Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) announced Wednesday that Professor Zhang Han, Dean of its School of Business, has received the 2025 INFORMS Information Systems Society (ISS) Distinguished Fellow Award—one of the most prestigious honors in the field.
Presented by the ISS, a subdivision of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the award recognizes scholars whose work bridges theoretical foundations and practical applications, and who demonstrate outstanding commitment to mentoring future academics.
Zhang, an internationally prominent scholar in information systems, has made significant contributions to understanding online trust and reputation, online word-of-mouth, and human–AI interactions. His research has been widely published in leading academic journals.
The accolade marks a historic achievement: Zhang is the first scholar of Chinese origin to receive both the INFORMS ISS Distinguished Fellow Award and the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Fellow Award, the latter of which he earned in 2023. The AIS honor recognizes exceptional global and local contributions to the field through research, teaching, and service.
Expressing gratitude for the recognition, Zhang acknowledged the support he has received throughout his academic career—particularly from HKBU and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States. He also thanked his colleagues and PhD students, noting that their contributions have played a vital role in his scholarly journey.
Zhang assumed the deanship of HKBU’s School of Business in January 2025 after serving as the Steven A. Denning Professor of Technology & Management at Georgia Tech. Under his leadership, HKBU aims to accelerate interdisciplinary development and foster cutting-edge research at the intersection of AI, business, and technology.
