Professor Sir John Ball, HKIAS Senior Fellow and a Professor at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, was newly elected to the role of President of The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE). The appointment was announced at the RSE Annual Statutory Meeting in October 2021. Professor Sir John Ball takes office in April 2022

A three-volume set of “Mathematical Elasticity” by Professor Philippe G. Ciarlet, a Senior Fellow of Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study at City University of Hong Kong (CityU), will be published by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) in 2022.

Professor Marc Fontecave, a distinguished member of the French Academy of Sciences and a Professor at the Collège de France, delivered a pivotal lecture on 8 November at the recent France-Hong Kong Distinguished Lecture Series, hosted by City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The lecture highlighted the critical need for a coordinated approach between energetic transition and essential policies to adapt to escalating global temperatures. Titled “Necessities and Challenges of the Energetic Transition”, the lecture marked the revival of the series, which had been on hold since 2019. Among the distinguished guests in attendance were Mrs Christile Drulhe, the Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau; Professor Freddy Boey, President of CityU; and Professor Cheng Shuk Han, Associate Vice-President (Research).

Professor Jean Salençon, Professor Emeritus at the École Polytechnique, delivered a HKIAS Distinguished Lecture, entitled “1773 About Coulomb’s Seminal Contribution to Soil Mechanics”, on 22 November.

Our Senior Fellow Professor Enge Wang visits the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) at City University of Hong Kong from November 22 to 28, 2023. During his visit to HKIAS, Professor Wang engages in collaborative discussions with scholars, researchers, and students at CityU. This unique opportunity fosters intellectual exchange and innovation within the scientific community.

On 12 November 2018, Instituted for Advanced Study (IAS) organized a full-day conference in celebrating the major role of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) in developing scientific cooperation between France and Hong Kong, in honour of the 80th Birthday of the renowned Mathematician Professor Philippe G.c, Senior Fellow of IAS and University Distinguished Professor at CityU.

A finding by Professor TG Nieh, IAS Visiting Professor and his team was featured on Nature. The materials scientists proposed that oxygen can take the form of ordered oxygen complexes, a state in between oxide particles and frequently occurring random interstitials. These results provide insight into the role of interstitial solid solutions and associated ordering strengthening mechanisms in metallic materials.

A finding by Professor Chain-Tsuan Liu and Professor Ke Lu, IAS Senior Fellows and their team was featured on Science. The materials scientists report a strategy to enhance the performance of complex alloys by controllably introducing high-density ductile multicomponent intermetallic nanoparticles (MCINPs) in complex alloy systems. This MCINP strategy offers a paradigm to develop next-generation materials for structural applications.

City University of Hong Kong (CityU) conferred honorary doctorates on four distinguished persons including IAS Senior Fellow Professor Alain Aspect in recognition of their significant contributions to education and the well-being of society.