Hi, I am Qilin (Alan), currently a 4th-year PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science at City University of Hong Kong, supervised by Wing-Kwong Chan.

My research interests lie at the intersection of Software Engineering (SE) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), with a specific focus on Formal Quality Assurance for AI. In the context of AI security, my work mainly centers on Certified Machine Learning.

Publications

You can also find my publications on my Google Scholar profile.

Conference Papers

• Scalable and Precise Patch Robustness Certification for Deep Learning Models with Top-k Predictions [PDF] [DOI]
  Qilin Zhou, Haipeng Wang, Zhengyuan Wei, W. K. Chan.
  2025 25th International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security (QRS 2025) (CCF C)
• CrossCert: A Cross-Checking Detection Approach to Patch Robustness Certification for Deep Learning Models [PDF] [DOI]
  Qilin Zhou, Zhengyuan Wei, Haipeng Wang, Bo Jiang, W. K. Chan.
  2024 32nd ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE 2024) (CCF A, Top Conference)
• Delving into parameter-efficient fine-tuning in code change learning: An empirical study [PDF][DOI]
  Shuo Liu, Jacky Keung, Zhen Yang, Fang Liu, Qilin Zhou, Yihan Liao.
  2024 IEEE International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution and Reengineering (SANER 2024) (CCF B)
• A Majority Invariant Approach to Patch Robustness Certification for Deep Learning Models [PDF] [DOI]
  Qilin Zhou, Zhengyuan Wei, Haipeng Wang, W. K. Chan.
  2023 38th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE 2023, short paper) (CCF A, Top Conference)
• Aster: Encoding Data Augmentation Relations into Seed Test Suites for Robustness Assessment and Fuzzing of Data-Augmented Deep Learning Models [PDF][DOI]
  Haipeng Wang, Zhengyuan Wei, Qilin Zhou, Bo Jiang, W. K. Chan.
  2023 25th International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security (QRS 2023) (CCF C)

Journal Papers

• HiCert: Toward Patch Robustness Certification and Detection for Deep Learning Systems Beyond Consistent Samples [PDF][DOI]
  Qilin Zhou, Zhengyuan Wei, Haipeng Wang, Zhuo Wang, W. K. Chan.
  IEEE Transactions on Reliability (TRel 2025) (JCR Q1, IF: 5.7)
• Context-Aware Fuzzing for Robustness Enhancement of Deep Learning Models [PDF][DOI]
  Haipeng Wang, Zhengyuan Wei, Qilin Zhou, W. K. Chan.
  ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM 2024) (JCR Q1, IF: 6.2)

Education

Ph.D. in Computer Science 2022 - Present
City University of Hong Kong

• Honors: Research Tuition Scholarship (RTS) and Postgraduate Studentship (PGS)

B.Eng. in Software Engineering (Outstanding Engineer Program) 2018 - 2022
South China University of Technology

• Minor: Finance

Experiences

Alibaba | Software Design Engineer in Test | Intern Jul 2021 - Sep 2021

Tencent | Software Design Engineer in Test | Intern Dec 2020 - Apr 2021

Teaching

Course

• CityU CS5351 Software Engineering
• CityU CS2311 Computer Programming
• CityU CS5348 Software Quality Engineering
• CityU CS3346 Software Testing and Maintenance

Supervision

• CityU Master’s Guided Study *Co-supervisor

Language

I am a native speaker of both Cantonese and Mandarin.