Yingjun has been a PhD student at the University of Amsterdam from June 2020  to November 2024,. Since December 2024, he is a postdoc in the Video & Image Sense (VIS) Lab of Prof. Cees Snoek.

Yingjun’s research focus is meta learning, a branch of artificial intelligence that teaches machines to learn with less and less data, rather than the current BigTech-trend of learning with more and more data and compute. Yingjun’s research line has been impressively productive, advancing the fields of meta-learning, few-shot learning, and learning with scarce data. His work has already led to 12 first-author papers in top-tier AI venues, a rare achievement in a field where 5 first-author publications are considered a strong PhD output. In recognition of the impact of his research, Yingjun previously received a CISCO Research Gift of 50,000 US dollars.

Yingjun will defend his PhD thesis entitled ‘Learning to Learn with Less and Less’ on 19 November 2025 at the University of Amsterdam.