I am Houyu Zhou, a postdoc in the Algorithmic Decision Theory (ADT) Group led by Haris Aziz and Toby Walsh at UNSW Sydney. Prior to this, I got my PhD at City University of Hong Kong, under the supervision of Minming Li. I received my BEng from Computer Elite Class, Shandong University in June 2020. I also visited John Hopcroft Center for Computer Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, hosted by Biaoshuai Tao, from July-2023 to Jan-2024.

I am interested in algorithmic game theory and computational social choice. My work explores problems inspired by economic and societal challenges through the lens of computer science and artificial intelligence. Recently, my research has centered on mechanism design in complex, real-world settings, tackling strategic behavior using both theoretical methodologies (e.g., approximation ratio and computational complexity analysis) and modern innovations including large language models.

📝 Publications

Note: By international convention, authors for papers in Theoretical Computer Science (TCS) and Economics and Computer Science (EconCS) are ordered alphabetically (α-β). † indicates the corresponding author.

Under Review

• Large Language Models for Multi-Facility Location Mechanism Design
  Nguyen T Thach, Fei Liu, Houyu Zhou^†, Hau Chan

• Learning-Augmented Facility Location Mechanisms for the Envy Ratio Objective
  (α-β) Haris Aziz, Yuhang Guo, Alexander Lam, Houyu Zhou

• Group-fair Facility Location Games with Externalities
  (α-β) Minming Li, Cheng Peng, Ying Wang, Houyu Zhou^†

• Facility Location Games with Competitors
  (α-β) Cheng Peng, Houyu Zhou^†

• Facility Location Games with Task Allocation
  (α-β) Zifan Gong, Minming Li, Houyu Zhou^†

• Likelihood of the Existence of Average Justified Representation
  (α-β) Qishen Han, Biaoshuai Tao, Lirong Xia, Chengkai Zhang, Houyu Zhou

2025

• The Degree of (Extended) Justified Representation and Its Optimization
  (α-β) Biaoshuai Tao, Chengkai Zhang, Houyu Zhou^†
  AAMAS, CORE-A^*

• Group-fair Facility Location Games with Externalities
  (α-β) Minming Li, Cheng Peng, Ying Wang, Houyu Zhou^†
  AAMAS(Extended Abstract), CORE-A^*

2024

• Fair Allocation of Items in Multiple Regions
  Houyu Zhou, Tianze Wei, Biaoshuai Tao, Minming Li
  AAAI(oral), CORE-A^*
  

• Altruism in Facility Location Problems
  Houyu Zhou, Hau Chan, Minming Li
  AAAI(oral), CORE-A^*

• Positive Intra-Group Externalities in Facility Location
  Ying Wang, Houyu Zhou^†, Minming Li
  AAMAS, CORE-A^*

• Facility Location Games with Task Allocation
  (α-β) Zifan Gong, Minming Li, Houyu Zhou^†
  AAMAS(Extended Abstract), CORE-A^*

2023

• Facility Location Games with Thresholds
  Houyu Zhou, Guochuan Zhang, Lili Mei, Minming Li
  AAMAS, CORE-A^*

• Altruism in Facility Location Problems
  Houyu Zhou, Hau Chan, Minming Li
  AAMAS(Extended Abstract), CORE-A^*

2022

• Facility Location With Approval Preferences: Strategyproofness and Fairness
  (α-β) Edith Elkind, Minming Li, Houyu Zhou
  AAMAS, CORE-A^*

• Facility Location Games with Group Externalities
  Houyu Zhou
  COCOON

• Strategyproof Mechanisms for Group-Fair Facility Location Problems
  Houyu Zhou, Minming Li, Hau Chan
  IJCAI (long oral), CORE-A^*

🎖 Honors and Awards

• 2023 Outstanding Academic Performance Award of CityU
• 2023 Research Tuition Scholarship of CityU
• 2023 AAMAS Scholarship
• 2022 Research Tuition Scholarship of CityU
• 2022 AAMAS Scholarship
• 2021 AAMAS Scholarship
• 2018 3rd Prize (National), Mathematics Modeling and Cross Technology (M2CT)
• 2017 1st Class Scholarship of Shandong University

📖 Educations

• 2024.07 - now, Postdoc, UNSW Sydney
• 2023.07 - 2024.01 Visiting Student, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• 2020.09 - 2024.06, PhD, City University of Hong Kong
• 2016.09 - 2020.06, Undergraduate, Shandong University

💬 Teaching

• CS3334 Data Structures, CityU, Teaching Assistant, Undergraduated Level
• CS6382 Algorithm Analysis and Game Theory, CityU, Teaching Assistant, Graduated Level

💻 Professional Service

• Program Committee: IJCAI’25, AAAI’25, IJCAI’24, AAAI’24
• Reviewer: Journal of Artificial Intelligence (AIJ), Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR), Journal of Combinatorial Optimization (JoCO)