
Our Team
Meet the members of the SABMA team.
Meet the team
Leadership

Director of SABMA
Professor Yu Xiong
Associate Vice-President (External Engagement); Chair Professor of Business Analytics; Director, Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaverse Applications
Biography
Prof. Yu Xiong is Associate Vice-President for External Engagement, University of Surrey. Previously he was Associate Dean International of the University(2020-2022). Professor Xiong is founding director of the Surrey Centre for Innovation and Commercialization, where he brought in approximately 2 million fund to facilitate the relevant activities in the university eco-system. He is also the founding director of Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaverse Applications, where he brought in additional 2 million pounds funding to support the university's education/training/research in blockchain business applications. Professor Yu Xiong is Chair Professor of Business Analytics in Surrey Business School and an academic member in the Department of Business Transformation. Prior to joining Surrey, he worked for University of York(as EPSRC Research Fellow), Queen's University Belfast(as Lecturer and Director of China Management Research Institute), University of East Anglia(as Associate Professor and Associate Director of External Enagement for Norwich Busienss School, Director of University's ADAPT Group, with 50 million Pounds VC fund), Northumbria University(as Professor and Director of Enterprise Engagement/Faculty Lead for Knowledge Exchange/Head of Supply Chain Managmeent Group). He is Chair of Advisory Board of the UK's All Party Parliamentary Group on Metaverse and Web 3.0, and Board member of All Party Parliamentary Group of Blockchain.
Professor Xiong's research focuses on sustainable and technological issues in global supply chains, where he has published in leading international journals, including European Journal of Operational Research, Nature Communications, International Journal of Production Research, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Production Economics, and Journal of Operational Research Society, Technovation, Transportation Research Part E, Industrial Marketing Management etc. He has been guest editors to International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Technovation, International Journal of Technology Management etc. According to elsevier, from 2014-2020, his number of research outputs in Closed-Loop Supply Chain and Remanufacturing rank No. 3 in the UK, his citation rank No. 1 in the UK in the same category(CLSC and Remanufacturing) of all the researchers in the UK. His publication in Nature Communications has its Altmetrics score reached more than 2000(less than 1% of all the publication in Nature and its series reached this high Altmetrics score), and listed as one of the most significant science activities in 2021, and one of the only few researches in the world that is included in Timeline of Computing 2021.
Professor Xiong's research has been funded by EPSRC (Engineering and Physic Science Research Council), Department of Business, Energy and Industry Strategies, British Academy, British Council, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Satellite Application Catapult, China National Science Foundation etc. Professor Xiong is a Fellow of University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Visiting Professor in the Computer Science at University of York, visiting professor at Durham University Business School.
Professor Xiong has created impact in several industries:
Activities in Innovation Commercialization
Professor Xiong has extensive experience by working as director/chair of companies. When he was in Newcastle, he brought in £8 million investment to establish an innovation centre(TusPark Newcastle), which has subsequently created significant impact to eco-system innovation in North of England. He is Strategic Advisor to Satellite Application Catapult, the UK's national centre for satellite application technologies, appointed by the CEO of the Catapult. Recently he became the managing director of OxValue.ai, a joint venture company with University of Oxford, focus on help early stage technology valuation. Professor Xiong has help the growth of more than 40 companies in the UK.
Activities in Sustainability
Apart from Professor Xiong’s research in sustainability, he spent a lot of his time developing real world projects for sustainability. From 2014-2016, he was company director for ADAPT Group, which was owned by University of East Anglia, and run a £50 million Low Carbon Innovation Fund. He then worked for UNESCO on a number of projects relevant to Sustainable Development Goals. He was a board director of 99P Recycling Limited, one of the largest plastics recycling and exporting company in the UK, the company’s turnover in 2019 was about 26 million dollars. He is also one of the trustees of the Charity, Magna Carta World Peace and Sustainability Foundation. He was appointed to be Director/Chair of London Fashion Fund in 2018, which was fully funded by Mayor Office of London, to support sustainable fashion startups. Professor Xiong's research was listed by BBC to be one of the 26 researches in the UK that was to celebrate the 2021 COP26.
Activities in Blockchain
Professor Xiong is one of the nine advisory board members of All Party Parliamentary Group in Blockchain in the UK, and the chief scientific advisor to the world's first Blockchain enabled Photo/Video sharing Social Media, PIXIE, this revolutionary platform aims to replace TikTok/Instagram in future. Now PIXIE has more than 10,000 daily active users on the platform. Professor Xiong also a lead member of the blockchain project Maxity, which aims to support charities to fundraise use NFT. According to Altmetrics, his research published in National Communication currently has the world No. 1 research impact of all the academic publications has the keyword of blockchain. In 2022, Professor Yu Xiong was appointed as the Chair of Advisory Board, All Party Parliamentary Group on Metaverse and Web 3.0, he also leads the secretarial of this APPG Group.
In 2012, he was invited by the London Olympic Committee to be a London Olympic Torchbearer. In 2015, he got the prestigious May 4th Medal by Chinese provincial government, to recognize his significant contribution for international innovation collaboration. Professor Xiong was the President of the Chinese Economic Association in EU/UK(until December 2021), and Vice President of the International Association of Supply Chain and Operations Management.

Senior Lecturer in blockchain business models, SABMA
Dr Senmao Xia
Programme Director for Blockchain and Metaverse Business Model
Biography
Senmao serves as the Vice President for Chinese Economic Association (Europe/UK) and acts as the editorial leadership for a few international leading journals. For instance, he is the managing editor for the Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Association (ABS 1), the associate editor for the EuroMed Journal of Business (ABS 1) & Frontiers in Psychology (SSCI), as well as the editorial board member of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research (ABS 3, SSCI) & the Journal of Innovation and Knowledge (JCR Q1, IF 11, SSCI). He served as the guest editor for Technovation (Abs 3, SSCI) & the International Journal of Technology Management (ABS 2, SSCI). Senmao is the Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK. He acts as an advisor for a few firms in London.

Frankie Lai
Operations Manager, SABMA
Biography
Frankie Lai was Full Stack Developer of Maxity.io Project, Back End Developer of Fintech company SpinnerTech, IT Manager at The University of Hong Kong, Member of Hyperledger Community, Senior Technical Consultant for hedge fund analytics application in Linedata Services(HK) Limited.
He’s expertise for Web3/DApp/NFT architect using Ethereum and Polygon smart contracts. Frankie was the representative in Joint Universities Computer Centre for blockchain student portfolio project in Hong Kong.
SABMA Advisory Board

Patrick Degg
Vice-President (External Engagement)
Biography
Mr Degg joined the University of Surrey in 2017, where now, as Vice-President (External Engagement), and a member of the University’s Executive Board, Patrick’s portfolio brings together all of the University’s external engagement activities globally, including advancement (leading teams responsible for managing the University’s relations - both philanthropic and otherwise - with its alumni and supporters), events, trans-national education, academic partnerships, student/staff mobility, communications and public relations, and international student recruitment strategy.

Professor Yu Xiong
Associate Vice-President (External Engagement); Chair Professor of Business Analytics; Director, Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaverse Applications
Biography
Prof. Yu Xiong is Associate Vice-President for External Engagement, University of Surrey. Previously he was Associate Dean International of the University(2020-2022). Professor Xiong is founding director of the Surrey Centre for Innovation and Commercialization, where he brought in approximately 2 million fund to facilitate the relevant activities in the university eco-system. He is also the founding director of Surrey Academy for Blockchain and Metaverse Applications, where he brought in additional 2 million pounds funding to support the university's education/training/research in blockchain business applications. Professor Yu Xiong is Chair Professor of Business Analytics in Surrey Business School and an academic member in the Department of Business Transformation. Prior to joining Surrey, he worked for University of York(as EPSRC Research Fellow), Queen's University Belfast(as Lecturer and Director of China Management Research Institute), University of East Anglia(as Associate Professor and Associate Director of External Enagement for Norwich Busienss School, Director of University's ADAPT Group, with 50 million Pounds VC fund), Northumbria University(as Professor and Director of Enterprise Engagement/Faculty Lead for Knowledge Exchange/Head of Supply Chain Managmeent Group). He is Chair of Advisory Board of the UK's All Party Parliamentary Group on Metaverse and Web 3.0, and Board member of All Party Parliamentary Group of Blockchain.
Professor Xiong's research focuses on sustainable and technological issues in global supply chains, where he has published in leading international journals, including European Journal of Operational Research, Nature Communications, International Journal of Production Research, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Production Economics, and Journal of Operational Research Society, Technovation, Transportation Research Part E, Industrial Marketing Management etc. He has been guest editors to International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Technovation, International Journal of Technology Management etc. According to elsevier, from 2014-2020, his number of research outputs in Closed-Loop Supply Chain and Remanufacturing rank No. 3 in the UK, his citation rank No. 1 in the UK in the same category(CLSC and Remanufacturing) of all the researchers in the UK. His publication in Nature Communications has its Altmetrics score reached more than 2000(less than 1% of all the publication in Nature and its series reached this high Altmetrics score), and listed as one of the most significant science activities in 2021, and one of the only few researches in the world that is included in Timeline of Computing 2021.
Professor Xiong's research has been funded by EPSRC (Engineering and Physic Science Research Council), Department of Business, Energy and Industry Strategies, British Academy, British Council, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Satellite Application Catapult, China National Science Foundation etc. Professor Xiong is a Fellow of University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Visiting Professor in the Computer Science at University of York, visiting professor at Durham University Business School.
Professor Xiong has created impact in several industries:
Activities in Innovation Commercialization
Professor Xiong has extensive experience by working as director/chair of companies. When he was in Newcastle, he brought in £8 million investment to establish an innovation centre(TusPark Newcastle), which has subsequently created significant impact to eco-system innovation in North of England. He is Strategic Advisor to Satellite Application Catapult, the UK's national centre for satellite application technologies, appointed by the CEO of the Catapult. Recently he became the managing director of OxValue.ai, a joint venture company with University of Oxford, focus on help early stage technology valuation. Professor Xiong has help the growth of more than 40 companies in the UK.
Activities in Sustainability
Apart from Professor Xiong’s research in sustainability, he spent a lot of his time developing real world projects for sustainability. From 2014-2016, he was company director for ADAPT Group, which was owned by University of East Anglia, and run a £50 million Low Carbon Innovation Fund. He then worked for UNESCO on a number of projects relevant to Sustainable Development Goals. He was a board director of 99P Recycling Limited, one of the largest plastics recycling and exporting company in the UK, the company’s turnover in 2019 was about 26 million dollars. He is also one of the trustees of the Charity, Magna Carta World Peace and Sustainability Foundation. He was appointed to be Director/Chair of London Fashion Fund in 2018, which was fully funded by Mayor Office of London, to support sustainable fashion startups. Professor Xiong's research was listed by BBC to be one of the 26 researches in the UK that was to celebrate the 2021 COP26.
Activities in Blockchain
Professor Xiong is one of the nine advisory board members of All Party Parliamentary Group in Blockchain in the UK, and the chief scientific advisor to the world's first Blockchain enabled Photo/Video sharing Social Media, PIXIE, this revolutionary platform aims to replace TikTok/Instagram in future. Now PIXIE has more than 10,000 daily active users on the platform. Professor Xiong also a lead member of the blockchain project Maxity, which aims to support charities to fundraise use NFT. According to Altmetrics, his research published in National Communication currently has the world No. 1 research impact of all the academic publications has the keyword of blockchain. In 2022, Professor Yu Xiong was appointed as the Chair of Advisory Board, All Party Parliamentary Group on Metaverse and Web 3.0, he also leads the secretarial of this APPG Group.
In 2012, he was invited by the London Olympic Committee to be a London Olympic Torchbearer. In 2015, he got the prestigious May 4th Medal by Chinese provincial government, to recognize his significant contribution for international innovation collaboration. Professor Xiong was the President of the Chinese Economic Association in EU/UK(until December 2021), and Vice President of the International Association of Supply Chain and Operations Management.

Professor Josef Kittler
Distinguished Professor
Biography
I have been a Research Assistant in the Engineering Department of Cambridge University (1973--75), SERC Research Fellow at the University of Southampton (1975-77), Royal Society European Research Fellow, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommuninations, Paris (1977--78), IBM Research Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford (1978--80), Principal Research Associate, SERC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (1980--84) and Principal Scientific Officer, SERC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (1985).
I also worked as the SERC Coordinator for Pattern Analysis (1982), and was Rutherford Research Fellow in Oxford University, Dept. Engineering Science (1985).
I joined the Department of Electrical Engineering of Surrey University in 1986 as a Reader in Information Technology, and became Professor of Machine Intelligence in 1991 and gained the title Distinguished Professor in 2004.

Professor Steve Wood
Dean of Surrey Business School and Professor of Retail Marketing and Management
Biography
Professor Steve Wood has been Dean of Surrey Business School since 2019. Currently responsible for 120 academic staff and 2,500 students, Steve has wide-ranging experience of academic leadership, including accreditation, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission and forming business school strategy. He was previously Director of Research, School REF lead, as well as Head of the Department of Marketing. Earlier in his academic career, Steve was Reader in Strategy, University of Southampton (2011-2012), and Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at University of Surrey (2005-2011). Prior to 2005, Steve spent three years at Tesco plc in its marketing and property departments advising on store development strategy both domestically and abroad and has experience as a Retail Analyst for Verdict Research, a London-based retail consultancy.
Steve's research particularly focuses on retailing, including internationalization, online retailing (and product returns), store location planning, competition policy, supply networks and pricing. He is European and Africa Regional Editor for the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, a member of the editorial board of Journal of Business Research and has been cited by the press in publications such as The Economist, China Daily and Retail Week. He has been a member of the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Peer Review College since 2015. In 2019 he was Visiting Professor at Global Production Networks Centre at the National University of Singapore. Steve has received research funding from the John Lewis Partnership, SONY, Advanced Institute of Management (AIM), British Academy of Management (BAM), NEMODE/EPSRC and the Nuffield Foundation. An experienced examiner, he was most recently external examiner for undergraduate management programmes at University of Bristol (2017-2022), having fulfilled the same role at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2011-2014) amongst others.
Since 2018, Steve has been a Trustee of Bohunt Education Trust, a Multi Academy Trust comprising eight secondary schools and over 11,000 students, where he Chairs the Trust’s Education Committee. Earlier, between 2012-15, he sat on the governing body of Ash Manor School where he was Chair of its Curriculum Committee. He is also a leader at his local village Cub Scout pack in Hampshire and Assistant Manager of the mighty Under 14s Liphook Pumas football team. Steve is a season ticket holder at Portsmouth FC and still regularly attends matches at his first love, Chelsea FC. He is often to be found kayaking in rivers and the sea or out running.

Ruth Gill
Director of Faculty Operations at the University of Surrey
Biography
Ruth has experience of the University’s Faculty of Social Sciences and the integration of complex projects and priorities.

Pam Jestico
Lay Council Member at the University of Surrey and Advisory Board Member in the Surrey Business School
Biography
Pam is an international banker with over 30 years experience, predominantly within the financial restructuring sector. During her career with HSBC where she was a Managing Director of the global restructuring team, Pam worked with a wide range of companies from small agricultural businesses to global multinational groups in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and the US.

Professor John Collomosse
Professor of Computer Vision. Director DECaDE: EPSRC Centre for the Decentralised Digital Economy
Biography
John Collomosse is a Professor of Computer Vision at the Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP), one the UK’s largest academic research groups for Artificial Intelligence with over 150 researchers John is a Visiting Professor at Adobe Research, Creative Intelligence Lab (San Jose, CA). John joined CVSSP in 2009. Previously he was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Bath where he completed his PhD in 2004 on the topic of AI for Image Stylization. John has also spent periods of time in commercial R&D, working for IBM UK Labs (Hursley), Vodafone R&D (Munich), Hewlett Packard Labs (Bristol); the latter under a Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship. John is a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng, 2013) and since 2018 a member of the EPSRC ICT Strategic Advisory Team (SAT) and UKRI Digital Economy Programme Advisory Board (PAB).
John leads the digital creativity lab at CVSSP focusing on the interaction of Computer Vision, Graphics and AI for the creative industries, specifically for human performance capture, video post-production and vfx, and intuitive visual search (particularly sketch search). He also heads up the Surrey Blockchain activity exploring the fusion of AI and Distributed Ledger Technologies.
John is the Course Director for MSc in Computer Vision, Robotics and Machine Learning and the Deputy Director of Teaching for undergraduate programmes with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. John teaches the Image Processing and Deep Learning (EEEM063), and Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (EEE3032) modules.
Full details of John's publications including PDFs are on his personal website - the publications tab on this page is automatically generated and may not be complete or accurate.

Jianjun (Jordan) Shi
Head of investment and managing partner of JKL capital
Biography
Jianjun (Jordan) Shi is Head of investment and managing partner of JKL capital. For 25 years he has been working in management career spanning various industries across Europe and Asia, with roles in recent decade as Director for Amazon UK then overall leader for Alibaba international consumer business. He was trained as an Engineer in Chemistry and Computer Science and holds an EMBA degree from London Business School.