The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has achieved notable achievements within the Research Grants Council’s (RGC) Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) and Research Fellow Scheme (RFS) for the 2026/27 train, with three distinguished students receiving the fellowship awards. The honors acknowledge their pioneering analysis in frontier fields, together with electrosynthesis, quantum supplies, and generative synthetic intelligence (GenAI), in addition to their distinctive contributions to driving impactful scientific breakthroughs and advancing the frontiers of information.
Prof. SHAO Minhua, Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been named RGC Senior Research Fellow. Prof. LIU Junwei, Associate Professor within the Department of Physics, and Prof. LIU Jia, Associate Professor within the Department of Marketing and the Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics, have been named RGC Research Fellows. The three students have secured greater than HKD19.72 million in fellowship grants to pursue frontier analysis, speed up the interpretation of scientific discoveries into real-world purposes, and inject new momentum into industrial transformation and upgrading.
Prof. Tim CHENG Kwang-Ting, HKUST Vice-President for Research and Development, prolonged his heartfelt congratulations to the three students and stated, “The HKSAR Government is actively formulating Hong Kong’s inaugural Five-Year Plan to align with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan. A key focus of this strategy is to promote the translation of basic research into practical applications and harness AI-driven innovation to support industrial development, thereby accelerating Hong Kong’s transformation into an international innovation and technology hub. Our scholars’ breakthroughs in electrochemical synthesis and quantum materials are injecting fresh momentum into industrial upgrading. At the same time, our innovative generative AI search technologies are empowering businesses to strengthen their competitiveness in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace.”
“HKUST’s outstanding performance in the RGC fellowship schemes underscores our world-class research capabilities. It highlights the University’s strengths and immense potential in interdisciplinary innovation, academia-industry-research collaboration, and the translation of research outcomes into real-world applications. Looking ahead, HKUST will continue to strengthen its innovation ecosystem through robust support and resources, facilitating the commercialization of research outcomes and nurturing the next generation of talent. We are also deeply grateful to the RGC for its longstanding support, which empowers our scholars to pursue frontier research, drive groundbreaking innovations, and create lasting value for the socio-economic development of Hong Kong, the nation and the world,” added Prof. Cheng.
Prof. Shao Minhua (RGC SRFS awardee)
Project title: Near-Stoichiometric Electrosynthesis of Oximes and Amino Acids
Oximes and amino acids play an more and more necessary function throughout a variety of purposes, serving as analytical and antibacterial reagents, antidotes, and versatile pharmacophores in drug design. However, their standard synthesis is energy-intensive, sometimes requiring excessive temperatures and pressures and infrequently counting on poisonous reagents. Electrosynthesis powered by renewable electrical energy presents a sustainable various by coupling nitrogen oxides (akin to nitrate and nitrite) with carbonyl compounds below ambient circumstances.
This venture goals to develop near-stoichiometric electrosynthesis strategies for producing oximes and amino acids with excessive effectivity and yield. The staff will first make use of theoretical simulations and in-situ spectroscopy to construct and refine machine-learning fashions and for screening high-performance electrocatalysts. Subsequently, varied catalyst synthesis methods will likely be pursued to develop multi-active-site electrocatalysts that allow near-stoichiometric electrosynthesis of the goal chemical compounds. To speed up deployment, operando spectroscopic methods will likely be employed to watch real-time response dynamics, and the ensuing insights will likely be used to optimize a sophisticated membrane-electrode-assembly (MEA) electrolyzer. This method will allow low mass depth and excessive single-pass feed-to-product conversion, thereby facilitating scalable manufacturing. The new electrocatalysts are anticipated to cut back uncooked materials prices by 70% and obtain excessive Faradaic efficiencies, with oxime and amino acid yields exceeding 80%. Ultimately, the optimized electrolyzer will fulfil the necessities for industrial purposes.
Prof. Liu Junwei (RGC RFS awardee)
Project title: Novel Properties of Quantum Matter Due to Crystal Symmetry
Ferromagnetic supplies kind the idea of non-volatile information storage however undergo from low pace and restricted storage density. Antiferromagnets can handle these limitations, nonetheless, studying and writing encoded data in these supplies stay extremely difficult. The just lately found altermagnet combines some great benefits of each courses, owing to its distinctive crystal-symmetry-paired spin-momentum locking (CSML) proposed by Prof. Liu Junwei in 2021. This new materials class offers a great pure framework for learning spin-current management, symmetry-breaking mechanisms, and topological orders, providing promising potential in each elementary analysis and sensible purposes, together with high-density ultrafast reminiscence and Terahertz (THz) nano-oscillators.
Although analysis on altermagnetism is progressing quickly, candidate supplies stay scarce, and research of its coupling with different orders have solely simply begun. This venture goals to deal with these urgent wants and challenges. The staff will examine new phases and emergent properties of quantum matter arising from crystal symmetry, together with multiferroicity, unconventional superconductivity and nontrivial topological phases in altermagnets, pushed by their interaction with different orders. Building on this theoretical basis, the staff will conduct high-throughput searches for candidate supplies utilizing tight-binding fashions, 𝑘·𝑝 strategies, and first-principles calculations. The anticipated outcomes – together with the invention of novel quantum phases, the identification of promising materials candidates, and the elucidation of underlying mechanisms-are anticipated to deepen the understanding of quantum matter and open new avenues for next-generation reminiscence units and quantum computing applied sciences.
Prof. Liu Jia (RGC RFS awardee)
Project title: Generative Search and AI-Mediated Markets: Ensuring Visibility, Credibility, and Fairness
The rise of GenAI is remodeling how folks seek for and devour data. At the identical time, the rising prevalence of fabricated or manipulative content material designed to deceive generative engines is undermining the equity and credibility of search. This venture addresses these challenges by creating a scientific framework for accountable generative search. The framework will determine content material options which are almost certainly to be included into generative responses, monitor and benchmark model visibility throughout completely different AI search engines like google and yahoo and create sandbox environments to allow enterprises to check methods securely earlier than market deployment.
In addition, the venture will develop aggressive intelligence instruments to assist enterprises measure their share of voice relative to opponents, implement strategies to detect and assess low-credibility or fabricated content material, and set up governance rules that make sure the truthful, clear, and moral use of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Looking forward, the venture will discover how personalised AI brokers might reshape shopper journeys by filtering, prioritizing, and recommending data. Ultimately, this analysis will advance theories of digital advertising and marketing, shopper decision-making, and AI governance. It will equip businesses-particularly Hong Kong’s small and medium-sized enterprises within the retail, finance, {and professional} providers sectors-with sensible instruments and dashboards to take care of visibility and competitiveness in AI-driven markets, whereas creating safeguards to mitigate misinformation dangers and promote equitable entry to credible content material.
The RGC SRFS and RFS present sustained analysis assist, along with reduction from educating and administrative duties, enabling excellent researchers to commit themselves absolutely to analysis and improvement. Over a interval of 60 months, their supporting college of the awardees will obtain funding to cowl wage prices for reduction lecturers and analysis venture bills. The complete funding out there is roughly HKD 8.5 million for the SRFS and HKD 5.6 million for the RFS.