The 18th China National Conference on Computational Linguistics was held in Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan province, on Oct 19 –– when the Chinese Information Processing Society of China conferred its annual excellent doctoral dissertation awards.

One of the five winning dissertations –– on research into social network link prediction methods –– was written by Wang Zhiqiang from Shanxi University and supervised by Professor Liang Jiye.

Experts say link prediction is one of the fundamental tools in social network analysis, used to identify relationships that are not otherwise observed. It can be used to predict future possible links in a social network, or can be used to predict missing links due to incomplete data.

Wang proposed a series of link prediction models and methods for such challenges as the diversity of social media big data –– and the complexity and dynamics of network structures.

His results were published in leading international and domestic academic journals, such as the Chinese Journal of Computers.

Some prediction methods Wang proposed have been highly lauded and quoted by the Stanford University Social Network Analysis Group, and some professors and academics from internationally renowned institutions.

Officials said that the Chinese Information Processing Society of China selects no more than five such excellent doctoral dissertations annually, following rounds of evaluations.

This year, five people got the award. They were from Shanxi University, the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Institute of Automation of the CAS and Harbin Institute of Technology.

In addition, two dissertations from Tsinghua University and Beijing Language and Culture University won the nomination award, officials said.

Wang Zhiqiang (third, left) receives his award at the 18th China National Conference on Computational Linguistics in Kunming, in Yunnan province. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]