Zhang, Philip Renyu(張任宇)

BS (Peking U); PhD (Washington University in St. Louis)

Associate Professor

Contact

Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology

Room 911, 9/F
Cheng Yu Tung Building
12 Chak Cheung Street
Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong

+852 3943 7763

philipzhang@cuhk.edu.hk

Biography

Professor Philip Renyu Zhang joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School as a visiting scholar in the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology in September 2021 and has been an Associate Professor since September 2022. Prior to joining CUHK Business School, he was an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at New York University (NYU) Shanghai and an NYU Global Network Assistant Professor since August 2016. Professor Zhang holds a PhD degree in Business Administration (Operations Management) at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Peking University.

Professor Zhang’s research interests are applying AI and data science to address fundamental business operations issues under the emerging trends in technology, marketplaces, and society. He is particularly enthusiastic about developing data science methodologies (machine learning, causal inference, and data-driven optimisation) to evaluate and optimise the operations strategies in the contexts of online platforms and marketplaces, sharing economy, and social networks, especially their recommendation, advertising, pricing, and matching policies. His research works have appeared in Management Science, Operations Research, and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and have been recognised by various research awards of the INFORMS and POMS communities. His research projects have been funded by NSFC, SMEC, STCSM, HK RGC, and Tencent.

Professor Zhang is also a strong adherent to the philosophy that business research should push the “efficient frontier” of intellectual depth and practical impact, thus striving to implement his research in business practice whenever applicable.

Teaching Areas

Business Analytics
Data Science
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Operations Management

Research Interests

Methodologies:
Machine Learning and Deep Learning
Causal Inference and Econometrics
Reinforcement Learning
Data-Driven Optimisation

Applications:
Online Platforms and Marketplaces
Social Networks
Artificial Intelligence Ethics
Revenue Management and Pricing
Inventory and Supply Chain Management

  • Grants
    • “Algorithmic Self-Preferencing on E-Commerce Platforms: Evidence from JD.COM” by Hong Kong Research Grants Council, General Research Fund 14504123, with HKD 444,066, 2024-2025 (Principal Investigator).
    • Collaboration with University Fund, by Tencent, RMB 332,310, 2022 (Principal Investigator)
    • “Causal Inference with Multiple A/B Tests on Large-Scale Online Platforms” by Hong Kong Research Grants Council, General Research Fund 14502722, with HKD 629,325, 2022-2025 (Principal Investigator)
    • CUHK ‘Improvement on Competitiveness in Hiring New Faculties’ Funding Scheme, with HKD 1,500,000, 2022 (Principal Investigator)
    • “Carpool Services of Online Ride-Sharing Platforms”, by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Young Scientist Program 71802133, with RMB 180,000, 2019-2021 (Principal Investigator)
    • Shanghai Eastern Scholar, by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Young Scientist Program QD2018053, RMB 600,000, 2019-2021 (Principal Investigator)
    • “The Impact of Social Networks on Operations Strategies”, by the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee, Pujiang Talent Program 17PJC074, RMB 100,000, 2017-2019 (Principal Investigator)
  • Awards & Honours
    • Meritorious Service Award, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2018, 2019, 2022
    • Finalist Award, POMS College of Supply Chain Management Best Student Paper Competition, 2015
    • Honorable Mention, INFORMS Service Science Best Cluster Paper Award, 2017
    • Finalist Award, INFORMS Data Mining Section Best Paper Competition, 2019
    • Finalist Award, INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing Student Paper Competition, 2020
  • Academic/Professional Services
    • Senior Editor, Production and Operations Management, since September 2022
    • Associate Editor, Naval Research Logistics, since August 2022
    • CUHK Business School IBBA Business Analytics Concentration Advisor, since September 2022
    • Member, Curriculum Committee of the Department of Decisions, Operations and Technology, 2021-2022