SAM Team

Kai LIU

Assistant Professor & Principle Investigator

Dr. Kai LIU  joined City University of Hong Kong in March 2019 as an Assistant Professor in Animal Welfare, Ethics and Behaviour. With expertise in poultry and swine production systems, his research focuses on the areas of precision livestock farming,  animal behaviour and welfare. 

As an agricultural and biological engineer working in animal agriculture, he is dedicated to applying engineering strategies and innovation, and to seeking data-driven solutions to address global challenges related to food animal production and sustainability, particularly the ever-growing issues related to animal welfare and behaviour.

Yefeng Yang

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

Yefeng joined the SAM group as a Postdoctoral research scientist in July 2021.  After graduating from his PhD at Zhejang University in 2017, his work mainly focuses on developing advanced statistics and computational models, with applications in animal science, ecology and public health. Using his skills in sophisticated meta-analytic techniques and comparative models, he is able to test hypotheses and address scientific questions that cannot be tackled empirically.

Research Assistant

Haiming joined Dr. Liu's team as a research assistant in May 2021. Following his master's degree in mechatronic engineering from South China Agricultural University, he is currently working on the use of computer vision and machine learning in precision livestock farming, specifically in pig production and behaviour. 

Cheryl Sze

Research Assistant

Upon graduating from her degree in Equine Science, Cheryl has been building her experience in the field of medical research, in a range of clinical and laboratory settings and hopes to widen her breadth in veterinary and public-health related settings. Since joining Dr. Liu's team, she now mainly coordinates the pigeon contraceptive drug feeding project with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (HKAFCD). 

PhD Student since 2018

Endai joined Dr. Liu's team as a PhD student after obtaining his bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering at Zhejiang University, in 2018. He is also working as a part-time research assistant in the team, and is particularly proficient in the applications of computer vision and deep learning. He is currently finishing his PhD in piglet and sow detection and analysis under occlusion, under joint supervision of Dr. Liu and the Department of Computer Sciences. 

Axiu is currently a PhD student and part-time research assistant at the City University of Hong Kong, under Dr. Liu's supervision. She obtained her bachelor's degree in quality management engineering at China Jiliang University, in 2019. Her research interests include animal activity and sound recognition, with applications in machine learning, deep learning and use of wearable sensors.