Dr Jin Rui joined the Department of Geography at King’s College London in April 2025 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate.

He also serves as a Course Convenor & Instructor within the London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS DTP), a collaboration between King’s College London, Imperial College London, and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), which provides interdisciplinary research training for PhD students. In addition, he contributes to master’s and doctoral-level Geography in Action modules at King’s College London.

Dr Rui is currently involved in two funded research projects:

• The British Academy-funded project “Sinking Cities”, which examines flood risk and social resilience in Southeast Asian coastal megacities.
• The NERC-funded project “Joint Policy and Practice for Joined-up Landscapes (JPP4JL)”, which evaluates the effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for land-use transitions and climate adaptation across the UK.

He serves as a Guest Editor for the international journal Land (Q2) and will soon join the Editorial Board of Cities.

Research

Dr Rui’s research focuses on the integration of spatial data science and urban artificial intelligence, particularly in the following areas:

• Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI): Developing and applying AI methods such as deep learning and neural networks to process geospatial data for tasks like building attribute prediction, disaster analysis, and spatial quality quantification.
• Urban Data Science: Fusing large-scale urban datasets, including street view imagery, mobility trajectories, and social media data, to extract multi-source insights for well-being assessment, perceived safety evaluation, and urban regeneration support.
• Urban Visual Intelligence: Employing computer vision and street-level imagery to extract visual characteristics of urban environments and explore their relationships with urban functions and residents' perceptions.

Dr Jin Rui is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Spatial Analytics and Machine Learning. His research bridges spatial data science, GeoAI, and urban sustainability, focusing on how urban form, perception, and environmental risks interact to shape equitable and resilient cities. He develops interpretable AI and graph-based spatial models to predict phenomena such as mobility demand, heat exposure, flood risk, and perceived safety. Dr Rui’s work has been published in leading journals, including Cities, Habitat International, Sustainable Cities and Society, Journal of Transport Geography, and Tourism Management. He currently contributes to the British Academy-funded “Sinking Cities” project and the NERC-funded “Joint Policy and Practice for Joined-up Landscapes (JPP4JL)”. He also serves as a Guest Editor for Land and will soon join the Editorial Board of Cities. His broader aim is to advance explainable, data-driven, and just urban transformation.

Teaching

• 6SSG3082 / 7SSG5082 Geography in Action

PhD supervision

Dr Rui is available to co-supervise PhD students whose research aligns with his expertise in spatial data science, GeoAI, and urban sustainability. His research interests include explainable AI for spatial modelling, urban visual intelligence, environmental risk assessment.

Please note that, according to King’s College London policy, PhD candidates under Jin's supervision will need a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) or above to serve as the primary supervisor. He is also happy to act as a co-supervisor for interdisciplinary projects.