Prof. Yi Mei

Prof. Yi Mei

Fellow, Engineering NZ IEEE Senior Member

Professor researching evolutionary computation, machine learning and optimisation

  • Location Wellington, New Zealand
  • Positions Professor
    Programme Director (Computer Science and Computer Graphics)
    School of Engineering and Computer Science (SECS)
    Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CDSAI)
    Victoria University of Wellington (VUW)
  • Research groups Evolutionary Computation for Combinatorial Optimisation Group (ECCO)
    Evolutionary Computation and Machine Learning Research Group (ECRG)
    IEEE CIS Taskforce on Evolutionary Scheduling and Combinatorial Optimisation (TESCO)
  • Connect
  • yi.mei@ecs.vuw.ac.nz
  • Google Scholar
  • ORCID
  • ResearchGate
  • LinkedIn
  • University profile

Grants & Projects

$1.5M+research funding as PI (NZD)
$13MMBIE SSIF programme, Theme Leader
11research grants
2industry projects

Research Grants

  • 2024–2027
    Machine Learning for Emergency Medical Dispatch: A Data Driven ApproachMBIE Endeavour Smart Idea Fund $1,000,000 NZD PI
  • 2024–2027
    Machine Learning for Combinatorial Optimisation: An Evolutionary Computation ApproachRoyal Society Te Apārangi Catalyst Leaders Fund $150,000 NZD PI
  • 2022–2023
    Te Taupanga Tapoi: A Post-COVID Kaupapa Māori Tour Recommendation SystemVUW Faculty Strategic Research Grant SHEADI $49,000 NZD PI
  • 2022–2023
    Te Kapahaka Punaha Taupanga (The Kapahaka Software Judging System)SfTI Seed Project Fund $200,000 NZD Co-PI
  • 2020–2027
    A data-science driven evolution of aquaculture for building the blue economy (AI/ML Advanced Research and Applications to Aquaculture)MBIE SSIF Fund on Data Science $13,000,000 NZD Theme Leader & Key Researcher
  • 2017–2020
    Automatic Design of Heuristics for Dynamic Arc Routing Problem with Genetic Programming (16-VUW-079)Marsden Fund Fast-Start Grant $300,000 NZD Sole PI
  • 2018
    Real-Time Tourist Trip Recommendation using Genetic ProgrammingUniversity Research Fund, Victoria University of Wellington $28,720 NZD Sole PI
  • 2016–2018
    Digital Data in Schools: An Exploration of Research and PracticeVictoria University of Wellington Digital Future Grant $20,000 NZD Co-PI
  • 2017
    Evolving Interpretable Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Rules with GPResearch Establishment Grant, Victoria University of Wellington $10,000 NZD Sole PI
  • 2014
    RMIT Near-miss GrantAwarded for being ranked in the top 10% of unsuccessful applications for the 2014 ARC DECRA $25,000 AUD
  • 2009
    IEEE CIS Walter Karplus Summer Research GrantIEEE Computational Intelligence Society

Industry Projects

  • 2025
    Genetic Programming for Dynamic Electric Dial-a-RideHonda Research Institute Europe project $39,000 NZD (€20,000) PI
  • 2019–2020
    AI/ML techniques for Waste Collection in NZIndustry project with Northland Waste $16,000 NZD PI