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The University works extensively in promoting and expanding opportunities for students to engage in research activities to strengthen their research capability and gain hands-on experience. In this issue, we are proud to introduce some of the high-quality work and awards received by our research postgraduate students, whose achievements shine across multiple disciplines in the international arena and local community.

Faculty of Architecture

 Architecture Research Team Transforms Urban Safety with ‘eCheckGo’ AI System for Rapid Building Inspections

A research team in iLab at the Department of Real Estate and Construction, in HKU's Faculty of Architecture, has developed eCheckGo, an innovative artificial intelligence (AI) system powered by a proprietary Large Defect Model (LdM) combined with traditional AI algorithms. This technology recently received the Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva, recognising its scientific excellence and significant potential for real-world application.

eCheckGo's capabilities are powered by its proprietary LdM, a large multi-modal model that has been trained on internet-scale datasets for building inspection. The model has been fed domain-specific inspection images with textual prompts, enabling consistent, reliable defect identification across diverse building types. In contrast to labour-intensive traditional methods, eCheckGo can analyse dozens of images within seconds, performing at least 100 times faster and eight times more cost-effectively than other automated technological solutions. The system significantly redefines traditional building inspections by delivering rapid, scalable, and adaptable assessments. 

The research team is currently working to expand the system’s capabilities to detect water leakage and dampness, as well as generate automated text reports that align with professional formats. This initiative exemplifies HKU's commitment to translating cutting-edge research into practical solutions that address urban decay in high-density cities such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore.

(The article is adapted from https://www.hku.hk/press/press-releases/detail/29089.html)

Faculty of Education

PhD Candidate Wins Silver Medal at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (IEIG) For Progressive AI Education Tool 

 

Wang Sikai, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education, and Professor Timothy Hew, Kintoy Professor in Educational Technology, received a Silver Medal at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (IEIG) for ArguCoach, an educational AI tool designed to strengthen learners’ critical thinking and metacognitive skills.

 

Unlike conventional AI tools that focus on providing direct answers, ArguCoach guides users by demonstrating a chain-of-metacognitive reasoning, enabling learners to analyse arguments and identify fallacies step by step. As learners progress, it gradually adjusts its guidance to encourage independent reasoning and to further enhance metacognitive skills. Through its transparent approach, ArguCoach seeks to provoke deeper thinking and active engagement, contributing to stronger human cognition.

The 51st edition of the IEIG was held from March 11-15, 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland, and is recognised as one of the world’s most prestigious events dedicated to inventions and innovations. This award showcases Professor Hew and Mr Wang's outstanding achievements in advancing educational technology and fostering innovation in learning at the international level.

(The article is adapted from https://web.edu.hku.hk/news/exhibition-geneva)

Faculty of Engineering

HKU-ECE PhD Candidates Win Display Young Leader Recognition and Display Future Star Cup Innovation Achievement Competition at SID ICDT 2026

Wenbin Zhou and Li Liao — both PhD students from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and supervised by Professor Evan Yifan Peng — were awarded with the China-Korea Display Young Leader Recognition, and the Winner of the Display Future Star Cup Innovation Achievement Competition, respectively, at the Society for Information Display International Conference on Display Technology (SID ICDT) 2026.

SID ICDT is one of the top-tier academic and industrial venues in the field, with award competitions featuring strong contenders, including students and early-career faculty from Korea, Hong Kong SAR, and the Chinese mainland. 

(This article is adapted from https://engg.hku.hk/News-Events/News/issue/2026-05#8846)

 HKU Musketeers Foundation Institute of Data Science

IDS PhD Candidate Awarded Second Prize at AI + Medicine Innovation Challenge

Year 2 PhD candidate Fan Yang from the Musketeers Foundation Institute of Data Science (HKU IDS), has been awarded Second Prize in the Young Scholars Forum: AI + Medicine Innovation Challenge.

Fan’s project is titled "An AI-Driven Conversational Agent for HBV Education and Screening Promotion'" It focuses on improving access to hepatitis B information and encouraging early screening through an AI-based conversational interface. By targeting public awareness and behavioural engagement, the work addresses a key gap between medical knowledge and patient action in HBV prevention.

The award was presented at the 6th Greater Bay Area International Forum on Liver Diseases & 2026 Conference on Viral Hepatitis Elimination, which convenes researchers, clinicians, and industry practitioners to address pressing challenges in liver disease and public health.

(This article is adapted from https://datascience.hku.hk/2026/04/hku-ids-phd-candidate-fan-yang-awarded-second-prize-at-ai-medicine-innovation-challenge/.)

LKS Faculty of Medicine

HKUMed PhD Candidate as First Author in RNA Tool Development Study Published in Nature

Joe KC Lam, a PhD student in the School of Biomedical Sciences, is a lead author of a study that marks significant biotechnological breakthrough that could revolutionise treatment strategies for neurodegenerative diseases. The study titled "Molecular Basis of Target RNA Cleavage by Cas13" is published in Nature.

Correcting RNA errors in genetic conditions such as Huntington's disease has been a longstanding challenge. To combat this, Joe along with Professor Kwon Sung Chul, who leads the research team, and his research teammates, developed a novel tool called RNA Segment Editing (RSE), which functions like a ‘cut-and-patch’ tool for RNA. Focusing on and engineering Cas13, the team achieved much higher precision, allowing them to ‘snip’ RNA at exact locations. The innovative approach allows scientists to precisely remove or replace faulty segments of genetic messages within living cells without permanently changing a person's DNA. The findings pave the way for a new generation of reversible, targeted therapies for neurodegenerative conditions. 

"The goal is to create a tool that enables programmable RNA repair without permanently changing a patient's DNA," Professor Kwon adds. "This opens exciting new possibilities for RNA-based therapies that can be adjusted or reversed simply by stopping the treatment, much like a conventional pill."

(This article is adapted from https://bulletin.hku.hk/research/star-signs/.)

School of Computing and Data Science

Building Adaptive Agentic AI for Trustworthy Chest X-Ray Reasoning

Yishu Feng, a PhD candidate at the School of Computing and Data Science, presented his work at the 40th Annual Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2026). His paper titled "PASS: Probabilistic Agentic Supernet Sampling for Interpretable and Adaptive Chest X-Ray Reasoning", was accepted as an oral presentation at AAAI 2026, placing it among the top 4% of all paper submissions. His research focuses on agentic AI, trustworthy multimodal large language models, and medical AI. 

As AI systems become increasingly powerful, it is important to ask how these AI systems can move beyond producing outputs to supporting human decision-making in a more transparent and trustworthy way. This challenge is particularly significant in healthcare, where AI tools must do more than just perform well. They also need to offer reasoning processes that are understandable, adaptable, and aligned with real clinical needs. Yishu and his team's work on chest X-ray reasoning was motivated by this challenge. By exploring adaptive and interpretable agentic mechanisms for medical reasoning, they hope to contribute to the development of AI systems that can better support clinicians in real-world practice.

This project is part of Yishu's broader research interest in building trustworthy AI systems across multimodal and high-stakes settings. In addition to his AAAI paper, his work has also been accepted by NeurIPS 2025 and published in Neural Networks, as well as related projects presented at ICCV and ACL workshops. Moreover, his work "DemoGraph'" was featured in Forbes China, which serves as a reminder that research can create value not only within academia, but also for a wider audience.

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HKU CDS Receives Three Awards at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva

HKU's School of Computing and Data Science (CDS) received international recognition at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, held from 11 to 15 March 2026, with three award-winning projects. 

Carrie Wang, a PhD candidate at the School, is part of the award-winning team for "HINCare: AI Solution for Intelligent Volunteer Matching". The project, led by her supervisor Professor Reynold Cheng, won a silver medal at the Geneva Exhibition. HINCare is a large-scale, data-driven platform that supports volunteering and time-banking through AI-powered matching between users in need and volunteers. Equipped with a user-friendly app and cloud-based analytics, the platform is currently used by 20,000 users and 20 NGOs in Hong Kong, generating an estimated social capital of HK$7 million.

The other CDS award-winning projects were "An Integrated ESG Assessment Instrument Using Ontology, Knowledge Management, Big Data and Blockchain" and "HKU Campusland for STEAM Education with AI", both led by Dr. Adela S.M. Lau.

Professor Yi Ma, Director of CDS, remarked, “At CDS, we believe that true innovation happens at the intersection of foundational research and practical application. This recognition affirms our commitment to advancing AI and data science research, ensuring our discoveries evolve into technologies shaping industries and societies. It stands as a testament to our researchers’ ability to ask fundamental questions and deliver real-world impact.”

(This article is adapted from https://www.cds.hku.hk/news/hku-cds-receives-three-awards-at-the-51st-international-exhibition-of-inventions-of-geneva/.)