News & Stories

A research team at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has analyzed 40 years of data covering around 1,500 tropical cyclones and discovered that average rain rates surge by more than 20% in the 60 hours before landfall. The study is also the first to clearly identify the physical mechanisms behind this increase, showing that rising humidity over coastal areas and enhanced land-sea frictional contrasts strengthen convection, intensifying rainfall ahead of landfall. The results provide valuable insights for improving coastal disaster preparedness and early‑warning systems.

A research team from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed GrainBot, an AI-enabled toolkit that automatically extracts and quantifies multiple microstructural features from microscopy images. Designed to meet the growing need for data-driven and autonomous research workflows in materials science, the tool provides a systematic method for converting complex image information into quantitative data, thereby accelerating the discovery and development of next-generation materials.

Prof. Nancy IP, President of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), warmly welcomes the 2026-27 Budget delivered today by the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. She said, "2026 marks the outset of the nation's '15th Five-Year Plan'. The Budget sets out important initiatives to enable Hong Kong to proactively align with national strategies, integrate into the country's overall development, and drive long-term, high quality development for both the nation and Hong Kong."

Prof. LU Mengqian, now Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, told the unique story of a little girl in Qingdao with tremendous physical and intellectual potentials.

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have made a major breakthrough in producing perovskite solar cells. They developed a multi-source co-evaporation recipe that markedly enhances the crystal quality of vacuum-deposited perovskite films. The advance brings all vacuum-deposited single-junction perovskite cells as well as perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells closer to scalable production. This breakthrough has been reported in Nature Materials, in a paper entitled “Crystal-facet-directed all-vacuum-deposited perovskite solar cells”. 

Four scholars from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have been honored as Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world’s largest professional organization in computer science. ACM has named 71 new Fellows globally this year, and among the 12 Fellows based in Asia, four are from HKUST.HKUST’s honourees include Prof. Tim Kwang-Ting CHENG, Vice-President for Research and Development, Chair Professor of the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Prof. Jiaya JIA, Chair Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Von Neumann Institute; Prof. Ke YI, Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; and Prof. Hui XIONG, Associate Vice-President (Knowledge Transfer) and Chair Professor of the Thrust of Artificial Intelligence at HKUST (Guangzhou).

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) successfully hosted the Nobel Symposium, which engaged over 450 students, faculty members, and public guests. Held as part of the celebrations for HKUST's 35th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of IAS, this academic event, themed "Horizons Unbound: Exploring the Ultimate Frontiers of Science," showcased insights from some of the most influential scientific minds globally.Through inspiring discussions, the speakers examined science's transformative power in shaping humanity's future. The symposium provided a platform for these leaders to collaborate with HKUST faculty, students, alumni, and researchers in exploring the furthest frontiers of science, further reinforcing the university’s commitment to serving as a hub for knowledge exchange and talent development.The four keynote speakers include:Prof. Paul C. W. CHU

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have achieved a breakthrough in calcium-ion battery (CIB) technology, which could transform energy storage solutions in everyday life. Utilizing quasi-solid-state electrolytes (QSSEs), these innovative CIBs promise to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of energy storage, impacting a wide range of applications from renewable energy systems to electric vehicles. The findings are published in the international journal Advanced Science titled “High-Performance Quasi-Solid-State Calcium-Ion Batteries from Redox-Active Covalent Organic Framework Electrolytes”.