About
Yichuan Zhang
PhD Candidate in Human–AI Collaboration
I am a PhD candidate at the Intelligent System Design Laboratory, The University of Tokyo, advised by Professor Kazuo Hiekata. My research focuses on Human–AI Collaboration: building decision systems where AI models and human experts complement each other, especially in time-series forecasting under uncertainty.
I approach this from two angles: designing collaboration frameworks that calibrate trust and expose uncertainty, and modeling user cognition through multimodal behavioral signals — eye-tracking, mouse trajectories, and screen interaction — to drive adaptive AI assistance.
Beyond research, I run a decentralized reading community in Tokyo and occasionally build end-to-end software for real-world workflows.
Updates
Built and presented the first LLM-powered paper network at a conference — CAS 2026.
An interactive 3D semantic map (51 papers · 125 links; SPECTER embeddings + PCA) that lets every author see where their work sits. A team effort.
Paper accepted at TE2026 — Behavioral Adaptation in Human-AI Decision Making.
Paper accepted at IJHCI — Calibrated Intervention in Human-AI Collaborative Forecasting.
Started year three of the PhD at UTokyo.
Paper accepted at TE2025 — Bridging Human Cognition and AI Systems.
Education
- 2023 – Present
Ph.D. in Human–AI Collaboration
The University of Tokyo · Tokyo, Japan
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences · Intelligent System Design Laboratory
- 2021 – 2023
M.Sc. in Data Science & Sustainability Science
The University of Tokyo · Tokyo, Japan
- 2017 – 2021
B.Sc. in Data Science
The University of Melbourne · Melbourne, Australia
Specialization: Statistics & Computing
Experience
Research
- Sep 2023 – Present
Doctoral Research
Intelligent System Design Laboratory, The University of Tokyo · Tokyo, Japan
Designed and validated a novel Human–AI Collaboration framework; multimodal behavioural data platform; user studies with 25+ participants.
- Apr 2023 – Dec 2023
Research Assistant
UTokyo × Prudential Research Project · Tokyo, Japan
End-to-end analytics pipeline on tens of millions of HR records; interpretable attrition models with SHAP / GAM.
Internships
- Jun 2022 – Sep 2022
Research Intern
Sony Group Corporation, China R&D · Beijing, China
Full-cycle PoC for haptic feedback interaction on PS5; led user testing and internal technical reviews.
- Mar 2021 – Jul 2021
Data Scientist Intern
ANZ Banking Group · Chengdu, China
Anomaly detection and loan-risk modelling on 100k+ records; replaced legacy IBM model with faster, more accurate pipeline.
Teaching
- Apr 2022 – Mar 2023
Teaching Assistant
The University of Tokyo · Tokyo, Japan
Business Environment Case Studies (2023); Optimal System Design (2022).
Skills
- Languages
Mandarin (Native)
English (Business)
Japanese (Conversational)
- Programming
Python
TypeScript
R
SQL
C
Git
Docker
LaTeX
- Research
Human–AI Collaboration
Time-Series Forecasting
Multimodal Behavioral Analysis
Cognitive Modeling (HMM, LSTM)
Experimental Design
User Studies
Honours & Awards
- 2025
Google PhD Fellowship
Google
- 2023
E-Gov Data Competition · Top 20%
Government of Japan
Group Leader
- 2022
Spring GX Program
University of Tokyo
Cross-disciplinary talent program