Zhixiao Niu is currently a PhD student at the National University of Singapore, working under the supervision of Professor He Xiaogang in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on globally synchronised hydroclimatic extremes, rainfall nowcasting, machine learning and explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods. Zhixiao is particularly interested in AI-driven generative models and their applications in climate science. His work aims to enhance understandings of extreme weather events and improve predictive models by integrating machine-learning techniques with physical principles, combining data-driven insights with environmental science to create more accurate, reliable and interpretable forecasting models.