) Solving the stability-accuracy-diversity dilemma of recommender systems. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 468. pp. 415-424. ISSN 0378-4371 doi: 10.1016/j.physa.2016.10.083
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Heim, I. , Kalyuzhnova, Y. and Liu, K. (2017) Business value of IT in competitiveness of Kazakhstan’s energy sector: the role of international oil and gas companies in sustainable development of the local industry. In: British Academy of Management Proceedings (BAM2017), 5 - 7 Sep 2017, Warwick Business School.
Henley faculty authors:
Dr Irina Heim - Professor Yelena Kalyuzhnova - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Jiang, L. , Yao, R. , Liu, K. and McCrindle, R. (2017) An Epistemic-Deontic-Axiologic (EDA) agent-based Energy Management System in office buildings. Applied Energy, 205. pp. 440-452. ISSN 0306-2619 doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.07.081
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Diego, F., Liu, K. and Li, W. (V.) (2016) Organisational responsiveness through signs. In: 17th International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations Socially Aware Organisations and Technologies: Impact and Challenges, 1-3 August 2016, Campinas, Brazil.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li
Reference: Xu, S., Liu, K. , Tang, L. C.M. T. and Li, W. (2016) A framework for integrating syntax, semantics and pragmatics for computer-aided professional practice: With application of costing in construction industry. Computers in Industry, 83. pp. 28-45. ISSN 0166-3615 doi: 10.1016/j.compind.2016.08.004
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li
Reference: Tian, B. , Han, J. and Liu, K. (2016) Closed-loop feedback computation model of dynamical reputation based on the local trust evaluation in business-to-consumer e-commerce. Information, 7 (1). 4. ISSN 2078-2489 doi: 10.3390/info7010004
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Li, W. , Liu, K. , Belitski, M. , Ghobadian, A. and O'Regan, N. (2016) e-Leadership through strategic alignment: an empirical study of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the digital age. Journal of Information Technology, 31 (2). pp. 185-206. ISSN 0268-3962 doi: 10.1057/jit.2016.10
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu - Professor Maksim Belitski - Professor Abby Ghobadian
Reference: Belitski, M. , Li, W. (V.) and Liu, K. (2015) E-leadership in organisations: facilitating IT-business alignment for innovation and high-growth. In: The 23rd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2015), May 26th 2015, Münster, Germany.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Maksim Belitski - Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Tian, B. , Liu, K. and Chen, Y. (2015) Dynamical trust and reputation computation model for B2C E-Commerce. Future Internet, 7 (4). pp. 405-428. ISSN 1999-5903 doi: 10.3390/fi7040405
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Tan, C., Sun, L. and Liu, K. (2015) Big data architecture for pervasive healthcare: a literature review. In: ECIS 2015 Completed Research Papers. ECIS, Paper 117. ISBN 9783000502842
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, S., Li, W. (V.) and Liu, K. (2015) Assessing pragmatic interoperability for process alignment in collaborative working environment. In: 16th IFIP WG 8.1 International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations, ICISO 2015, March 19–20, 2015, Toulouse, France,, pp. 60-69.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Rong, W., Peng, B., Ouyang, Y., Liu, K. and Xiong, Z. (2015) Collaborative personal profiling for web service ranking and recommendation. Information Systems Frontiers, 17 (6). pp. 1265-1282. ISSN 1572-9419 doi: 10.1007/s10796-014-9495-4
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Tian, B. and Liu, K. (2014) Service oriented approach to facility management using extended building information modelling. In: International Conference on Construction and Real Estate Management (ICCREM 2014), 27 - 28 September 2014, Kunming, China.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Fuentealba, D., Liu, K. and Li, V. (2014) An approach to develop flexible systems with organizational-interoperability requirements. In: 6th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management, 21 - 24 October 2014, Rome, Italy.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li
Reference: Yang, X., Wallom, D., Waddington, S., Wang, J., Shaon, A., Matthews, B., Wilson, M., Guo, Y., Guo, L., Blower, J. D. , Athanasios, V. V., Liu, K. and Kershaw, P. (2014) Cloud computing in e-science: research challenges and opportunities. Journal of Supercomputing, 70 (1). pp. 408-464. ISSN 0920-8542 doi: 10.1007/s11227-014-1251-5
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, S., Li, V. and Liu, K. (2014) Pragmatic oriented data interoperability for smart healthcare information systems. In: The 14th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Cluster, Cloud and Grid Computing, 26 - 29 May 2014, Chicago, USA.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, S., Li, V. and Liu, K. (2014) Assessing pragmatic interoperability of information systems from a semiotic perspective. In: 15th International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations, 23 - 25 May 2014, Shanghai, China, pp. 32-41.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, K. , Li, W. (V.) and Gulliver, S. (2013) Web of things, people and information systems (ICISO 2013). SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publication. ISBN 9789898565518 (Proceedings of the 14th International conference in Informatics and semiotics in organisations)
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Dr Stephen R Gulliver
Reference: Perez, J., Soto, I., Cubillos, F., Sun, L. and Liu, K. (2013) Real-time identification and modelling in pervasive mining. In: The 14th International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations, 25-27 March 2013, Sweden.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Yang, H., Li, W. , Liu, K. and Zhang, J. (2012) Knowledge-based clinical pathway for medical quality improvement. Information Systems Frontiers, 14 (1). pp. 105-117. ISSN 1572-9419 doi: 10.1007/s10796-011-9307-z
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Tehrani, G. , Liu, K. and Michell, V. (2012) Ontology modeling for generation of clinical pathways. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 5 (2). ISSN 2013-8423 doi: 10.3926/jiem.586
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Dr Vaughan Michell
Reference: Michell, V. , Tehrani, G. and Liu, K. (2012) Are clinical documents optimised for patient safety? A critical analysis of patient safety outcomes using the EDA error model. Journal of Health Policy and Technology, 1 (4). pp. 214-227.
Henley faculty authors:
Dr Vaughan Michell - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Balhareth, H. B., Liu, K. and Manwani, S. (2012) Achieving business and IT alignment from organisational learning perspectives. In: International Conference on Business Information Systems (ICBIS’12), 27-28 June 2012, Paris, France, pp. 937-940. (World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, Issue 66, June 2012)
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Professor Sharm Manwani
Reference: Balhareth, H., Liu, K. and Manwani, S. (2012) Aligning business and IT from multi-level learning perspectives. In: The 17th UKAIS Conference on Information Systems, 27-28 March 2012, Oxford, UK.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Professor Sharm Manwani
Reference: Rambo, K. and Liu, K. (2011) Articulating stakeholders perspectives of culture-sensitive e-commerce design targeting female consumers in Saudi Arabia. International Journal for Infonomics, 4 (1). pp. 473-483. ISSN 1742-4712
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Gu, Z., Liu, K. and Dongmei, Z. (2011) Methods of modelling information intensive organisation. In: 2nd International Conference on Engineering and Business Management, 22-24 March 2011, Wuhan, China. (Unpublished)
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Balhareth, H. and Liu, K. (2011) Critical success factors for strategies of telecommunication companies in Saudi Arabia: the case of Mobily. In: 2nd Annual International Conference on Business Strategy and Organizational Behaviour (BizStrategy 2012), 7-8 May 2011, Bali, Indonesia.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Rambo, K. and Liu, K. (2011) Articulating stakeholders perspectives of culture-sensitive e-commerce design targeting female consumers in Saudi Arabia. In: International Conference on Information Society (i-Society), 2010. IEEE, London , pp. 449-454. ISBN 9781457718236
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Chidzambwa, L. and Liu, K. (2011) A normative framework for aiding the configuration of home telecare solutions to meet personal requirements. In: Jorna, R., Liu, K. and Faber, N. (eds.) Problems and Possiblilities of Computational Humanities: Proceedings of 13th International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations. Fryske Akademy, The Netherlands, pp. 77-86. ISBN 9789490719005
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Huang, Z., Liu, K. and Gulliver, S. (2011) A normative approach to multi-agent systems for intelligent buildings. In: Jorna, R., Liu, K. and Faber, N. (eds.) Problems and Possibilities of Computational Humanities: Proceedings of 13th International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations. Fryske Akademy, The Netherlands, pp. 119-128. ISBN 9789490719005
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu - Dr Stephen R Gulliver
Reference: Ali, N. and Liu, K. (2010) A conceptual framework for role-based knowledge profiling using semiotics approach. In: Setchi, R. and Jordanov, I. (eds.) Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, II (6277 ). Springer, pp. 554-565. ISBN 9783642153891 doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-15387-7_59
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Cui, G. and Liu, K. (2010) Organizational readiness analysis for enterprise information systems implementation. Journal of Software, 5 (5). pp. 554-561. ISSN 1796-217X doi: 10.4304/jsw.5.5.554-561
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Li, W. (V.) , Liu, K. , Li, S. and Yang, H. (2009) An agent based approach for customized clinical pathway. In: IFITA’09. International Forum on Information Technology and Applications.
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Lin, C., Liu, K. and Wei, H. (2008) Review of computer vision in intelligent environment design. In: SSE Systems Engineering Conference 2008, 25-26 Sep 2008, The University of Reading. (Unpublished)
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Ling, B., Tang, Y. , Liu, K. and Neale, K. (2008) Adaptive project planning and management based on best practices - COBRA system. In: SSE Systems Engineering Conference 2008, 25-26 Sep 2008, Reading, UK. (Unpublished)
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Yinshan Tang - Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, K. , Sun, L. and Tan, S. (2007) Modelling complex systems for project planning - a semiotics motivated method. International Journal of General Systems, 35 (3). 313 - 327. ISSN 1563-5104 doi: 10.1080/03081070600661028
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Boness, K. , Harrison, R. and Liu, K. (2005) Acknowledging the implications of requirements. In: 7th (ICEIS) International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, 25-28 May 2005, Miami, pp. 337-342. (Unpublished)
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu
Reference: Liu, K. , Sun, L. , Barjis, J. and Dietz, J. (2003) Modelling dynamic behaviour of business organisations - extension of DEMO from a semiotic perspective. Knowledge-Based Systems, 16 (2). pp. 101-111. ISSN 0950-7051 doi: 10.1016/S0950-7051(02)00077-1
Henley faculty authors:
Professor Kecheng Liu

Informatics in organisations

This module develops learners' understanding of the principles of informatics and how effective management of information resources can be a source of competitiveness for the business.Topics include: The theory and...

Module code: MQM1IIO

Business Informatics

This module helps the student understand the underpinning theory and methodology of business informatics for information systems and information management; appreciate business principles, organisation, processes and models; identify the user...

Module code: INMR91

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Teaching Business informatics for MSc in Information Management (with specialisms of Big Data in Business, Business Analysis and Service Design, and Systems Analysis and Design), MSc in Business Technology Consulting, all based in Reading; MSc in Management Information Systems, based in Ghana; and MSc Informatics, based in Beijing.

Visualisation and Data Analytics from a Semiotic Perspective

Digital visualisation is a way of representing data, ranging from a simple form of visual display to a complex interactive animation. The boom in big data has triggered broad use of digital visualization in a variety of domains from, e.g. marketing, finance to healthcare. There are various approaches in realising data visualisation. A well-designed interactive visualisation underpinned by data mining and other analytical capabilities can help the user gain knowledge effectively and support decision-making.

Semiotics is a formal doctrine of signs introduced by Peirce back in the 1930’s. Organisational semiotics places emphasis on the effective use of information in business context. Data, under the study through visualisation, are signs. Organisational semiotics can serve as a theoretical foundation for the research in digital visualisation when pursuing questions such as data availability, access, format (data itself and display format); and particularly meaning (i.e. interpretation), purpose of data presented, and effect of visualised data on the recipients.

This PhD project aims at a key process of scientific inquiry in data visualisation, or a process of knowledge generation from a semiotic perspective. The project can be conducted from several angles, e.g. the conceptualisation as a semiotic process in digital visualisation, and mechanisms for visualisation in a dashboard allowing interactive data analytics and decision-making. High quality, interested applicants are welcome to get in touch with Prof. Liu by sending initial outlines together with CV, transcripts and other supporting documents.

  1. Big Data Driven Innovation and Management of Intelligent Healthcare, funded within the Scheme of Key Projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (2016 – 2021). As the PI for University of Reading, we work with the project partners: Beijing Jiaotong University, Hospital 301 in Beijing, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The project aims to address key issues in health and medical service industry and to provide decision support for management of medical service in China. It involves the development and deployment of medical and health cloud database and platforms, to integrate the information resources of public health, basic medical care, basic medical service quality, measure of drug use, medical insurance and others. The project will reserach into the interconnection, sharing and optimal allocation of information resources in the urban and rural, medical and health institutions, and public health agencies and relevant authorities, to offer sulutions to improve the health service systems at the national, regional and district levels. Emerging technologies such mobile health, cloud computing and big data analytics will be used to build a platform for extending the quality services to provincial and rural areas.

  1. Economic Development, Technology and Entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan’s Energy Value China Competitiveness (2015 – 2017), a project funded by the British Council Newton Fund, based in the Kazakh-British Centre for Competitiveness led by Prof. Yelena Kalyuzhnova, with partnership of Kazakh-British Technical University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

As the ICT theme leader, I am responsible for leading the team to investigate the use of ICT to enhance the competitiveness of Kazakh energy value network. The team also explores the role of ICT, particularly 3rd platform technologies such as cloud and mobile technologies in developing the resilience and competitiveness of Kazakh business ecosystems through economic diversification and digitization.

  1. E-Leadership skills for SMEs, an EU funded project (2014 – 2015). Through the coordination of Empirica (Germany), 5 top European business schools partnered in this project: Henley Business School (UK), TiasNimbos (NL), Antwerp Management School (Belgium), Aarhus Business School (Denmark), and New Bulgaria University Business School (Bulgaria) work together to investigate the demands, shortage and landscape of digital skills and leadership in European context. The project set the agenda and curricula for professional and executive training as well as academic educational programmes. As the lead from Henley Business School, a team of 5 colleagues successfully delivered a range of outcomes which contribute to the recommendations on policies and implementation guidelines for EU and national policy makers. The end results also include roadmaps and guidance for universities and industrial trainers on leveraging the potential for EU to remain competitive in the digital transformation.
  2. January 2016 – Novermbert 2019, CI (PI Prof. Anupam Nanda), Personalised Urban Living Solutions (PULS), grant value of £120k funded by UK Technology and Strategy Board (TSB), (Grant number TS/N005082/1m UoR Project code H5230800)
  3. April 2015 – March 2017, CI (PI Prof. Yelena Kalyuzhnova), British Council Newton Fund £254k, (Ref 172697816), Kazakh-British Centre for Competitiveness – enhancing competitiveness and prosperity.
  4. January 2014 – June 2015, PI, EU funded project €67k, e-Leadership skills for SMEs, (SI2.ACPROCE061259800)
  5. August 2013 – November 2016, PI, KTP project £142,353, Knowledge management enabling sharing of best practice in a global, distributed and collaborative business environment, with UBSA (KTP009100) (This project is extended with more funding till February 2017)

KTP projects

  1. Knowledge management enabling sharing of best practice in a global, distributed and collaborative business environment. With UBSA (United Bible Society Association, a major charity organization headquartered in the UK), this project aims to examine interoperability and knowledge sharing between large and complex organizational network. The project will deliver a set of business solutions underpinned by technical capabilities. (2013 – 2017).
  2. Semantics and Pragmatics in the new generation of Web 3. Working with System Associate, a consultancy firm serving customers of governments, education, public and other sectors, the project delivers the technology platforms and applications, drawing our research outcomes in semantic and pragmatic web and dynamic ontologies. (2011 – 2014).