43 42 HKU ANNUAL REPORT 2023 ACHIEVING IMPACT YOUNG INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR Dr Yuan Shuofeng, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, has made headway in antiviral therapies that could address the next pandemic, and his research successes have resulted in a bumper year. In 2023, he was named one of the top Innovators Under 35 in the Asia Pacific region by MIT Technology Review, as well as one of eight HKU recipients of the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau) by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for his project on druggable antiviral targets. Dr Yuan was also bestowed the HKU Young Innovator Award in March 2023 for his work on small-molecule drugs that could provide cheap and effective treatment against the next pandemic threat. INAUGURAL ASIAN YOUNG SCIENTIST FELLOW Dr Yang Yi, Assistant Professor of Physics, was one of 12 exceptional early-career scientists from the Asia region selected as an inaugural Fellow of the Asian Young Scientist Fellowship, based on his track record and future potential in optical physics and photonics. Nominations for the fellowships came from around 500 deans and heads of university faculties and research institutes around the region. Dr Yang was also named one of 35 Innovators Under 35 for China in 2022 by MIT Technology Review and was a recipient of the 2022 Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau). Accolades were also bestowed on 10 HKU professors named among the top 100 best scientists in their discipline by Research.com in its 2023 Best Scientists, and three ranked among the top 10 in the world: Professor Yuen Kwok Yung, Henry Fok Professor in Infectious Diseases and Chair of Infectious Diseases, in Microbiology; Professor Mak Tak Wah, Honorary Professor at the Department of Pathology, in Molecular Biology; and Professor Zhao Guochun, Chair Professor of Earth Sciences, in Earth Sciences. Research.com also ranked six HKU professors as first in their fields in China – the most of any university in the nation. Other honours were bestowed on researchers in specific disciplines, such as the AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Annual List, which included six HKU scholars. Selected highlights of honours for senior professors include Professor Vivian Yam, Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professor in Chemistry and Energy, who became the first Asian and first Chinese awarded the prestigious Bailar Medal (2023–24) for contributions to inorganic chemistry; mathematician Professor Mok Ngai Ming, Edmund and Peggy Tse Professor in Mathematics and Chair of Mathematics, who is the first Hong Kong recipient of the Tan Kah Kee Science Award in Mathematics and Physics (2022); and Professor Sun Hongzhe, Norman and Cecilia Yip Professor in Bioinorganic Chemistry and Chair Professor of Chemistry, who was awarded the 2023 Horizon Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Dalton Prize Committee. Dr Joseph Michalski became the first non-Chinese recipient of the Xplorer Prize (2023) funded by Tencent’s New Cornerstone Science Foundation. The latter also offered grants to three scientists through the New Cornerstone Investigator Program to support their excellence in basic research: Professor Yao Wang, Chair Professor of Physics; Professor Zhang Shuang, Interim Head and Chair Professor of Physics; and Professor He Xuhua, Chair Professor of Mathematics. Watch the HKU Young Innovator Award video “ MY AIM IS TO ESTABLISH CONCEPTS THAT CAN BE HARNESSED TO DEVELOP NEW STRATEGIES, METHODS AND LEADS FOR ANTIVIRAL TREATMENT. ” “ I AM HONOURED BY THE AWARD AND COMMITTED TO CONDUCTING OUTSTANDING RESEARCH FOSTERED BY HKU’S EXCEPTIONAL RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO COLLABORATING WITH THE TALENTED AND DIVERSE COMMUNITY OF YOUNG SCIENTISTS IN ASIA AS WELL. ” DR YUAN SHUOFENG DR YANG YI AMONG THE TOP 100 IN THEIR FIELD ACCORDING TO RESEARCH.COM 10 HKU PROFESSORS 3 ARE IN THE TOP 10
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