06/08/2026
On August 3, 2026, an interdisciplinary academic lecture titled Leveraging Large Language Models for Urban Mobility Governance was successfully held in the Syndicate Hall of North South University (NSU). Co-hosted by the Sino-Bangladesh Research Center and the Department of Environmental Science & Management of NSU, the event featured Associate Professor Li Jian from Tongji University as the keynote speaker, focusing on integrated innovations of large language models, knowledge graphs and smart transportation.
Associate Professor Mohammad Sujauddin, Chair of the NSU Department of Environmental Science & Management, Dr. Md. Shiyan Sadik, Dr. Wu Mengke, Executive Deputy Director of the Centre for China Studies at the University of Dhaka, together with the Chinese director and faculty of the Confucius Institute at North South University, more than 60 people, including faculty and students from engineering and environmental-related majors on campus, attended the event.
At the opening session, Ms. Ma Xiaoyan, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at North South University, delivered a welcome speech. She extended a warm welcome to Associate Professor Li Jian, stating that this lecture serves as a vital exchange platform for China and Bangladesh in artificial intelligence and urban planning. Beyond Chinese language teaching and Chinese cultural communication, the Confucius Institute consistently builds communication bridges for researchers from both countries, promoting the adaptation of advanced Chinese transportation technologies to Bangladesh’s local development demands. She encouraged all participants to draw on cutting-edge research insights and explore feasible intelligent upgrading solutions for public transport in Dhaka, and wished the lecture a great success.
Associate Professor Li Jian then delivered the keynote presentation. He reviewed the evolution of large language models, and proposed an external optimization-oriented implementation approach to address inherent flaws of generic models including hallucinations and insufficient industry adaptability. He introduced a four-dimensional framework covering data, knowledge, model and task, as well as the self-developed TransKG-LLM transportation large language model. Supported by real-world cases such as Shanghai’s public transport passenger complaints and urban transport knowledge graphs, he elaborated on how technologies like knowledge graphs, retrieval-augmented generation and multi-agent collaboration tackle practical urban governance challenges including traffic congestion, bus route optimization, travel planning and carbon emission accounting. He also demonstrated a suite of self-developed intelligent tools for transportation, verifying their high accuracy in scenarios such as personalized trip matching, bus route diagnosis and low-carbon assessment, and shared a complete, replicable AI application framework for smart urban transportation in developing countries.
During the Q&A session, faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions regarding the digital transformation of Dhaka’s transport system and the localized adaptation of large language models.
Following the discussion, Associate Professor Sujauddin, Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Management, highly praised the significance of this interdisciplinary sharing session, believing that China's research on intelligent transportation has important reference value for urban construction in Bangladesh, and expressed his hope to deepen academic cooperation between the two universities in engineering and environmental disciplines in the future.
This lecture bridges artificial intelligence and urban transport planning, presenting cutting-edge Chinese research outcomes to Bangladeshi academics and establishing a brand-new platform for joint research and youth academic exchanges between China and Bangladesh. The Confucius Institute at North South University will keep hosting interdisciplinary academic events to further two-way educational and scientific exchanges between the two nations, supporting smart city construction and local talent cultivation in Bangladesh.
