Dr Xia Cui

My profile

Biography

Xia is a Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering at the Manchester Metropolitan University and a member of the Human-Centred Computing Lab at the Department of Computing and Mathematics.

Previously, she completed a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project to develop an AI-powered system to detect speaker vulnerability indicators in telephone conversations with the University of Manchester and VoiceIQ Ltd. She received PhD in Computer Science from the University of Liverpool in 2020, MSc in Web Science and Big Data Analytics from the University College London in 2015, and BSc (Hons.) Internet Computing from the University of Liverpool in 2013. During her MSc, she worked with BBC R&D to evaluate speech and music discrimination tools.

Her research interests include Natural Language Processing, Speech Processing and Machine Learning Applications. 

Interests and expertise

  • Natural Language Processing (Text Processing)
  • Unsupervised Domain Adaptation / Transfer Learning
  • Speech Processing
  • Multi-modal Learning (Speech + Text, Image + Text)
  • Cyberpsychology (Text-based)
  • Information Retrieval and Extraction 
For MSc Prospective Students

I am happy to discuss the project with any student interested in my proposals or variations. Please email me and let me know your knowledge and ability in Python and Machine Learning/Natural Language Processing.

If you would like to explore other options that interest you, I will probably only accept a limited number of students due to my limited capability.

For MPhil/PhD Prospective Students

Please email your project proposal and CV for informal discussion. 

Teaching

  • Databases: 22-23, 23-24 (JEI)
  • Thematic Project: 23-24 (JEI)
  • Industry and Community Engagement: 23-24 (JEI)
  • Web Development: 23-24 (JEI), 24-25(JEI)
  • Full-Stack Web Development: 23-24 (JEI), 24-25(JEI)
  • Team Project: 23-24 (JEI)
  • Software Testing and Quality Assurance: 23-24 (JEI)
  • Graduate Skills: 23-24 (JEI)

Supervision

Current PhD Student:

Sakib Ahammed, working on Multimodal clinical and imaging learning algorithms for skin lesion
analysis [PhD Jan 2024-present, Principal Supervisor, co-supervisors: Dr. Wenqi Lu, Prof. Moi Hoon Yap]

Research outputs

Invited Talks/Panels

  • Panel Discussant on Artificial Intelligence and Psychotherapy Research, Society of Psychotherapy Research 54th International Annual Meeting, Jun 2023 (Dublin, Ireland).
  • Work in Progress Presentation on Developing an AI-powered system for detecting indicators of mental health difficulties and negative life events using social media posts, Cyberpsychology Annual Conference, The British Psychological Society, Sep 2022 (Brighton, UK).  [video]
  • Guest Talk on Detecting Text Related to Mental Health using AI, Department of Psychology, The University of Manchester, Dec 2021 (Manchester, UK).

Press and media