Awards and Achievements

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 Arts

Arts Student Shares Insights from Research on English Teaching at International Conference

Siqi Song, a PhD student in Applied Linguistics from the Centre for Applied English Studies, presented her research at the American Association of Applied Linguistics conference this March in Denver, Colorado, USA. Her research explores how a novice English teacher synergised resources from her multilingual repertoire and constructed a more holistic understanding of the knowledge and practice in her professional field.

This qualitative case study traces the teacher over two years, from her studies in the English language teaching (ELT) teacher education programme in Hong Kong to her first job as an English teacher in a public secondary school in Mainland China. Through interview data, course writing during study, and teaching materials at work, findings reveal how the teacher negotiated rich knowledge from her multilingual lives with the dominant discourses of teacher education and teaching context and became a resourceful multilingual teacher. This research leverages the value of multilingual repertoires in shaping the professional practice and beliefs of language teachers. It also provides pedagogical implications for ELT teacher education programmes.

This research has been published as a chapter in the book Funds of Knowledge in Teacher Education: Sustaining Local Diversity Amidst Global Standards edited by Laura B. Liu, Naashia Mohamed, Ching-Ching Lin, Clara Vaz Bauler, and Kirti Kapur. Siqi’s chapter can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-8094-9.ch011.

PhD Student Presents Thesis on Early Chinese Visitors to Europe at History Symposium

Måns Ahlstedt Åberg, a PhD candidate from the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, recently submitted his doctoral thesis titled ‘Silent Travellers? Native Chinese in Europe as Agents of Sino-European Interaction, 1650–1830’. Måns passed his viva voce and also presented his thesis at the HKU Spring History Symposium on 10 May.

‘Silent Travellers?’ focuses on how early Chinese visitors to Europe contributed to the spread of knowledge about China in the Western world, between 1650 and 1830. Måns argues that the relative importance of Chinese travellers in the development of European proto-sinology has been underestimated and neglected.

His study focuses on thirteen native Chinese individuals who visited parts of Europe that make up the modern-day countries of Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Italy. This micro-historical approach serves to counterbalance the civilisational, macro-historical perspective that is common in studies of Sino-Western encounters.

The thesis argues that subordinated or marginal groups could engage with and reshape Western ideas about themselves and their own cultures. They were not passive sources of knowledge, but active ones: they had agency in the processes of knowledge circulation and were subjects rather than objects. The thesis therefore identifies the period between 1650 and 1830 as a significant era for Sino-European exchange facilitated by native Chinese visitors.

Faculty of Education

PhD Student Gains Valuable Experience in Denver

Chi Wui Ng, a PhD candidate from the Academic Unit of Social Contexts and Policies of Education, attended the AERA (American Educational Research Association) Annual Meeting in April in Denver, Colorado.

At the event, Chi Wui presented his doctoral thesis and chaired two sessions in the ‘Graduate and Post-Doctoral Education across the Disciplines’ special interest group. In addition, he also attended the CAERDA (Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association) Conference for the second time during his trip and co-presented a research project on Hong Kong primary English textbooks funded by United Prime Educational Publishing Limited with his former student.

Chi Wui highly recommends the professional development courses in AERA to graduate students and novice researchers. “Learning research methodologies from world-leading scholars is incomparable to taking courses offered at the faculty level,” he said.

Faculty of Engineering

HKU Engineering Team Takes Drone Technology to New Heights

A research team led by Professor Fu Zhang, PhD student Yunfan Ren, and other researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has made a groundbreaking development in drone technology that enables drones and micro air vehicles (MAVs) to emulate the flight capabilities of birds more closely than ever before.

The team has developed the Safety-Assured High-Speed Aerial Robot (SUPER), capable of flying at speeds exceeding 20 metres per second and avoiding obstacles as thin as 2.5 millimetres—such as power lines or twigs—using solely onboard sensors and computing power. With a compact design featuring a wheelbase of just 280 mm and a takeoff weight of 1.5 kg, SUPER demonstrates exceptional agility, navigating dense forests at night and skilfully avoiding thin wires.

Professor Zhang describes this invention as a game-changer in the field of drone technology. “Our system allows MAVs to navigate complex environments at high speeds with a level of safety previously unattainable,” he said. “It’s like giving the drone the reflexes of a bird, enabling it to dodge obstacles in real-time while racing toward its goal.”

Yunfan, the lead author of the research paper, added the following: “The ability to avoid thin obstacles and navigate tight spaces opens up new possibilities for applications like search and rescue, where every second counts. SUPER’s robustness in various lighting conditions, including nighttime, makes it a reliable tool for round-the-clock operations.” Yunfan is a PhD student of Professor Zhang and a member of the Mechatronics and Robotic Systems (MaRS) Laboratory. His research focuses on autonomous navigation and swarm intelligence.

The research has been published in Science Robotics.

A video demo of this groundbreaking technology is available at https://youtu.be/GPHuzG0ANmI?si=hfIFcMye0XX708OX.

(This article is adapted from https://hku.hk/press/press-releases/detail/28334.html.)

SUPER can navigate complex environments at high speeds with a level of safety previously unattainable

SUPER has undergone testing in a variety of real-world applications, including situations with complete darkness and cluttered environments.

Faculty of Law

PhD Student Gains Valuable Experience at the 2025 Junior Scholars Conference

Seung Mann Bae, Kevin, a year 1 PhD student of the Faculty of Law, presented his working paper, titled ‘The Nature of Plurality Decisions: A Theoretical Reassessment’, at the 11th Annual Junior Scholars Conference (2025 Junior Scholars Conference). The Conference, hosted by the University of Michigan Law School, offers junior scholars from institutions around the world a platform to present and discuss their work with peers and receive feedback from faculty members of Michigan Law.

Kevin presented alongside scholars from the US, the UK, Canada, and Switzerland. The working paper Kevin presented is part of his broader PhD research on the dynamics of agreement and disagreement in judicial decision-making, and it specifically focused on the issue of plurality decisions, or what he alternatively refers to as the phenomenon of multiple majority opinion judgments, as a puzzling instance of extreme judicial dissensus. 

In addition to the organisers of the Conference, Kevin is particularly grateful to Professor Samuel Erman of Michigan Law, as the primary discussant of his working paper, and the participants of the legal theory panel, for their thoughtful comments and feedback.

Seung Mann Bae, Kevin (left) and Professor Samuel Erman (right).

Group photo of the 2025 Junior Scholars Conference.

Faculty of Science

Honing Future Geoscientists at the Asian Consortium of Volcanology

Three research postgraduate students from the Department of Earth Sciences (DES) participated in the Asian Consortium of Volcanology – Field Camp 7 (ACV-FC7), which took place in Jeju, South Korea, from March 3-8, 2025. The delegation from HKU was led by Professor Weiran Li and included her research postgraduate students from the VRockLab: Xiaoyu Liu, Chun Terence Leung, and John Michael Ausejo.

HKU-DES VRockLab is the sole research group in Hong Kong that primarily focuses on volcano-related studies using petrology, geochemistry, machine learning, and experimental techniques. At the camp, the DES delegates presented their ongoing research, which incorporates machine learning, diffusion chronometry, and petrologic approaches to explore the eruption dynamics of regional volcanoes such as those in Indonesia and the Philippines. Their findings are expected to enhance the understanding of volcanic eruptions and potentially aid in forecasting future volcanic activity.  

During the field camp, the participants, alongside esteemed volcanologists from the region, examined various volcanic landforms in Jeju to gain insights into the island's geological history. The young geoscientists at HKU-DES learned the importance of their roles as frontliners in volcanic hazard mitigation and community resilience, where Hong Kong’s strategic location in Asia makes it a hotspot for advancing scientific research and enhancing knowledge exchange in the community.

Various delegates from the eight active core member organisations in the region after the workshop and seminar held at Whaddon Hall, Gloucester Hotel, Jeju, South Korea

(Back row from left) HKU-DES RPg students John Michael Ausejo, Xiaoyu Liu, and Terence Leung with Professor Weiran Li (front).

Science Student Presents at RIC 2025

Sihao Yu, a second-year PhD student under the supervision of Professor Louis Wong in the Department of Earth Sciences, participated in the Rocscience International Conference (RIC), held in April in Sydney, Australia.

At the conference, Sihao presented his research titled ‘Understanding Optimal Rock Cover Thickness in Cavern Design Using RocSupport and RS2: A New Perspective’, which leverages the computer programs RocSupport and RS2 to investigate the effects of rock cover on the cavern stability. The findings of this study aim to improve the safety and efficiency of cavern design and construction, potentially leading to project savings, representing a significant advancement in the field. At the conference, this presentation sparked lively discussions, with many scholars worldwide engaging deeply with his findings.

Beyond academic research, Sihao also won the championship in the Young Persons’ Lecture Competition (Hong Kong Heat) 2024. It is part of the Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition, organised by the IOM3 (the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining). This prestigious event aims to foster knowledge sharing and cross-industry exposure among young scientists and engineers in the fields of materials, minerals, mining, packaging, clay technology, wood science, science, and engineering.

Science Student Develops Advanced Statistical Models to Unravel Genetic Complexities

Xiang Li, a PhD student from the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, has developed an innovative Bayesian fine-mapping method called h2-D2 with his supervisor Professor Yan Dora Zhang, which significantly improves the identification of genetic variants linked to complex traits and diseases. Their work was published in The American Journal of Human Genetics and presented as a poster at the EAC-ISBA (East Asian Chapter of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis) Conference by Xiang, where it won the ‘Outstanding Student Poster Award First Prize’.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of genetic variants associated with diseases, but distinguishing causal variants from correlated ones remains challenging. Existing fine-mapping methods rely on discrete mixture priors, which require pre-specifying the maximum number of causal variants and can lead to suboptimal results. Unlike traditional methods, h2-D2 employs a continuous global-local shrinkage prior that avoids arbitrary limits on the number of causal variants, improving accuracy in variable selection and effect size estimation. Applying h2-D2 to prostate cancer data, they identified several previously unreported risk loci. Notably, they uncovered variants near genes such as TPCN2 and CCND1, which are involved in cancer progression. Functional analyses revealed enrichment of these variants in regulatory regions and transcription factor binding sites, shedding light on their biological roles.

This research highlights the potential of advanced statistical models to unravel genetic complexities, paving the way for deeper insights into disease mechanisms and personalised medicine.

HKU Astrophysicists Reveal the Role of Binary Star Evolution

Most stars in the Universe exist in binary or multiple star systems, where the presence of close-in companion stars in such systems can adversely influence the formation and orbital stability of planets around one of the stars. An international team of astrophysicists—led by Professor Man Hoi Lee from the Department of Earth Sciences and the Department of Physics and Ho Wan Cheng, an MPhil student in his team—has confirmed the existence of a planet in an unprecedented retrograde orbit (moving in the opposite direction to the binary’s orbit) in the nu Octantis (nu Octantis) binary star system and revealed the role of binary star evolution in the origin of this planet. The findings have been published in the journal Nature.

The research team looked into the possible primordial configurations of the binary—that is, the initial masses of the two stars and the initial orbit of the binary. “We found that the system is about 2.9 billion years old and that nu Oct B was initially about 2.4 times the mass of the Sun and evolved to a white dwarf about 2 billion years ago,” said Ho Wan. “Our analysis showed that the planet could not have formed around nu Oct A at the same time as the stars.”

The discovery that nu Oct B is a white dwarf opens new possibilities for how the retrograde planet may have originated. As astronomers continue to search for planets in different environments, this study highlights that planets in tight binary systems with evolved stellar components could offer unique insights into the formation and evolution of planets.

A video about the research is available at https://tinyurl.com/4uf5k5bp.

(This article is adapted from https://hku.hk/press/press-releases/detail/28340.html.)

HKU Physicists Uncover Hidden Order in the Quantum World

Scientists have debated for decades whether deconfined quantum critical points (DQCPs) represent continuous phase transitions (which are smooth and gradual) or first-order transitions (which are sudden and abrupt). Understanding DQCPs could provide new insights into how particles interact and how exotic states of matter emerge.

A recent study—led by Professor Zi Yang Meng and co-authored by his PhD student Menghan Song of the Department of Physics, in collaboration with researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Yale University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, Ruhr-University Bochum, and TU Dresden—has unravelled some of the secrets concealed within the entangled web of quantum systems.

One of the most striking revelations of the study was the identification of a critical threshold value of N. When N exceeds this threshold, DQCPs exhibit behaviours consistent with conformal fixed points—a mathematical framework that describes smooth, continuous phase transitions. This discovery is significant because it suggests that, under certain conditions, DQCPs can resemble continuous phase transitions. At these critical points, the system aligns with conformal fixed points, revealing a hidden structure in the quantum world where the boundaries between distinct phases dissolve, and matter exists in a state of extraordinary fluidity, defying the usual rules of physics.

Their findings, recently published in the prestigious journal Science Advances, push the boundaries of modern physics and offer a fresh perspective on how quantum matter operates at these enigmatic junctures. The study not only deepens our understanding of quantum mechanics but also paves the way for future discoveries that could revolutionise technology, materials science, and even our understanding of the cosmos.

(This article is adapted from https://hku.hk/press/press-releases/detail/28284.html.)

Group photo of the research team: From left: Dr Jiarui Zhao from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Mr Menghan Song and Professor Zi Yang Meng from HKU’s Department of Physics.

Figure 1. (A) Lattice model for realising the deconfined quantum phase transition. (B) The phase diagram for the square lattice SU(N) model. Dots represent the quantum phase transition points. Red points are those not compatible with a continuous phase transition and blues points are those consistent with conformal field theories, i.e., candidates for genuine DQCP.

Faculty of Social Sciences

Sociology PhD Student’s Article Selected as Featured Work by Social Science & Medicine

An article written by Wanying Ling, a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology, titled ‘Diversity Patterns in Non-Standard Employment and Their Relationship with Self-Rated Health in Urban China from 2010 to 2021’, has been selected as a Featured Article by Social Science & Medicine Authors in China—a curated selection of high-quality research by authors based in China, chosen by the Senior Editors of Social Science & Medicine. One reviewer commented that this article is “an interesting study that struck a nice balance, presenting results in an accessible way for non-specialists while offering enough data for quantitative analysis.”

Wanying shared her excitement about the recognition: “I am truly delighted that my paper has been selected for the Social Epidemiology section of this collection. This study examines the trends and health impacts of non-standard employment in China from 2010 to 2021. While fundamentally an empirical public health investigation, it employs sociological imagination to interpret findings within China’s unique social context, illustrating how work relates to individual health in a rapidly changing society.”

In addition, Wanying attended the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Population Association this April in Washington, D.C., where she presented her latest research, ‘The Wealthier, The Psychologically Healthier? Assets, Debt, and Depressive Symptoms in Urban and Rural China’. This study utilises data from four waves of the China Family Panel Studies to explore how various components of wealth are associated with depressive symptoms across urban and rural populations in China. Her findings reveal nuanced relationships between different types of wealth and mental health, with particularly strong effects found among rural residents.

Reflecting on her experience, Wanying shared, “This was my first time attending the American Population Association Annual Meeting, and it was truly inspiring to connect with so many scholars in the field. Throughout the conference, I learned a great deal—not only about the latest research topics and methodological advances, but also about the diverse perspectives and innovative approaches shaping population studies today. The opportunity to engage in discussions with peers and experts has been invaluable, and I am excited to bring these new insights into my own research.”

Sociology Study Provides an Emotional Aspect to Analyse Research Misconduct

Xinqu Zhang, a PhD student from the Department of Sociology, recently had his new qualitative study, ‘Research Misconduct in Chinese Universities: Towards an Emotional Analysis’, accepted and published by the Journal of Academic Ethics.

Xinqu argues that the causes of research misconduct focus on a limited range, and negative emotions are an omitted but critical area. By utilising theories from sociology and criminology of emotions, his study adopts an emotional aspect to analyse researchers’ academic integrity issues in Chinese universities. Particularly, it examines how working stress, caused by the aggressive implementation of national policies for chasing more influential academic publications in top domestic and international journals, influences faculty members’ emotional feelings. He argues that due to worries about job security and a lack of means to release negative emotions, some scholars may choose to engage in misconduct to cope with the situation, seeing it as reasonable and acceptable.

Xinqu is the sole author of this article. It is an extension of his previous recognised collaborative work with Professor Peng Wang, ‘Research Misconduct in China: Towards an Institutional Analysis’. 

School of Computing and Data Science

Computer Scientists Introduce an Innovative Framework in Visual Concept Learning

A research group led by Professor Kai Han and his MPhil student Fernando Julio Cendra from the School of Computing and Data Science, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, has introduced an innovative framework named ICE (Intrinsic Concept Extraction). This approach leverages Text-to-Image (T2I) diffusion models to extract and decompose intrinsic visual concepts from a single image, contributing to advancements in the field of visual concept learning.

The inherent ambiguity in defining visual concepts poses significant challenges for modern generative models, such as diffusion-based T2I models, in accurately learning concepts from a single image. Existing methods lack a systematic way to reliably extract the interpretable underlying intrinsic concepts. To address this challenge, we present ICE, a novel framework that exclusively utilises a T2I model to extract intrinsic concepts automatically and systematically from a single image. ICE consists of two pivotal stages. In the first stage, ICE devises an automatic concept localisation module to pinpoint relevant text-based concepts and their corresponding masks within a single image. This critical stage streamlines concept initialisation and provides precise guidance for subsequent analysis. The second stage delves deeper into each identified mask, decomposing concepts into intrinsic components that capture specific visual characteristics and general components representing broader categories. This decomposition facilitates a more granular understanding by dissecting concepts into detailed intrinsic attributes, such as colour and material. Our framework demonstrates superior performance on intrinsic concept extraction from a single image in an unsupervised manner.

The work has been accepted by the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2025. For more information about the ICE framework, visit https://visual-ai.github.io/ice/.

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