On the afternoon of January 6, 2025, the Department of Electronic Business and the Instituteof Digital Business & Intelligent Logistics, SCUT, successfully hosted anacademic lecture titled Data-Driven Robust Allocation in CashTransfer Programs. The event featured Associate Professor Ke from Wuhan University as thekeynote speaker. Drawing on his profound academic expertise and extensivepractical experience, Dr. Ke delivered an insightful analysis of allocationpolicies in Cash Transfer Programs (CTPs).

Dr. Ke’s lecture centered on designing effective allocation policies in scenarios where identifying potential beneficiaries poses significant challenges. He proposed arobust allocation model aimed at minimizing the FGT poverty index underscenario-based uncertainty sets, addressing poverty challenges with precision.To tackle the model’s complexity and infinite constraints, Dr. Ke ingeniouslyapplied linear decision rules and duality theory, transforming the robustallocation model into a compact second-order cone program.

Building on data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), Dr. Ke further demonstrated the model’s practicality. By employing regression tree-based predictions andcovariate grouping, he estimated parameters for the uncertainty set, validatingthe model’s robustness and fairness. Notably, comparative analyses revealed that Dr. Ke’s approach outperformed both covariate-agnostic robust allocationmodels and KL-divergence-based robust frameworks in terms of efficiency andequity.

This lecture not only showcased Dr. Ke’s deep research and unique insights intopoverty-related issues but also provided attendees with a valuable platform foracademic exchange and intellectual inspiration. It provided a vital platformfor faculty and students to engage with cutting-edge methodologies, therebyenergizing the academic pursuits of the Department of Electronic Business and theInstitute of Digital Business & Intelligent Logistics, SCUT.