27 26 HKU ANNUAL REPORT 2025 RESEARCH AND INNOVATION Professor Ferenc Krausz delivered his inaugural lecture titled ‘Toward Affordable Preventive Healthcare: Basic Science Addressing Grand Challenges’ at the Grand Hall of the Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre, drawing an audience of over 800 participants from academic, policy, and student communities. PLANETARY SCIENCE EXPERT Professor Nicolas Dauphas joins HKU from the University of Chicago, having produced groundbreaking insights on the origins and evolution of planets and other objects in the solar system using high-precision mass spectrometry, synchrotron techniques, laboratory experiments and theoretical modelling. Among his findings, he demonstrated that Mars is a stranded planetary embryo and that Earth and the Moon have near identical isotopic compositions, challenging traditional models of lunar formation. As Chair Professor of Cosmochemistry, he is leading a new initiative to build HKU into a leading hub in Asia for cosmochemistry and planetary science. I aim to establish a world-class research programme that expands Hong Kong’s capabilities for space-mission sample analysis and will train students and postdocs to lead the next wave of discovery. Hong Kong’s international outlook and the Greater Bay Area’s innovation ecosystem make it an ideal base for ambitious, collaborative research. The welcome so far has been outstanding and HKU has provided excellent institutional support. Professor Nicolas DAUPHAS NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING PHYSICIST Physicist Professor Ferenc Krausz, the 2023 Nobel Laureate in Physics, has joined HKU as Chair Professor in the Department of Physics. Professor Krausz has pushed the frontiers of human knowledge forward through his work in ultrafast laser science and quantum optics. He and his team were the first to generate light pulses in the attosecond range, allowing electron movements to be observed in real time. He has been applying these findings to the development of new medical diagnostic techniques, working initially in Hungary and Germany and now branching out to HKU, which he sees as a critical base for advancing this work. Professor Krausz, a native of Hungary, has most recently been based at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Germany. HKU’s interdisciplinary vision aligns perfectly with the next chapter of my career. It is one of the best universities in the world and it attracts a lot of young talents from all over the world. We cannot be successful in our research unless we attract the best talents to work with us. I very much look forward to setting up research activities here in collaboration with HKU’s world-class Clinical Trials Centre. If we succeed, we will be the global pioneers of future personalised preventive care. Professor Ferenc KRAUSZ About 100 top scholars from leading global institutions opted to join HKU over the past year, which in turn helped attract talented research students to the University. Choosing HKU
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