The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has distinguished itself within the 2026/2027 Strategic Topics Grant (STG) of the Research Grants Council (RGC) below the University Grants Committee. Of the six accredited tasks, two are led by HKUST students, collectively receiving greater than HKD 54.41 million in funding (together with matching fund from the University). This represents the very best whole funding quantity amongst native universities. The tasks leverage synthetic intelligence (AI) in healthcare to boost the administration of bacterial infections in older adults and supply built-in administration for Parkinson’s illness, underscoring HKUST’s management in cutting-edge analysis and its dedication to creating progressive options to the healthcare challenges posed by the getting older world inhabitants.
Prof. Tim CHENG Kwang-Ting, HKUST Vice President for Research and Development, prolonged his heartfelt congratulations to the analysis groups and expressed his gratitude to the RGC for their help. He said, “This achievement highlights HKUST’s profound expertise in AI and healthcare technology and demonstrates how pioneering research can drive more efficient early screening, monitoring and disease management for the elderly. In line with the national 15th Five-Year Plan’s emphasis on establishing a comprehensive healthcare service system and vigorously developing smart healthcare and related industries, HKUST will continue to advance the integration of AI with healthcare and other sectors, fostering interdisciplinary innovation. Through research excellence, we aim to inject new vitality into the healthcare industry in Hong Kong, across the Greater Bay Area and the nation, and even globally, helping to address the growing demand for health technologies and alleviate the burden on healthcare systems posed by an ageing population.”
Led by Prof. HSING I-Ming, Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at HKUST, the undertaking titled “AI-assisted Infection Management in Elderly Hospitals and Nursing Homes: Safeguarding Health through Point-of-Care Technologies and Smart Materials,” below the “Health and Longevity in a Caring Community” area, has secured a complete funding of HKD 26.789 million (together with college matching fund) for 5 years.
Many aged residents in Hong Kong, notably these residing in nursing houses or recuperating in hospitals, are immunosuppressed. This undertaking goals to develop an AI-assisted, end-to-end an infection administration system that generates personalised remedy and nursing care plans primarily based on real-time, point-of-care medical knowledge streams to boost the standard and effectiveness of an infection administration.
Project highlights embrace: (1) the event of progressive point-of-care and wearable biosensors to generate real-time knowledge streams for the AI platform, together with high-throughput on-site screening of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), fast antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and non-invasive monitoring of significant indicators (comparable to physique temperature and coronary heart charge) and biomarkers; and (2) the institution of an on-demand continual wound administration system utilizing sensible responsive supplies to deal with potential tissue infections related to extended wound therapeutic. The system will present real-time alerts on stress accumulation and irritation whereas interfacing with microbial testing for an infection analysis. The sensing knowledge might be processed by the AI platform to generate personalised nursing care plans that promote wound therapeutic and stop an infection.
Led by Prof. ZHANG Qian, Head of the Division of Integrative Systems and Design, and Chair Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at HKUST, the undertaking titled “PMAI-PD: A Personalized Multimodal AI Platform for Integrated Life-Cycle Management of Parkinson’s Disease in Aging Populations” below the “Smart Technology and an Ageing Population” area, has acquired a complete of HKD27.628 million funding (together with college matching fund) for 5 years.
Parkinson’s illness (PD) presents a quickly rising public well being problem in getting older societies. The analysis crew will accomplice with frontline physicians and elderly-care trade companions within the GBA to develop PMAI-PD, an AI-powered PD care platform that transforms PD administration from a hospital-centric mannequin into “hospital + home” care pathway. The platform goals to increase screening, monitoring, and rehabilitation into sufferers’ day by day lives by means of using low-cost sensors and clinically validated AI fashions.
PMAI-PD contains three built-in modules: (1) PMAI-PD display, which permits early screening by integrating day by day behavioural alerts with medical profiles, comparable to blood proteomic and neuroimaging signatures related to early-stage PD; (2) PMAI-PD assess agent, which helps steady home-based evaluation by estimating PD signs by means of contactless and wearable sensing throughout on a regular basis actions, enabling ecologically legitimate longitudinal monitoring; and (3) PMAI-PD rehab, which delivers personalised rehabilitation by means of an LLM-enabled agent that guides sufferers by means of workout routines utilizing the identical home-based sensors, thereby enhancing affected person adherence and enhancing therapist effectivity.
In addition, Prof. CHEN Hao, Assistant Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Prof. HONG Jiewen, Head and Professor of the Department of Marketing at HKUST are collaborating in tasks led by The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University respectively. The tasks are titled “Building Artificial Intelligent-Enhanced Platform for One-Stop Advance Care Planning Model” and “Empowering an inclusive, Age-Friendly Silver Economy in Hong Kong: From Longitudinal Evidence to Intergeneration Multi-stakeholder Action”.
The RGC’s Strategic Topics Grant seeks to help collaborative analysis in strategic areas that deal with points of serious significance to Hong Kong. For 2026/27 train, the designated analysis themes are Health and Longevity in a Caring Community; Smart Technology and an Ageing Population; and Silver Society, Economy and Finance. 90% of the accredited undertaking funding comes from RGC, with the remaining 10% contributed by the collaborating universities as matching funds.