Ph.D. student · CASIA

Sicheng Shen 沈思成

Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Affiliated with Beijing Zhongguancun Academy

Learning from the brain.
Thinking through time.

I study brain-inspired learning through spiking neural networks and temporal dynamics, with a growing interest in brain–computer interfaces.

Portrait of Sicheng Shen
Beijing, China

I am a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, affiliated with Beijing Zhongguancun Academy. Before starting my Ph.D. in 2024, I received my B.Eng. in Internet of Things from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

My main research interest is brain-inspired learning, particularly how neural dynamics and spike-based representations can support efficient computation over time. My work on Spiking Transformers spans temporal interaction, architecture design, and reproducible evaluation. Looking ahead, I am interested in extending these ideas toward brain-inspired foundation architectures and brain–computer interfaces, including neural decoding.

My broader research experience also includes LLM jailbreak evaluation, lightweight safety alignment, and trustworthy vision–language–action systems. These works are included alongside my brain-inspired research below.

How can the brain’s use of spikes and time inform the way artificial systems learn?

I

Spike-based architectures

Designing Spiking Neural Networks and Spiking Transformers that make meaningful use of neural dynamics and sparse computation.

TEFormer →
II

Learning through time

Understanding temporal interaction and evaluating the accuracy–efficiency trade-offs of spiking models under consistent conditions.

III LOOKING AHEAD

Connecting to the brain

Exploring how brain-inspired learning can extend to brain–computer interfaces and neural decoding, alongside more general foundation architectures.

An emerging research interest
03 / SELECTED WORK

Selected publications.

All publications →

Selected work on spiking architectures, temporal learning, and AI safety.

  1. Released Light Alignment, studying LLM safety through model self-reflection with a single-neuron gate.

  2. Released TEFormer, on bidirectional temporal modeling in Spiking Transformers. Now listed at ICML 2026.

  3. STEP, our unified Spiking Transformer evaluation platform, appeared at NeurIPS 2025.

  4. Released PandaGuard, a framework for systematic evaluation of LLM jailbreak safety.

  5. TIM, an efficient temporal interaction module for Spiking Transformers, appeared at IJCAI 2024.

Education

2024.09 — Present

Institute of Automation, CAS & UCAS

Direct Ph.D. track

GPA 3.9 / 4.0

2020.09 — 2024.06

Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

B.Eng. in Internet of Things

GPA 3.8 / 4.0 · Rank 2 / 190

Research experience & projects

Brain-inspired AI

2023.08 — Present

Temporal modeling, architecture design, optimization, benchmarking, and downstream applications of SNNs and Spiking Transformers.

Lightweight LLM Alignment

2025.09 — Present

Training-efficient and inference-efficient alignment strategies for large language models. Related paper →

Panda-Guard

2024.12 — 2025.04

Contributed to a unified benchmark for LLM jailbreak attacks, defenses, and judges. Related paper →

Trustworthy VLA Alignment for Open-World Scenarios

2024.01 — Present

Reliable alignment and evaluation for vision–language–action systems, with an emphasis on benchmarking and post-training for open-world deployment.

Selected honors

  • 2024
    Queen Mary PrizeQueen Mary University of London
  • 2024
    Beijing Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis
  • 2024
    Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications Outstanding Graduate
  • 2021
    National Third PrizeNational English Competition for College Students (NECCS)
  • 2015
    Iwate friendship ambassadorJapan

GET IN TOUCH

Let’s talk research.

I welcome conversations about brain-inspired learning,
spiking computation, and temporal intelligence.

shensicheng0725@foxmail.com ↗Also on Semantic Scholar ↗