Professor George Fu Gao, HKIAS Senior Fellow and Director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and Chinese scientists have created an artificial protein that they say could be the basis of a vaccine to help ward off various deadly coronaviruses, including the pathogen that causes Covid-19. In a peer-reviewed paper published in the scientific journal Cell on 28 June 2020, the research team led by Professor Gao said the approach triggered a strong antibody response in mice and monkey trials to Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) and the Covid-19 coronavirus. According to Professor Gao, the framework of immunogen design can be universally applied to other betacoronavirus vaccines to counter emerging threats.

Professor David J. Srolovitz, a leading scholar in theoretical and computational materials science, presented a lecture series titled “Grain Boundary Structure and Dynamics: a tutorial” as part of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) Distinguished Tutorial Series in Materials Science at City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The tutorial series is composed of four enlightening lectures and is sponsored by a generous donation from the Kwang Hua Educational Foundation.

Professor Herbert Gleiter, HKIAS Senior Fellow, was honored with the “Researcher of the Year 2020” by the Advanced Materials Letters in January 2020. The award recognizes the substantial contribution of Professor Gleiter in promoting advanced nanomaterials over the years. Advanced Materials Letters dedicates the cover photo of the June 2020 issue for his uncountable efforts towards “research perspective, expanding education, promoting materials research and its applications at a global standard”. The 2019 awardee for the prestigious title of “Researcher of the Year” was Professor Enge Wang, HKIAS Senior Fellow and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.

Professor Sir Colin Blakemore, an acclaimed neuroscientist, presented a lecture titled “The Past, Present and Future of the Human Brain” as part of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) Distinguished Lecture Series on Life Sciences at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 8 May 2020. This lecture is sponsored by a generous donation from the Kwang Hua Educational Foundation.

Professor Bruce R. Ransom, a recognized scholar in neurology, presented a lecture titled “Acute Ischemic Stroke: Why Don’t We Have Better Treatments?” at the inaugural lecture of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) Distinguished Lecture Series on Life Sciences at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 4 May 2020. This lecture is sponsored by a generous donation from the Kwang Hua Educational Foundation.

Professor Peter Glynn, HKIAS Senior Fellow and Thomas Ford Professor at Stanford University, USA, and some researchers at Stanford have created two novel computer tools that can tell local governments and hospitals in USA whether they are about to be overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new calculators are the result of a crash collaboration between engineering faculty and graduate students, on the one hand, and faculty at the Stanford School of Medicine.

Professor Evelyn Hu, who is widely recognized for her intellectual range and interdisciplinary accomplishments in the field of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, was appointed as a Senior Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) in March 2020. The number of HKIAS Senior Fellows has grown to 35 and Professor Hu is the second female Senior Fellow in HKIAS.

The HK$15 million gift from the late Dr Chung Sze-yuen, GBM, JP (1917–2018) will be used to establish the Sze-Yuen Chung Fund in support of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS).

外號「政壇教父」、「大Sir」的首任香港特區行政會議召集人鍾士元於2018年底逝世，他有份籌備成立的城市大學昨日宣佈，獲其遺產捐出其中的1,500萬港元以成立「鍾士元基金」，以支持城大香港高等研究院的發展。

Professor Qi-Kun Xue, HKIAS Senior Fellow, was honored with the 2020 Fritz London Memorial Prize. The prize recognizes the pioneering work of Professor Xue on the experimental discovery of quantum anomalous Hall effect and edge channel in magnetic topological insulators. Professor Xue is the first Chinese scientist to receive this honor since the award established in 1957.