Awards & Recognition

Research Awards & Competition Recognition

National Grand Prize (Top-Tier Award)

19th “Challenge Cup” National Competition for Extracurricular Academic Science and Technology Works (2024)

• Role: Advisor (Ranked 2nd among 3 advisors)
• Project: “Multimodal AI Audit Matrix: Deepfake Detection and NSFW Content Regulation Platform”
• Achievement: Highest level of recognition in China’s premier national undergraduate research competition

Top 5 Nationwide

3rd China Artificial Intelligence Competition (2021)

• Role: Primary Advisor (Ranked 1st among 2 advisors)
• Track 1: Audio Deepfake Detection Under Open-Speaker Scenarios
• Track 2: Speaker-Specific Audio Deepfake Detection
• Achievement: Dual track excellence in AI security research

Finalist for “Most Innovative Research” Pwnie Award

Black Hat USA 2019

• Role: First Author (1st of 4 contributors)
• Research: “SonarSnoop: Active Acoustic Side-Channel Attacks”
• Significance: International recognition at the world’s most prestigious cybersecurity conference
• Impact: Praised by renowned security experts including Bruce Schneier and Prof. Ross Anderson

Academic Excellence Awards

Postdoctoral Excellence Grant (Second Class)

Zhejiang Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security (August 2021)

• Recognition of outstanding research contributions during postdoctoral fellowship
• Competitive provincial-level funding for continued research excellence

Ph.D. Scholarship

Faculty of Science and Technology, Lancaster University, UK (2016–2020)

• Full doctoral scholarship for 4-year Ph.D. program
• Merit-based funding for research in computer science and cybersecurity

Mentorship & Supervision Awards

National Graduate Scholarship Achievement

October 2024

• Achievement: Co-supervised Master’s student won the National Graduate Scholarship (China)
• Significance: Highest-level scholarship awarded to Master’s students in China
• Impact: Recognition of exceptional mentoring capabilities and student development

Industry Impact Recognition

Commercial AI Model Security

• SurrogatePrompt Research: Findings acknowledged by leading AI vendors (Midjourney, Stability.ai)
• Impact: Contributed to security improvements in commercial text-to-image AI models

Watermarking System Vulnerabilities

• DiffForge Method: Recognized by Amazon’s Responsible AI Team
• Achievement: Led to collaborative improvements in defensive watermarking frameworks

Open-Source Contributions

• ALIF Framework: Adopted by NVIDIA for integration into their official AI security toolkit
• Status: Under active development for red teaming capabilities enhancement

Media Recognition & Expert Endorsement

International Media Coverage

SonarSnoop Research Impact

• Media Outlets: Featured in prominent IT security publications
  • Motherboard (Vice Media): Coverage of innovative acoustic attack research
  • ZDNet: Technical analysis of smartphone security vulnerabilities
  • Sophos: Expert commentary on acoustic side-channel threats
• Research Significance: First active acoustic side-channel attack demonstrating novel smartphone exploitation methods

Expert Endorsements

Recognition from Security Community Leaders

• Bruce Schneier (Renowned Cryptographer & Security Expert): Publicly praised the novelty and impact of SonarSnoop research on social media platform X
• Prof. Ross Anderson (University of Cambridge, Well-known Security Researcher): Academic endorsement highlighting the innovative nature of the acoustic attack methodology
• Industry Impact: Research methodology influenced discussions on smartphone hardware security design

Research Innovation Recognition

• Novelty: Pioneered the use of smartphone speakers and microphones as sonar systems for data extraction
• Technical Achievement: Demonstrated 70% reduction in Android unlock pattern candidates through acoustic profiling
• Security Community Impact: Established new research direction in acoustic-based side-channel attacks

Academic Service Recognition

Editorial Leadership

Special Issue Initiator and Guest Editor (2025)

• Journal: Journal of Cyber Security
• Special Issue Topic: “Intelligent Voice Security and Defense Technologies”
• Scope: Leading editorial efforts for cutting-edge research in AI-driven voice security
• Impact: Establishing new publication venue for emerging threats in voice-enabled systems

Conference Program Committees

Program Committee Member

• ACM Web Conference (WWW 2025): Serving as expert reviewer for web technology and security research
• Expertise Areas: AI security, voice privacy, and multimodal data protection
• Review Scope: Evaluating submissions on emerging web technologies and security frameworks

Journal Reviewer Roles

International Peer Review Service

• Proceedings of the IEEE: Premier interdisciplinary engineering journal
• ACM Transactions on Internet of Things (TIOT): Leading venue for IoT research
• IEEE Internet of Things Journal (IoT-J): Top-tier publication in IoT domain

Chinese Academic Service

• Journal of Information Network Security: Key venue for cybersecurity research in China

Grant Proposal Contributions

Research Funding Excellence

• Science Foundation Ireland (SFI): Co-authored €720,839 grant proposal on “Security and Privacy of Personal Voice Assistants” under Prof. Utz Roedig (2019)
• Proposal Impact: Research anchored in doctoral dissertation findings
• Collaborative Excellence: Demonstrated ability to translate academic research into fundable initiatives

These awards and recognitions reflect a consistent commitment to advancing cybersecurity research, fostering academic excellence, and making meaningful contributions to both academic and industrial communities in AI security and privacy protection.