News & Stories

Boundless: Thanks for your time, Prof. Yang. Was this the first time the International Conference on Adaptive Structures and Technologies, or ICAST, has been held at HKUST?Prof. Yang: Yes, this is HKUST’s first time hosting ICAST. It is a highly regarded series that began in 1990 as a US–Japan collaboration in Maui, Hawaii. Over the past three decades, ICAST has been hosted across North America, Asia, and Europe. We were delighted to host the 35th edition of this series at HKUST.Boundless:  What are HKUST’s strengths in adaptive structures and technologies?

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) held a flag-raising ceremony on campus this morning to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).Dr. John CHAN Cho-Chak, HKUST Pro-Chancellor; Prof. Harry SHUM, HKUST Council Chairman; Prof. Nancy IP, HKUST President; Prof. Lionel NI Ming-Shuan, HKUST (Guangzhou) President; Ms. Edith SHIH, HKUST Council Vice-Chairperson; Mr. Stephen YIU Kin-wah, the University Treasurer; and Counsellor HUANG Jingrui, Spokesperson of the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in the HKSAR and Director-General of the Department of Media and Public Relations attended the ceremony. They were joined by over 300 members of the HKUST community, with more than 6,000 online views via live stream.

Prof. LAW Kam-Tuen, Chair Professor of the Department of Physics and the Director of Research Office at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has been named "New Cornerstone Investigator" by the Tencent-funded New Cornerstone Science Foundation for his extraordinary achievements in quantum physics.He has been endowed with funding to establish a New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, inaugurated on May 28. The award - up to RMB 15 million over five years from the New Cornerstone Science Foundation - will support Prof. Law and his team's research in quantum physics. He is the second HKUST researcher to receive this prestigious title, following Prof. Xi DAI, Chair Professor of the Department of Physics, who was awarded in 2023.

Histopathology is a cornerstone of clinical diagnosis, especially in cancer care. However, conventional chemical staining is often time-consuming and labor-intensive and may consume precious tissue samples. A research team from the School of Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a novel generative AI (GenAI) framework that can produce high-fidelity virtually stained images even when training image pairs are imperfectly aligned, paving the way for faster and more tissue-saving histopathology workflows. The study titled “Generative AI for misalignment-resistant virtual staining to accelerate histopathology workflows” was recently published in the international journal Nature Communications.

Researchers at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have uncovered how mutations in a specific gene can trigger a rare respiratory disease, shedding light on the critical role played by cellular structures known as cilia. Cilia are tiny and hair-like organelles extruding from the surface of most cell types, serving either sensory or motile functions. In the eyes, photoreceptor cells possess sensory cilia that are important for vision. Meanwhile, motile cilia align along the surface of the respiratory tract and function in airway clearance of mucus and inhaled pathogens.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)'s Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute (CKSRI) today announced the establishment of its Industrial Alliance, alongside the inaugural CKSRI Industrial Summit. The initiative brings together leaders from academia and industry to strengthen connections between HKUST research teams and a broad network of industry partners, fostering collaboration in research development, technology translation, and talent development. Through the Alliance, CKSRI aims to establish a practical, sustainable collaboration platform that supports the deployment of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across diverse application scenarios.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced today that it has risen significantly by 11 places to 33rd in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2027.HKUST President Prof. Nancy IP celebrated the university's upward momentum in the rankings, stating, "This year's notable progress is truly heartening. It stands as clear evidence of the collective synergy among our students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and reaffirms our excellence in teaching, research, and nurturing future talent."

In recent years, Hong Kong has experienced repeated episodes of intense rainfall that left significant impacts on social operations, including the “once‑in‑a‑century” rainstorm in September 2023, the exceptionally heavy rain in May 2024, and a series of Black Rainstorm events in early August 2025. These extreme weather events have not only disrupted residents’ daily travel and public infrastructure but have also highlighted the challenges faced by high‑density coastal cities in coping with extreme weather.