Vincent Zakka | Human Behaviour Analysis | Young Scientist Award

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Mr. Vincent Zakka | Human Behaviour Analysis | Young Scientist Award

Postgraduate Research Student of Aston University, United Kingdom

Vincent Gbouna Zakka is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Aston University, specializing in human behavior analysis in smart environments. His research has applications in ambient assisted living, human-robot collaboration, and user-centered building system control. With a Master’s in Mechatronic Engineering from Zhejiang University and a Bachelor’s in Electronics Information Engineering from Liaoning University of Technology, Vincent has gained valuable experience as a Research Assistant at institutions like The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Westlake University. His expertise spans activity recognition, vision-based monitoring technologies, and smart building systems. He has received several awards, including Best Paper Runner-Up at the International Conference on AI in Healthcare (2024), and has contributed to numerous publications in high-impact journals. ✨🤖🏠

Publication Profile : 

Scopus

 

🎓 Educational Background :

Vincent Gbouna Zakka is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Aston University, where he focuses on human behavior analysis in smart environments, with key applications in ambient assisted living, human-robot collaboration, and user-centered building system control. He holds a Master of Engineering in Mechatronic Engineering from Zhejiang University (2018-2021) and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics Information Engineering from Liaoning University of Technology (2014-2018).

💼 Professional Experience :

Professionally, Vincent has been a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant at Aston University since October 2022, where he also mentors students and engages in research. Prior to this, he served as a Research Assistant at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2021-2022) and Westlake University (2021). His dedication to academia is reflected in his contributions to several high-impact conferences and journals, earning recognition such as the Best Paper Runner-Up Award at the 2024 International Conference on AI in Healthcare and the Best Paper Award at the 22nd International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality in 2022.

📚 Research Interests : 

Vincent’s research interests include activity recognition, user trust in monitoring systems, vision-based technology acceptance in home environments, human-robot collaboration, and smart building systems. His innovative work spans publications on privacy-preserving ambient assisted living, thermal comfort modeling, and IoT-enabled robot skin systems. He actively reviews for leading conferences and journals in his field, such as IROS and ISIE.

📝 Publication Top Notes :

  1. Darras, K., Balle, M., Xu, W., Yan, Y., Zakka Gbouna, V., Toledo, M., Sheng, D., Lin, W., Zhang, B., Lan, Z., Li, F., & Wanger, T. (2024). Eyes on Nature: Embedded Vision Cameras for Multidisciplinary Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring. Method in Ecology. Accepted.
  2. Zakka Gbouna, V., Dai, Z., & Manso, L. J. (2024). Hierarchical Temporal Convolution Network: Towards Privacy-Centric Activity Recognition. 16th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence. Accepted.
  3. Zakka Gbouna, V., Lee, M., Zhang, R., Huang, L., Jung, S., & Hong, T. (2024). Non-invasive vision-based personal comfort model using thermographic images and deep learning. Automation in Construction, 105811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2024.105811
  4. Zakka Gbouna, V., & Lee, M. (2024). A generalized thermal comfort model using thermographic images and compact convolutional transformers: Towards scalable and adaptive occupant comfort optimization. Building and Environment, 112118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.112118
  5. Zakka Gbouna, V., Dai, Z., & Manso, L. J. (2024). Action Recognition for Privacy-Preserving Ambient Assisted Living. International Conference on AI in Healthcare, 15. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67285-9_15
  6. Xie, K., Lee, M., Khalid, R., & Zakka Gbouna, V. (2023). The impact of personal environmental control on the performance of thermal systems: Building energy consumption, occupant thermal comfort, and productivity. Energy and Buildings, 113552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113552
  7. Zakka Gbouna, V., & Lee, M. (2022). An Integrated Design of Energy and Indoor Environmental Quality System for Effective Building Performance Management. Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality.
  8. Zakka Gbouna, V., Pang, G., Yang, G., Hou, Z., Lv, H., Yu, Z., & Pang, Z. (2021). User-interactive robot skin with large-area scalability for safer and natural human-robot collaboration in future telehealthcare. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, 3082563. https://doi.org/10.1109/JBHI.2021.3082563 (Featured on Cover Paper)
  9. Zakka Gbouna, V., Hou, Z., Pang, G., Yang, H., & Yang, G. (2021). IoT-Enabled Robot Skin System for Enhancement of Safe Human-Robot Collaboration. International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications, 43. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89098-8_43
  10. Heng, W., Pang, G., Zakka Gbouna, V., Pang, Z., Yi, K., & Yang, H. (2019). Facile Fabrication of Highly Soft Tactile Sensor based on Porous Sponge with Geometry Effect on Sensing Characteristics. 2nd IEEE International Flexible Electronics Technology Conference. https://doi.org/10.1109/IFETC46817.2019.9073774