Professor Xin Lyu Receives Global Fred Award for AI Education Outstanding Contributor
On January 22, 2026, the Global Fred Award Ceremony & International Economic, Trade and Cultural Cooperation Salon took place in Beijing. Among seven honorees, Professor Xin Lyu, Dean of the Digital Human Research Institute at Communication University of China (CUC), received the Global Fred Award for AI Education Outstanding Contributor. The recognition highlights two decades of work advancing digital media art education and bridging technology, culture, and industry.
Why this matters for educators
The Global Fred Award recognizes individuals and institutions that move fields forward with real outcomes. Its AI education category emphasizes integrating technology with humanity and syncing industry needs with academic training. Professor Lyu's work is a blueprint for how to build programs that produce ready-to-execute graduates and measurable industry impact.
Key contributions
- Institution building: Founded the Digital Human Research Institute at CUC and introduced a "technology + art + industry" education system, filling a gap in specialized digital human education in China.
- Curriculum and research: Led top-tier undergraduate courses in Beijing and released the China Digital Human Influence Report to inform academic and industry decisions.
- Scaled collaboration: Launched an inter-university exchange program spanning 21 universities and more than 3,500 participants to share resources and drive joint innovation.
- Talent development: Created the "Six Arts of Digital Media" training model, combining technological application, artistic creation, and industrial practice. Led teaching achievements that earned the First Prize for National Educational Achievements.
- Industry-academia-research integration: Built in-depth partnerships with leading companies such as Tencent and Baidu. Secured 18.37 million yuan in horizontal research funding over five years. Delivered real-world outputs including virtual anchors and digital doctors.
- Field-building activities: Organized exchanges on generative AI and digital human topics to accelerate standards, share practices, and connect domestic and international perspectives.
About Professor Xin Lyu
Professor Lyu holds a PhD from CUC and served as a visiting scholar at Northeastern University (USA). He is part of Beijing's Young Talent Program and recognized as a Young Top-notch Scholar of CUC. As Dean of the Digital Human Research Institute, he advances digital human technology R&D while integrating it with art education.
What educators can apply now
- Design a three-part learning path: technical depth, artistic or design fluency, and industry application. Require projects that hit all three.
- Co-create with industry early: define capstones with partners, co-teach modules, and benchmark student work against live use cases.
- Build cross-campus networks: share course materials, co-host online studios, and rotate faculty talks to raise quality across institutions.
- Publish applied research that informs practice (e.g., adoption reports, capability benchmarks, ethical frameworks) and use it as teaching material.
- Measure outcomes beyond grades: internships secured, deployed prototypes, startup launches, or contributions to partner pipelines.
Broader impact
The award jury noted that Professor Lyu reframed digital human education with a cross-disciplinary approach that balances technology and art. His model offers a replicable path for institutions seeking to connect curriculum to real industry needs while keeping human-centered values at the core.
The ceremony also served as a platform for global cooperation in digital media art education and AI-driven cultural industries. As more programs adopt proven practices-structured industry partnerships, open exchanges, and outcome-driven curricula-talent pipelines get stronger and innovation cycles get shorter.
For program leads planning curricula
If you're aligning courses to industry roles and skills, you can review curated options here: AI courses by job. It's a practical way to map learning paths to employable outcomes.
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