His main research interests include multiple supervised and unsupervised machine learning-based classification systems and ensemble methods in conjunction with the Dempter-Shafer (DS) theory of evidence and Rough Set theory. Yaxin has developed a range of big data analytics and decision making with uncertainty methods to address real world problems, including satellite data exploitation with an emphasis on anomaly/change detection for hazardous analysis and risk resilience; sentiment analysis for opinion mining and cyberbullying detection; and sensor fusion for activity/event recognition in smart environments.

Yaxin has been involved in a number of European Frameworks and Space Agency funded projects along with industry cooperation in the past decades and has more than 130 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and conferences. He has served for a number of international conferences as general chair, program co-chair and program committee member. Furthermore Yaxin is an associate editor for International Journal of Artificial Intelligence Review as well as a steering committee member for the series of International Conference on Knowledge Science, Engineering and management (KSEM) and Science and Information (SAI) Conference.