Date of Release: September 8, 2016

On the afternoon of September 7, 2016, ATA invited professor John Neville Rust, director of the Psychometrics Center (“Center”) of Cambridge University, and Dr. David Stillwell, executive director of the Center to a heavy-weighted workshop in Beijing for sharing their academic research results. The workshop attracted and brought together Chinese psychometrics experts and scholars as well as scholars from Beijing Normal University and Renmin University of China, senior managers and persons in charge of human resources departments from companies listed in Fortune Global 500 including Bank of China, Sinopec, China Mobile and State Grid. The participants shared information about the development of psychometrics under the global context and exchanged ideas on how to use psychometric methodoligies based on big data in social media activities. 

Riding on the visit of professor John Neville Rust and Dr. David Stillwell to ATA, Mr. Ma Xiaofeng, chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of ATA, offered letters of appointment to invite the four experts from Cambridge University - professor John Neville Rust, Dr. David Stillwell, Dr. Luning Sun and Dr. Yin Wah Fiona Chen  as “Honorary Psychometricians of ATA”. Going forward, the Psychometrics Center of Cambridge University and these experts from the field of psychometrics will conduct in-depth cooperation with ATA to jointly promote in China the introduction and development of the world-leading research results of Cambridge University in psychometrics. 

Cambridge University is one of the most renowned research-oriented universities in the world and one of the oldest universities in Britain. Named after the small English town where it is located, Cambridge University is not enclosed by wall. Its campus runs from north to south along the zigzagging Cambridge River, with graceful scenery on both sides of the river bank. The atmosphere of pursuing knowledge can be felt at each corner of the town. The Psychometrics Center of Cambridge University ranks first among all British universities in terms of the specialty of psychology. The two experts from Cambridge University are also the authoritative experts in psychometrics in the world.  

Professor John Neville Rust is the director of the Psychometrics Center of Cambridge University. He is also the person-in-charge of the academic research of the Department of Psychology, and the person-in-charge of the psychometrics in the training center for senior executives at Judge Business School. As an authoritative expert in psychometrics, professor John Neville Rust presides over the research into the standardization of a series of psychological tests which embrace many fields such as personal character testing, education assessment, clinical diagnosis and human resources. He is also a highly accomplished expert in advanced statistics and computational science and technology, and was engaged in consultation services to many government organizations and multinationals. During the meeting for sharing academic results, professor John Neville Rust gave a vivid and witty introduction to the needs for psychometrics in the workplace, the importance of correctly using the psychometric tools in the Internet age, and the leading role played by psychometrics in the human resources industry. In his lecture, professor John systematically introduced the cutting-edge technology and the latest development of the application of psychometrics in the work place, and introduced the latest research results of the Psychometrics Center of Cambridge University by citing specific cases. He mainly introduced how to assess people’s honesty in the personal character test and how to evaluate people’s capacity of making innovation in the workplace, and introduced the world’s first open-source self-adapative online testing platform developed by the Psychometrics Center of Cambridge University.

Following professor John Neville Rust, Dr. David Stillwell, who is reputed as “Jackberg” in the circle of psychometrics, gave his lecture. As one of the 30 top young scholars in the world, Dr. David Stillwell is a TEDx lecturer as well as a lecturer of big-data analysis and quantified social sciences at the Judge Business School of Cambridge University. He specializes in big data analysis and quantified social sciences, and focuses his research on the psychometric methods in the socialization activities in the current society under the big data background. The theme of his lecture was the psychometrics based on big data. He systematically introduced how to use the behavioral data collected from the Internet to accurately predict the personal character and the people’s capacity. The big data analysis based on social network can precisely predict the psychological attributes and personal information such as gender, age, intellectual level and personality trait through user preferences, texts and images. According to Dr. David Stillwell, the present prediction model developed by Cambridge University can make more accurate descriptions of the user than the user’s family members, friends and colleagues do. That’s why psychometric analysis using big data can greatly help enterprises and other institutes in assessing and selecting talents.

Professor John Neville Rust and Dr. David Stillwell exchanged ideas and conducted interactions with participants present at the meeting after giving their lectures. They had amazing discussions with the participants on problems faced by the psychometrics academic circle in China; problems in human resources management faced by Chinese enterprises, and how to use psychometric tools in human resources management in enterprises.

The academic seminar sponsored by ATA on the research results of Cambridge University in psychometrics provided a rare opportunity for Chinese psychometrics scholars and human resources managers in Chinese enterprises to learn about the latest development and cutting-edge theories of psychometrics and their applications in the world. The two experts from Cambridge University also learned about the present development of psychometrics in China and the present situation of human resources management in Chinese enterprises through their communication with the participants. They are also enlightened with direction for their future academic research through first-hand understanding of the differences in applying psychometric tools in different countries. 

As the Honorary Psychometricians of ATA, these experts from Cambridge University will be invited by ATA to conduct more communication and exchange activities, so as to provide platforms and opportunities for Chinese psychometricians and enterprises to learn more about the development of psychometrics in the world. 

(If there is any inconsistency or conflict between the English and Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.)