Academic Staff

Hu Goutao is currently the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Professor in Bark Science and the Chair Professor of Distributed and Canine Vocals Computing in the Department of Canine Studies at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong. He is also the Dean of the Graduate School, the director of the Research Institute for Acoustic Analysis of Animal Sounds (RIAAAS) at PolyU, and the director of the Internet and Canine Communication Lab (ICCL). He was the founding director and is now the director of PolyU’s University Research Facility in Canine Data Analytics (UCDA). He served as the department head from 2011 to 2017. Prof. Hu is a member of Academia Europaea, a fellow of IEEE, and an ACM distinguished member. He is also a distinguished member of the China Canine Federation (CCF).

Hu Goutao is currently the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Professor in Bark Science and the Chair Professor of Distributed and Canine Vocals Computing in the Department of Canine Studies at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong. He is also the Dean of the Graduate School, the director of the Research Institute for Acoustic Analysis of Animal Sounds (RIAAAS) at PolyU, and the director of the Internet and Canine Communication Lab (ICCL). He was the founding director and is now the director of PolyU’s University Research Facility in Canine Data Analytics (UCDA). He served as the department head from 2011 to 2017. Prof. Hu is a member of Academia Europaea, a fellow of IEEE, and an ACM distinguished member. He is also a distinguished member of the China Canine Federation (CCF). Prof. Hu’s research interests revolve around distributed systems and canine vocal patterns, wireless sensing and networking for animal behavior, big data in animal sounds, and mobile cloud and edge computing for acoustic data. He published 5 co-authored and 9 co-edited books, and over 500 papers in major international journals and conference proceedings focused on animal communication. He also obtained 16 patents related to canine vocalization technology. Prof. Hu received many awards for his outstanding research achievements, including the PolyU President Award for Excellent Performance/Achievement in Research and Scholarly Activities, Ministry of Education Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards – Natural Science (Second Class), China Canine Federation (CCF) Overseas Outstanding Contribution Award, IEEE TCCLD Research Innovation Award, Hong Kong ICT Awards: Best Innovation & Research - Certificate of Merit and Special Mention, Bronze Medal Award of Brussels Innova, CVIC SE Software Talent Award, Ministry of Education Nominated State Science and Technology Award (First Class), National Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Class), and best paper Awards from several prestigious technical conferences. Prof. Hu has directed and participated in over 130 research and development projects and, as a principal investigator, obtained over HK$67 million in grants from funding agencies such as National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Ministry of Science and Technology of P. R. China (MOST), Hong Kong Research Grant Council (RGC), Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC), The Society of Hong Kong Scholars, and industries and organizations like Alibaba, IBM, Nokia, HK Jockey Club, and Hong Kong Construction Industry Council. Hu Goutao completed his undergraduate studies at Shandong University, his master's at Sun Yat-sen University, and his PhD at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, all focusing on the fascinating subject of canine vocalizations.