Concurrent with his role as Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Professor Shen is appointed as Chair Professor jointly in the Faculty of Engineering (Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering) and the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Professor Shen obtained his PhD from Northwestern University, USA in 2000. He started his academic career as Assistant Professor at the University of Florida in the same year, and joined the University of California, Berkeley in 2004, where he rose through the academic ranks to become Chancellor's Professor and Chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He was also a Centre Director at the Tsinghua-Berkeley Institute in Shenzhen and an Honorary Professor at Tsinghua University, China. Professor Shen joined HKU in 2021.

With research interests in the areas of logistics and supply chain management, data-driven decision making, and system optimization, Professor Shen's research programmes cut through businesses, energy systems, transportation systems, smart city, healthcare management, and environmental protection. He has worked closely with industries and has a strong track record of securing major research grants from government agencies and private companies. PhD students he graduated now hold positions in top universities in North America, Europe, and China as well as in leading technological companies worldwide.

Internationally recognized as a top scholar in his field, Professor Shen is a Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the President-Elect of the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), and a past President of the Society of Locational Analysis of INFORMS.