LECTURER · TONGLING UNIVERSITY

Qingkui
Zeng.

Learning together.
Keeping data private.

I study privacy protection and federated learning, with an interest in reliable, efficient and secure learning systems.

ResearchPrivacy & federated learning
Based inTongling, China
RESEARCH · CURIOSITY · EXPLORATIONDiscover more

ABOUT

Useful learning.
Thoughtful privacy.

I am a Lecturer in the School of Artificial Intelligence at Tongling University. My research focuses on privacy protection and federated learning: how to learn from distributed data while protecting individuals and keeping collaborative systems reliable.

I received my Ph.D. in Information and Communication Engineering from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology in June 2025, and joined Tongling University in July 2025.

My work spans local differential privacy, poisoning defenses, efficient learning for connected devices, and the security of language model applications.

19Publications
502Citations
10h-index
10i10-index

Google Scholar snapshot · 5 October 2026. See current metrics

RESEARCH

Questions that connect my work.

Privacy, robustness and efficiency
across collaborative learning systems.

01

Privacy & Differential Privacy

Protecting individual information while retaining useful learning signals, with a focus on local differential privacy and privacy–utility tradeoffs.

Local differential privacyPrivacy–utility tradeoffs
02

Robust Federated Learning

Understanding poisoning threats and designing defenses for collaborative learning across heterogeneous clients.

Poisoning defenseNon-IID data
03

Learning at the Edge

Exploring efficient, privacy-aware learning for connected devices, healthcare sensing and the Internet of Things.

Edge learningCommunication efficiency
04

LLM & Content Security

Studying how instructions hidden in uploaded content can influence language model behavior and compromise application workflows.

Prompt injectionLLM security

NEWS

Recent updates.

Publications and academic milestones.

Publication

Our Prompt-in-Content study was published in the NSS 2025 proceedings. View paper

Appointment

I joined the School of Artificial Intelligence at Tongling University as a Lecturer.

Education

I completed my Ph.D. in Information and Communication Engineering at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology.

PUBLICATIONS

Work in print.

Full Scholar profile

Journal and conference papers. Years follow the publisher’s final citation; earlier records and conference years are noted where they differ.

Showing all 19 publications

Computer NetworksJournal
2026

Efficient privacy-preserving federated learning with local differential privacy

Chunyong Yin, Qingkui Zeng

Computer Networks, 285, Article 112351, 2026

Federated learningLocal differential privacyPre-training
View citation
@article{zeng202614,
  title = {{Efficient privacy-preserving federated learning with local differential privacy}},
  author = {Yin, Chunyong and Zeng, Qingkui},
  journal = {Computer Networks},
  year = {2026},
  volume = {285},
  eid = {112351},
  doi = {10.1016/j.comnet.2026.112351},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2026.112351}
}
HCISJournal
2026

A Game-Theoretic Framework for Personalized Privacy-Utility Tradeoffs in Federated Learning

Haiqing Li, Chunyong Yin, Qingkui Zeng, Chenglong Qi

Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences, 16, pp. 1–17, 2026

Federated learningGame theoryPrivacy-utility tradeoff
View citation
@article{zeng202619,
  title = {{A Game-Theoretic Framework for Personalized Privacy-Utility Tradeoffs in Federated Learning}},
  author = {Li, Haiqing and Yin, Chunyong and Zeng, Qingkui and Qi, Chenglong},
  journal = {Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences},
  year = {2026},
  volume = {16},
  pages = {1--17},
  eid = {41},
  doi = {10.22967/HCIS.2026.16.041},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.22967/HCIS.2026.16.041}
}
ACR 2026Conference
2026

Enhancing Privacy and Accountability in Federated Learning for Smart IoT

Zhuotao Lian, Qingkui Zeng, Chunhua Su

Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Advances in Computing Research (ACR’26), pp. 441–443, 2026

Federated learningPrivacyAccountability
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202617,
  title = {{Enhancing Privacy and Accountability in Federated Learning for Smart IoT}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Zeng, Qingkui and Su, Chunhua},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Advances in Computing Research (ACR’26)},
  year = {2026},
  pages = {441--443},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-032-23883-2_36},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-23883-2_36}
}
ICCE 2026Conference
2026

Layerwise Selective Quantization for Communication-Efficient Federated Learning in Consumer IoT Devices

Zhuotao Lian, Qingkui Zeng, Chunhua Su

2026 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE), pp. 1–5, 2026

Federated learningQuantizationConsumer IoT
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202618,
  title = {{Layerwise Selective Quantization for Communication-Efficient Federated Learning in Consumer IoT Devices}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Zeng, Qingkui and Su, Chunhua},
  booktitle = {2026 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE)},
  year = {2026},
  pages = {1--5},
  doi = {10.1109/icce67443.2026.11449814},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/icce67443.2026.11449814}
}
ProvSec 2025ConferenceFirst author
2026

POSTER: A Server-Side Proactive Defense Framework for Poison-Resilient Federated Learning

Qingkui Zeng, Zhuotao Lian

Provable and Practical Security (ProvSec 2025), pp. 498–502, 2026

First online 2025; final citation 2026

Federated learningPoisoning defenseMachine unlearning
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202616,
  title = {{POSTER: A Server-Side Proactive Defense Framework for Poison-Resilient Federated Learning}},
  author = {Zeng, Qingkui and Lian, Zhuotao},
  booktitle = {Provable and Practical Security (ProvSec 2025)},
  year = {2026},
  pages = {498--502},
  doi = {10.1007/978-981-95-2961-2_29},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-2961-2_29}
}
NSS 2025Conference
2026

Prompt-in-Content Attacks: Exploiting Uploaded Inputs to Hijack LLM Behavior

Zhuotao Lian, Weiyu Wang, Qingkui Zeng, Toru Nakanishi, Teruaki Kitasuka, Chunhua Su

Network and System Security (NSS 2025), pp. 146–160, 2026

NSS 2025 proceedings; published February 2026

LLM securityPrompt injectionUploaded content
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202611,
  title = {{Prompt-in-Content Attacks: Exploiting Uploaded Inputs to Hijack LLM Behavior}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Wang, Weiyu and Zeng, Qingkui and Nakanishi, Toru and Kitasuka, Teruaki and Su, Chunhua},
  booktitle = {Network and System Security (NSS 2025)},
  year = {2026},
  pages = {146--160},
  doi = {10.1007/978-981-95-6419-4_9},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-6419-4_9}
}
ICAIT 2025ConferenceFirst author
2025

FLNAP: Mitigating LDP Impact in Federated Learning with Noise-Aware Pre-Training

Qingkui Zeng, Zhuotao Lian, Huijuan Niu, Jingcheng Song, Hong Zhao, Chunhua Su

2025 17th International Conference on Advanced Infocomm Technology (ICAIT), pp. 128–134, 2025

Federated learningLocal differential privacyNoise-aware pre-training
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202515,
  title = {{FLNAP: Mitigating LDP Impact in Federated Learning with Noise-Aware Pre-Training}},
  author = {Zeng, Qingkui and Lian, Zhuotao and Niu, Huijuan and Song, Jingcheng and Zhao, Hong and Su, Chunhua},
  booktitle = {2025 17th International Conference on Advanced Infocomm Technology (ICAIT)},
  year = {2025},
  pages = {128--134},
  doi = {10.1109/icait66450.2025.11353293},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/icait66450.2025.11353293}
}
IEEE IoT JournalJournal
2025

Privacy-Enhanced Federated WiFi Sensing for Health Monitoring in Internet of Things

Zhuotao Lian, Qingkui Zeng, Zhusen Liu, Haoda Wang, Chuan Ma, Weizhi Meng, Chunhua Su, Kouichi Sakurai

IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 12(3), pp. 2994–3002, 2025

Scholar record 2024; final citation 2025

Federated learningWiFi sensingHealth monitoring
View citation
@article{zeng202512,
  title = {{Privacy-Enhanced Federated WiFi Sensing for Health Monitoring in Internet of Things}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Zeng, Qingkui and Liu, Zhusen and Wang, Haoda and Ma, Chuan and Meng, Weizhi and Su, Chunhua and Sakurai, Kouichi},
  journal = {IEEE Internet of Things Journal},
  year = {2025},
  volume = {12},
  number = {3},
  pages = {2994--3002},
  doi = {10.1109/jiot.2024.3476149},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/jiot.2024.3476149}
}
IEEE TCSSJournal
2024

Defending Against Data Poisoning Attack in Federated Learning With Non-IID Data

Chunyong Yin, Qingkui Zeng

IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, 11(2), pp. 2313–2325, 2024

Scholar record 2023; final citation 2024

Federated learningPoisoning defenseNon-IID data
View citation
@article{zeng202404,
  title = {{Defending Against Data Poisoning Attack in Federated Learning With Non-IID Data}},
  author = {Yin, Chunyong and Zeng, Qingkui},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems},
  year = {2024},
  volume = {11},
  number = {2},
  pages = {2313--2325},
  doi = {10.1109/tcss.2023.3296885},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/tcss.2023.3296885}
}
IEEE IoT JournalJournal
2024

Traffic Sign Recognition Using Optimized Federated Learning in Internet of Vehicles

Zhuotao Lian, Qingkui Zeng, Weizheng Wang, Dequan Xu, Weizhi Meng, Chunhua Su

IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 11(4), pp. 6722–6729, 2024

Scholar record 2023; final citation 2024

Federated learningInternet of vehiclesTraffic signs
View citation
@article{zeng202405,
  title = {{Traffic Sign Recognition Using Optimized Federated Learning in Internet of Vehicles}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Zeng, Qingkui and Wang, Weizheng and Xu, Dequan and Meng, Weizhi and Su, Chunhua},
  journal = {IEEE Internet of Things Journal},
  year = {2024},
  volume = {11},
  number = {4},
  pages = {6722--6729},
  doi = {10.1109/jiot.2023.3312348},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/jiot.2023.3312348}
}
IEEE TCSSJournal
2023

Blockchain-Based Two-Stage Federated Learning With Non-IID Data in IoMT System

Zhuotao Lian, Qingkui Zeng, Weizheng Wang, Thippa Reddy Gadekallu, Chunhua Su

IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, 10(4), pp. 1701–1710, 2023

Scholar record 2022; final citation 2023

Federated learningBlockchainNon-IID data
View citation
@article{zeng202302,
  title = {{Blockchain-Based Two-Stage Federated Learning With Non-IID Data in IoMT System}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Zeng, Qingkui and Wang, Weizheng and Gadekallu, Thippa Reddy and Su, Chunhua},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems},
  year = {2023},
  volume = {10},
  number = {4},
  pages = {1701--1710},
  doi = {10.1109/tcss.2022.3216802},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/tcss.2022.3216802}
}
ACM TISTJournal
2023

Hybrid Representation and Decision Fusion towards Visual-textual Sentiment

Chunyong Yin, Sun Zhang, Qingkui Zeng

ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology, 14(3), pp. 1–17, 2023

Multimodal learningSentiment analysis
View citation
@article{zeng202309,
  title = {{Hybrid Representation and Decision Fusion towards Visual-textual Sentiment}},
  author = {Yin, Chunyong and Zhang, Sun and Zeng, Qingkui},
  journal = {ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology},
  year = {2023},
  volume = {14},
  number = {3},
  pages = {1--17},
  doi = {10.1145/3583076},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3583076}
}
IEEE TNSEJournal
2022

DEEP-FEL: Decentralized, Efficient and Privacy-Enhanced Federated Edge Learning for Healthcare Cyber Physical Systems

Zhuotao Lian, Qinglin Yang, Weizheng Wang, Qingkui Zeng, Mamoun Alazab, Hong Zhao, Chunhua Su

IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, 9(5), pp. 3558–3569, 2022

Federated learningEdge learningHealthcare
View citation
@article{zeng202201,
  title = {{DEEP-FEL: Decentralized, Efficient and Privacy-Enhanced Federated Edge Learning for Healthcare Cyber Physical Systems}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Yang, Qinglin and Wang, Weizheng and Zeng, Qingkui and Alazab, Mamoun and Zhao, Hong and Su, Chunhua},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering},
  year = {2022},
  volume = {9},
  number = {5},
  pages = {3558--3569},
  doi = {10.1109/tnse.2022.3175945},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/tnse.2022.3175945}
}
IEEE AccessJournal
2022

Hybrid Anomaly Detection via Multihead Dynamic Graph Attention Networks for Multivariate Time Series

Liwen Zhou, Qingkui Zeng, Bo Li

IEEE Access, 10, pp. 40967–40978, 2022

Anomaly detectionGraph attentionTime series
View citation
@article{zeng202203,
  title = {{Hybrid Anomaly Detection via Multihead Dynamic Graph Attention Networks for Multivariate Time Series}},
  author = {Zhou, Liwen and Zeng, Qingkui and Li, Bo},
  journal = {IEEE Access},
  year = {2022},
  volume = {10},
  pages = {40967--40978},
  doi = {10.1109/access.2022.3167640},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2022.3167640}
}
The Computer JournalJournalFirst author
2022

Privacy-Enhanced Federated Generative Adversarial Networks for Internet of Things

Qingkui Zeng, Liwen Zhou, Zhuotao Lian, Huakun Huang, Jung Yoon Kim

The Computer Journal, 65(11), pp. 2860–2869, 2022

Federated learningGenerative modelsInternet of Things
View citation
@article{zeng202208,
  title = {{Privacy-Enhanced Federated Generative Adversarial Networks for Internet of Things}},
  author = {Zeng, Qingkui and Zhou, Liwen and Lian, Zhuotao and Huang, Huakun and Kim, Jung Yoon},
  journal = {The Computer Journal},
  year = {2022},
  volume = {65},
  number = {11},
  pages = {2860--2869},
  doi = {10.1093/comjnl/bxac060},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/bxac060}
}
ICDCS Workshops 2022Conference
2022

Privacy-preserving Blockchain-based Global Data Sharing for Federated Learning with Non-IID Data

Zhuotao Lian, Qingkui Zeng, Chunhua Su

2022 IEEE 42nd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops (ICDCSW), pp. 193–198, 2022

Federated learningBlockchainData sharing
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202207,
  title = {{Privacy-preserving Blockchain-based Global Data Sharing for Federated Learning with Non-IID Data}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Zeng, Qingkui and Su, Chunhua},
  booktitle = {2022 IEEE 42nd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops (ICDCSW)},
  year = {2022},
  pages = {193--198},
  doi = {10.1109/icdcsw56584.2022.00044},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/icdcsw56584.2022.00044}
}
ICC 2022Conference
2022

WebFed: Cross-platform Federated Learning Framework Based on Web Browser with Local Differential Privacy

Zhuotao Lian, Qinglin Yang, Qingkui Zeng, Chunhua Su

ICC 2022 - IEEE International Conference on Communications, pp. 2071–2076, 2022

Federated learningLocal differential privacyWeb browsers
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202206,
  title = {{WebFed: Cross-platform Federated Learning Framework Based on Web Browser with Local Differential Privacy}},
  author = {Lian, Zhuotao and Yang, Qinglin and Zeng, Qingkui and Su, Chunhua},
  booktitle = {ICC 2022 - IEEE International Conference on Communications},
  year = {2022},
  pages = {2071--2076},
  doi = {10.1109/icc45855.2022.9838421},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/icc45855.2022.9838421}
}
SPDE 2020Conference
2020

Local Differential Privacy for Data Streams

Xianjin Fang, Qingkui Zeng, Gaoming Yang

Security and Privacy in Digital Economy, pp. 143–160, 2020

Local differential privacyData streams
View citation
@inproceedings{zeng202010,
  title = {{Local Differential Privacy for Data Streams}},
  author = {Fang, Xianjin and Zeng, Qingkui and Yang, Gaoming},
  booktitle = {Security and Privacy in Digital Economy},
  year = {2020},
  pages = {143--160},
  doi = {10.1007/978-981-15-9129-7_11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9129-7_11}
}
EURASIP JWCNJournal
2020

Local differential privacy for human-centered computing

Xianjin Fang, Qingkui Zeng, Gaoming Yang

EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2020(1), Article 65, 2020

Local differential privacyHuman-centered computing
View citation
@article{zeng202013,
  title = {{Local differential privacy for human-centered computing}},
  author = {Fang, Xianjin and Zeng, Qingkui and Yang, Gaoming},
  journal = {EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking},
  year = {2020},
  volume = {2020},
  number = {1},
  eid = {65},
  doi = {10.1186/s13638-020-01675-8},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-020-01675-8}
}

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Three threads. One shared goal.

Making collaborative and intelligent
systems more dependable.

PRIVACY-PRESERVING LEARNING

FDLDP
Private pre-trainingFederated fine-tuning

Computer Networks · 2026

A better starting point for private learning.

A two-stage framework uses locally private reports to initialize a global model, then protects client updates during federated fine-tuning. The work studies the connection between privacy, convergence and communication.

Read the paper

ROBUST FEDERATED LEARNING

FedCleaner
Anomaly detectionMachine unlearning

ProvSec 2025 · 2026

Detect, then remove harmful influence.

A server-side defense combines proactive layer-wise anomaly detection with retroactive contribution erasure to address poisoned updates and their influence on the global model.

Read the paper

LLM SECURITY

Prompt-in-Content
Uploaded inputsOutput hijacking

NSS 2025 · 2026

When uploaded content becomes an instruction.

This study examines adversarial prompts embedded in otherwise ordinary inputs, how they redirect model outputs, and why content isolation matters for safer LLM applications.

Read the paper

CURRICULUM VITAE

Education & experience.

01 / EDUCATION

Sep 2021 – Jun 2025

Ph.D. in Information and Communication Engineering

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

02 / EMPLOYMENT

Jul 2025 – Present

Lecturer

Tongling University

School of Artificial Intelligence

BEYOND RESEARCH

A little more about me.

Music, mountain trails
and the colors of porcelain.

Unbranded electric guitar and amplifier under cool blue light

SOUND

Electric Guitar & Heavy Music

I enjoy playing electric guitar, especially rock, metal and modern heavy music. Riffs, rhythm and the search for a good tone are a welcome change of pace.

Electric guitarRock & metal
Snow-covered mountain peaks beneath a bright blue sky

OUTDOORS

Hiking & Time Outdoors

Hiking gives me time to step away from the screen, follow a trail and take in the details of the natural world. I enjoy the quieter pace of time outdoors.

HikingNature
A blue-glazed ceramic cup with a crackled surface on a wooden table

MATERIALS

Ceramic Glazes & Kiln Firing

I am interested in porcelain glaze colors, surface textures and kiln firing. I enjoy exploring how materials and heat shape the final appearance of a ceramic piece.

Porcelain glazesKiln firing

CONTACT

Let’s exchange ideas.

I welcome conversations about privacy protection, federated learning and secure learning systems.

Get in touch