1st Conference on Parsimony and Learning (CPAL) was successfully held at HKU on January 3 - 6, 2024!
On January 3-6, 2024, HKU Musketeers Foundation Institute of Data Science (HKU IDS) proudly hosted and sponsored the inaugural Conference on Parsimony and Learning (CPAL) at The University of Hong Kong. This annual research meeting, set foot in the newly established data science research institute for its first gathering, is dedicated to exploring the parsimonious, low dimensional structures prevalent in machine learning, signal processing, optimization, and more.
The Conference has invited internationally renowned data scientists from prestigious universities all over the world. Their vision is to create a scientific forum where faculty, students, industrial partners, and researchers, from various fields can share insights and work towards a unified theoretical and computational framework for understanding intelligence and science from the perspective of parsimonious learning. Over 200 participants attended the conference the event, during which insightful lectures by our 9 Keynote Speakers coming from prestigious institutions such as UCLA, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, KAIST, and more, 30 diversified presentations by researchers with accepted papers as well as 16 Rising Stars Awardees who are early-career scholars, 2 Half-day Tutorials by area experts in machine learning and artificial intelligence, and countless fruitful discussions, were featured.
Day 1 of the event, which included a glamorous Opening Ceremony in the early morning of January 3 ,2024, was graced by Guests of Honours including Prof Xiang Zhang, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, Mr Ka-chai Leong, benefactor of the HKU IDS from The Musketeers Education and Culture Charitable Foundation Ltd, Prof Yi Ma, one of the CPAL2024’s General Chair & Director as well Professor, Chair of Artificial Intelligence, HKU IDS & Department of Computer Science, and Prof Harry Shum, another CPAL2024’s General Chair & IAS Professor-at-Large Emeritus, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. CPAL is meant to be a new chapter in conferences which emphasizes on true academic values as both the senior and rising researchers are rendered a chance to exchange latest research ideas and interdisciplinary knowledge in data science.
Apart from the main programme of the conference at daytime, HKU IDS also shared joy with conference attendees in organizing social and networking events including a dinner banquet at a traditional Chinese-style restaurant on January 4, 2024 evening, and a unique Ding-ding tour on 3 specially designed party trams on January 5, 2024 evening. The attendees, after being immersed in an engaging, yet fairly tight, schedule at the conference on parsimonious learning, got a chance to taste the cultural distinctiveness of the city of Hong Kong through cuisine and entertainment, and also to interact further with other collaborators in a light-hearted manner. Both events were received with positive feedback.
In general, CPAL2024 was met with enthusiastic responses. The team at HKU IDS echoes Professor Yi Ma’s conference vision of trying to “make a different conference” which could render better service to the research communities, and looks forward to carrying out other knowledge exchange initiatives at the Institute in an international scale.