Professor Annie Cheung Nga-yin

Professor Cheung likens research to a large ship sailing on the ocean. “In the early stages of research, the supervisor is responsible for steering the direction of the research,” she said, “while the students need to work hard to keep it moving forward.”

Her aim is to help students fulfill their potential, contribute to advances in science and to become citizens the University can be proud of. “I believe as supervisors we need to adjust to both the special abilities and the weaknesses of the students. But it’s not only about work. Harmony and happiness in the working area are also very important.”

Professor Cheung has stated that her main motivation in her work is to better women’s health, so she is most interested in the study of cancers of the ovary, uterine corpus and cervix. In recent years, her team has made significant findings in the studies of stem cell transcription factors and carcinogenetic signal pathways to develop potential molecular targets for cancer detection prognostication and therapy.

Dr Huang Jiandong

Dr Huang likes to explore new territory. He has applied engineering technologies to genomic studies and the development of more efficient methods in DNA and chromosome engineering and pursued synthetic biology as a means of uncovering fundamental principles of life and for cancer treatment. He approaches his work with an excitement for what he can accomplish and tries to instill that in his students.

“Scientists are trying to discover something useful for society, and they are also purely interested in going somewhere nobody has been before,” he said.

Dr Huang said being a supervisor means supporting students while they travelled down their own paths of discovery. “I try to see what their needs are and to be like a car that takes them to their destination. I try my best to get them where they want to go,” he said.

Students praise his efforts to offer feedback, take them on conferences, involve them in international competitions and meet other scientists.

Mr Stephen Lau Siu-yu

Mr Lau has been teaching at HKU for more than 25 years in the fields of architectural and urban design, environmental controls, and sustainability. Since the 1990s he has concentrated his efforts on fostering a critical mass of young researchers in the architectural science discipline.

He believes that architecture enables students to view the world around them in two ways – first to see the aesthetics, the visuals and culture, and second to have the scientific vision for how to turn those aesthetics into reality.

Mr Lau also believes strongly in going beyond the books, and loves to discuss and debate with his students and to take them outside the classroom to learn in the real world. “I see it as a necessity for my students to go beyond the library and I invite them to challenge their limits by taking part in international competitions. This gives each of them the opportunity to show how architectural design and architectural research can be integrated and best serve society.”