The Covid-19 pandemic contains the kind of multi-element problems evident in systems that require careful analysis in order to prevent delays and minimise chaotic responses, according to President Way Kuo of City University of Hong Kong (CityU).

Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) plans events that encourage conversations about how science relates to broader social issues. Professor Way Kuo, the President and University Distinguished Professor of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), presented a lecture titled “Data-Driven Global Pandemic Management” at the inaugural online series for the HKIAS Distinguished Lecture at CityU on 30 September 2020. Over 300 online participants from both local and overseas, including renowned scholars and researchers, attended the virtual lecture through the video conferencing platform Zoom.

Professor Qi-Kun Xue, HKIAS Senior Fellow, was honored with the 2020 Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award. The prize recognizes the extraordinary contributions of Professor Xue on the experimental discovery of quantum anomalous Hall effect.

Elastoplastic Modeling, by Professor Jean Salençon, Senior Fellow of HKIAS, was published by ISTE in June 2020. This book is the fourth publication that Professor Salençon wrote after joining the HKIAS.

Professor Ke Lu, HKIAS Senior Fellow, was honored with the 2020 Future Science Prize in Physical Sciences. The prize recognizes the pioneering work of Professor Lu in synthesizing and discovering nano-twinned structure and gradient nanostructure that simultaneously exhibits superior strength, ductility, and conductivity of copper. The award ceremony will be held on the last day of the Future Science Week in Beijing on 22 November 2020. The first recipient of the Future Science Prize in Physical Sciences (2016) was Professor Qi-Kun Xue, HKIAS Senior Fellow and Vice-President for Research at the Tsinghua University, China.

Hong Kong registered a record-breaking of Covid-19 cases in July, pushing its total infections over 3,000 since its first coronavirus outbreak in late January. The Infectious Disease Modelling Group at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently has developed a comprehensive computer model that can tell the pattern of disease transmission and helps to predict effective measures against a Fourth Wave in Hong Kong.

Innovative findings on high entropy alloys for both functional and structural applications by the HKIAS Materials Science Cluster and researchers at CityU were featured on various leading scientific journals, including Science, Advanced Materials, Nature Communications, Acta Materialia, Materials Today, and Materials Research Letters.

The doors of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) were reopened in May for the launch of the institute’s first series of lectures since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Made possible by a generous grant from the Kwang Hua Education Foundation, the HKIAS Distinguished Lecture Series on Life Sciences aims to identify and showcase the work of life scientists and neuroscientists at CityU whose research cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience continues to invite new perspectives on the brain. Yet, there are still many unknowns about the organ responsible for the biological success of the human species. Organized by the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU), and as part of the HKIAS Distinguished Lecture Series on Life Sciences, two talks explored the human brain’s mysteries.

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.