Research Interests
In methodology, my research focuses on spatial interactions and spatial choice problems based on geospatial intelligence and spatiotemporal big data analytics. In application, I aim to advance computational urban science to enhance the resilience and sustainability of urban transport mobility, built environments, and spatial economies. My work involves developing and adapting traditional machine learning and deep learning methods for spatiotemporal domains, integrating multi-source big data with traditional datasets, and optimizing high-performance computing techniques for spatiotemporal big data. These innovations are applied to address challenges in smart cities, urban computing and simulation, and interdisciplinary research in urban and regional science, spatial planning, environmental health, disaster response, and public opinion analysis.
Education and Professional Experience
1. 2021–Present: Assistant Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School.
2. 2016–2021: Lecturer and Researcher, University of Birmingham, UK.
3. 2008–2015: Ph.D. in Geography and Urban Regional Analysis, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA.
4. 2006–2008: M.S. in Geography, University of Toledo, USA.
5. 2001–2005: B.S. in Information Management and Systems, Beijing Forestry University, China.
Key Research Activities
Research Projects
1. 2019/1 - 2019/7, UK ESRC, Impact Acceleration Accounts. Online behaviour in the UK: an individual and contextual analysis. Co-I.
2. 2018/9 – 2021/8, University of Birmingham, Global Challenges PhD Scholarships. The structure of migrant integration in Europe: overview across time, groups, and geographies. Co-I. (Ongoing)
3. 2018/9 – 2021/12, UK NERC, DREAM CDT. Building resilient cities in the shrinking paradigm: a UK and China comparison using new sources of big data. PI. (Ongoing)
4. 2018/5 – 2019/4, University of Birmingham, BRIDGE Seed Fund. UK regions and digital interdependencies. Co-I.
5. 2017/12 - 2018/2, UK ESRC, Consumer Data Research Centre Innovation Fund. Online behaviour in the UK: an individual and contextual analysis. Co-I.
6. 2017/9 – 2021/9, UK NERC, DREAM CDT. Real-time integrated modelling of transport-related air pollution in urban street networks: risk assessment and policy evaluation. PI. (Ongoing)
7. 2017/1 – 2017/5, GIScRG & QMRG grant for contribution to GIS/Statistical open-source software. Development of the ARTMAP-based GeoComputation Toolbox. PI.
Selected Publications
1.2020 Zhaoya Gong*; Tengteng Cai; Jean-Claude Thill; Scott Hale; Mark Graham; Measuring relative opinion from location-based social media: A case study of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, PLoS ONE, 2020, 15(5).
2. 2020 Zhenhua Chen*; Zhaoya Gong*; Shan Yang; Qiwei Ma; Changcheng Kan; Impact of extreme weather events on urban human flow: A perspective from location-based service data, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 2020, 83(2020).
3. 2020 Helen Pearce; Zhaoya Gong*; Xiaoming Cai; William Bloss; Using routing apps to model real-time road traffic emissions, Weather, 2020, 75(11): 341-346.
4. 2020 Ran Tao; Zhaoya Gong; Qiwei Ma; Jean-Claude Thill*; Boosting computational performance in spatial flow and network data analysis with head/tail breaks, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2020, 9(5).
5. 2020 Qiwei Ma; Zhaoya Gong; Jing Kang; Ran Tao; Anrong Dang*; Measuring functional urban shrinkage with multi-source geospatial big data: A case study of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei megaregion, Remote Sensing, 2020, 12(16).
6. 2019 Zhaoya Gong*; Qiwei Ma; Changcheng Kan; Qianyun Qi; Characterizing street spaces with street view images for a spatial indicator of urban functions, Sustainability, 2019, 11(22).
7. 2017 Zhaoya Gong*; Wenwu Tang; Jean-Claude Thill; Massively parallel simulations of agent-based spatial interaction: a many-core computing approach with spatial big data, 20th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science, Wageningen, Netherlands, 2017-5-9至2017-5-12.
8. 2015 Zhaoya Gong*; Jean-Claude Thill; Weiguo Liu; ART-P-MAP neural networks modeling of land-use change: accounting for spatial heterogeneity and uncertainty, Geographical Analysis, 2015, 47(4): 376-409.
9. 2012 Zhaoya Gong*; Wenwu Tang; David A. Bennett; Jean-Claude Thill; Parallel agent-based simulation of individual-level spatial interactions within a multicore computing environment, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2012, 27(6): 1152-1170.
10. 2012 Zhaoya Gong*; Wenwu Tang; Jean-Claude Thill; Parallelization of ensemble neural networks for spatial land-use modeling, 5th ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Location-Based Social Networks, Redondo Beach, California, USA, 2012-11-6至2012-11-6.
Awards and Honors
1. 2018: Second Prize, Best Doctoral Dissertation in Computational Geography, American Association of Geographers (AAG). 2. 2016: Second Prize, Best Doctoral Dissertation in Regional Science, Regional Science Association International (RSAI).
