YI Xin-Institute for Network Sciences and Cyberspace, Tsinghua University

Research Status

I have long been engaged in research at the intersection of application security and human-computer interaction (HCI), focusing on authentication, interaction privacy protection and security in scenarios such as smart devices, the Internet of Things (IoT), social networks, AI-powered services, and mixed reality. My work has been published in over 40 papers at top-tier international conferences and journals, including CHI, UIST, Ubicomp, and CVPR, and I hold more than 20 patents. My contributions have been recognized with awards such as the ACM SIGCHI China Rising Star Award, Best Paper Honorable Mention at CHI 2017 and CHI 2019, and the Ubicomp Discussion Paper Award. I have led projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC General Program) and was selected for the Young Talent Support Program in my field. Additionally, I have mentored student teams to win accolades at Tsinghua University’s Challenge Cup, Student Research Training Program, and national innovation competitions.

My research has been applied in widely used commercial products like Huawei smartphones, Sogou Input Method, and Ant Group’s smart glasses, as well as in national key projects such as Beijing Capital International Airport and manned spaceflight programs.

Recent Research Highlights
1. Natural Authentication Methods for Ubiquitous Devices
Proposed multi-factor authentication (e.g., gaze, gestures, and grip interactions) for smartphones, smart glasses, and wearables, leveraging multi-factor authentication paradigms. Overcame the security-usability trade-offs of traditional biometrics and password-based methods, enhancing both convenience and efficiency for device unlocking and identity verification in natural interaction scenarios.

2. Privacy Risk Identification and Protection Under Advanced Inference Threats
Addressed emerging privacy risks posed by IoT’s pervasive sensing and AI’s powerful inference capabilities across smart devices, IoT, social networks, and mixed reality. Developed context-aware privacy-preserving computation frameworks, modeled privacy threats from multi-modal sensing and large-language models, and introduced interactive techniques to help users detect and mitigate leaks without compromising task performance.

3. Interactive and Explainable Trustworthy AI Services
Tackled challenges of over-trust in highly capable AI and lack of explainability in human-AI collaboration. Proposed human-AI cooperative methods for AIGC detection and cognition-guided AI information retrieval, along with computational models of human-AI trust. These advances improve explainability and foster reliable collaboration in social networks, autonomous driving, and other domains.

4. Cognitive Vulnerabilities in Multimodal Mixed Reality Environments
Investigated human perceptual and cognitive biases (e.g., illusions and misinterpretations) in immersive mixed reality. Identified cognitive vulnerabilities and novel attack vectors, then designed security-enhancing techniques for remote collaboration, embodied AI, and social VR to mitigate risks while preserving user experience.

Honors And Awards

2024 ACM SIGCHI China Rising Star Award

2021 Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Award of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence (CAAI)

2020 First Prize in the First China Human Factors Engineering Design Competition

2019 First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress of the Chinese Institute of Electronics

2019 ACM SIGCHI Doctoral Dissertation Award

2018 CCF Extinguished Doctoral Thesis

2018 Supporting Project for Innovative Post Doc

2018 Extinguished Graduate Student in Beijing

2016 Third Prize in GIX Global Innovation Competition

Academic Achievement

[1] Sheng Zhao, Junrui Zhu, Shuning Zhang, Xueyang Wang, Hongyi Li, Fang Yi, Xin Yi andHewu Li. “CoordAuth: Hands-Free Two-Factor Authentication in Virtual Reality Leveraging Head-Eye Coordination”. In 2025 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), 2025.

[2] Shuning Zhang, Yongquan ‘Owen’ Hu, Xin Yi, Suranga Nanayakkara and Xiaoming Chen. “IntervEEG-LLM: Exploring EEG-Based Multimodal Data for Customized Mental Health Interventions”. In WWW Companion ’25, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2025.

[3] Shuning Zhang, Xin Yi, Shixuan Li, Chuye Hong, Gujun Chen, Jiarui Liu, Xueyang Wang, Yongquan Hu, Yuntao Wang and Hewu Li. “Actual Achieved Gain and Optimal Perceived Gain: Modeling Human Take-over Decisions Towards Automated Vehicles’ Suggestions”. In Proc. CHI’25, 2025.

[4] Shuning Zhang, Xin Yi, Shixuan Li, Haobin Xing and Hewu Li. “PrivCAPTCHA: Interactive CAPTCHA to Facilitate Effective Comprehension of APP Privacy Policy”. In Proc. CHI’25, 2025.

[5] Xueyang Wang, Sheng Zhao, Yihe Wang, Howard Ziyu Han, Xinge Liu, Xin Yi, Xin Tong and Hewu Li. “Raise Your Eyebrows Higher: Facilitating Emotional Communication in Social Virtual Reality Through Region-Specific Facial Expression Exaggeration”. In Proc. CHI’ 25, 2025.

[6] Xueyang Wang, Kewen Peng, Chonghao Hao, Wendi Yu, Xin Yi and Hewu Li. “VR Whispering: A Multisensory Approach for Private Conversations in Social Virtual Reality”. In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2025.

[7] Xueyang Wang, Runyan Tian, Qiuyi Zeng, Chenye Tu, Shuning Zhang, Xin Yi, Hewu Li, and Pei-Luen Patrick Rau. “The Synergy of Dialogue and Art: Exploring the Potential of Multimodal AI Chatbots in Emotional Support”. In Companion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, pp. 147-153. 2024..

[8] Xiyuxing Zhang, Yuntao Wang, Yuxuan Han, Chen Liang, Ishan Chatterjee, Jiankai Tang, Xin Yi, Shwetak Patel and Yuanchun Shi. “The EarSAVAS Dataset: Enabling Subject-Aware Vocal Activity Sensing on Earables”. In Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 8(2), 1-26, 2024.

[9] Lihua Fan; Shuning Zhang, Yan Kong, Xin Yi, Yang Wang, Xuhai Xu, Chun Yu, Hewu Li and Yuanchun Shi. “Evaluating the Privacy Valuation of Personal Data on Smartphones”. In Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 8(3), 1-33, 2024.