Alba (Ruiran) Su
DPhil Student in Engineering Science
University of Oxford | Jardine Scholar
About Me
I am a DPhil student in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, supervised by Prof. Janet B. Pierrehumbert. As a Jardine Scholar (1.5% acceptance rate), my research focuses on developing trustworthy AI systems that integrate natural language processing, multimodal reasoning, and large language models to enhance factual reliability and decision-making in complex real-world domains.
Research Focus
My work specializes in the intersection of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and Large Language Models (LLMs) to address the pressing issue of misinformation, particularly in climate science. I develop advanced NLP tools to assist online moderators and fact-checkers in identifying and mitigating false claims on social media platforms.
Research Interests
- 🌍 Climate Misinformation Detection & Fact-Checking
- 🔗 Graph Neural Networks for Social Network Analysis
- 🤖 Large Language Models & Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
- 🖼️ Multimodal AI & Vision-Language Models
- 🧠 Knowledge Graphs & Interpretable AI
- 🔬 NLP for Scientific Discovery & Sustainability
Recent News
- [Sep 2025] Invited interview at Northwestern University's Medill School on "LLMs for Science" 🎤
- [August 2025] Paper accepted to EMNLP 2025 main conference: "ClimateViz: A Benchmark for Statistical Reasoning and Fact Verification on Scientific Charts" 📊
- [July 2025] Co-organizing ClimateNLP Workshop at ACL 2025 with Prof. Christopher Manning (Stanford) and Prof. Markus Leippold (UZH)! 🎉
- [May 2024] Presented at ACL 2024 in Bangkok on Climate Disagreement on Social Media 🌏
- [Oct 2022] Started DPhil at Oxford as Jardine Scholar 🎓
Publications
Conference Papers
Book Chapters
Research Projects
ClimateViz: Benchmark for Climate Fact-Checking
ClimateViz is a cutting-edge dataset developed to tackle misinformation in climate science. Sourced from reputable organizations such as NOAA, UK Met Office, and Copernicus, this dataset includes scientific graphics and visual data enriched with factual annotations. ClimateViz bridges the gap between visual and textual data, enabling researchers to evaluate and fine-tune large vision-language models (LVLMs) for enhanced fact-checking and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
Key Features:
- Multi-source authoritative climate data visualization
- Comprehensive factual annotations for fact-checking
- Benchmark for vision-language model evaluation
- Applications in misinformation detection and science communication
Graph Neural Networks for Social Media Analysis
Developing GNN-based approaches to understand climate discourse on social media platforms. This research integrates textual and social network data to analyze discussions, identify misinformation spreaders, and understand the dynamics of climate-related debates online.
Intent-Based Networking with Knowledge Graphs
Research on Intent-based Networks (IBNs) empowered by Knowledge Graphs for next-generation telecommunication systems. This work integrates knowledge graph technology with IBN to improve translation and management of user intents, with applications in smart grid scenarios and 6G networks.
Teaching
University of Oxford (2022 - Present)
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Engineering Science
- Computational & Corpus Linguistics: Supervised tutorials on developing multimodal digital repositories, guiding students through practical applications of linguistic analysis
- Cybersecurity: Led tutorials covering state-of-the-art security challenges, emerging threats, and future directions in cybersecurity
- NLP for Mental Health: Taught NLP methods for analyzing mental health-related Reddit posts, including sentiment analysis and ethical considerations
- AI for Education: Supervised student projects developing AI-powered chatbots for stress management and behavioral intervention
Professional Experience
ACL 2025 - ClimateNLP Workshop Co-Organizer
2025 | Vienna, Austria
- Co-organized ClimateNLP workshop with Prof. Christopher Manning (Stanford), Prof. Markus Leippold (UZH) and other leading researchers
- Managed peer review process and curated technical program
- Facilitated interdisciplinary dialogue between NLP researchers and climate scientists
China Telecom Research Institute - AI Technology Researcher
2021 - 2025 | Beijing, China
- Developed NLP-based Intent-Based Networking solutions for 6G networks
- Designed knowledge graph frameworks for vertical industry applications
- Presented at Linux Foundation Networking conferences
- Published multiple IEEE conference papers
Linux Foundation - Software Engineering Research Intern
2020 - 2021 | Remote
- Contributed to Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) project
- Conducted empirical studies on open-source community dynamics
Tsinghua University - Assistant Researcher
2020 - 2021 | Beijing, China
- Smart City Program: Researched regional inequality through social data mining
- Designed methodologies for calculating cities' Health Index
Awards & Honors
Fully funded DPhil scholarship for outstanding scholars
Beyond Research
🎵 Music & Performance
I am a multi-instrumentalist proficient in piano, keyboards, guitar, ukulele, Irish flute, harmonica, handpan, and dizi. I compose original music that blends folk traditions with modern genres including neo-classical, indie pop, tropical house, and EDM. I actively publish my music on platforms like NetEase.
🎼 Listen to My Music
🎧 Winterbird🎨 Creative Arts
I am a member of the China Writers Association, where I engage in creative writing including fiction, poetry, and environmental essays. I'm also a member of Procreate Artists, exploring digital art alongside traditional painting with acrylic and watercolor mediums.
