News & Stories

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is proud to be the exclusive university partner of the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau for the Anita Conti Sustainable Innovation Fellowship, under the partnership framework of France-HKUST Innovation Hub. The Fellowship pays tribute to Anita Conti (1899-1997), also known as « la Dame de la Mer » (the Lady of the Sea ) and the first French woman oceanographer and a pioneer in marine ecology, as well as her scientific contribution and commitment to the protection of the oceans. It aims to inspire the next generations of researchers, innovators, and environmentalists to address the challenges of climate change and its impacts on our planet.

 The recent arrival of a whale in Saikung waters proved a magnet for curious onlookers. (Photo: Tak/Xiaohongshu)  

    In April to May 2019, the coral reefs near the French Polynesian island of Moorea in the central South Pacific Ocean suffered severe and prolonged thermal bleaching. The catastrophe occurred despite the absence of El Niño conditions that year, intriguing ocean scientists around the world. 

Researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) have decoded for the first time the demographic history, genetic structure, and population connectivity of a deep-sea limpet widely distributed in vent and seep ecosystems in the Northwest Pacific. This study not only enhances our knowledge of the historical population divergence and contemporary gene flow of deep-sea organisms under the intricate interactions amongst local habitats, seafloor topography, and ocean currents, but also serves as a scientific basis for better conservation of marine biodiversity and more effective environmental management.

It is a common perception that waters close to population would be more polluted than those offshore or at higher latitudes.  However, researchers from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) found that the ratio between two common microalgae diatom and dinoflagellate (dino) – a common benchmark of water quality, has been nearly doubled in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), one of the world’s most urbanized subtropical coastal waters, over the past two decades. 

HKUST researchers have unravelled the genomic riddles of the tubeworms that thrive deep in the ocean, paving the way for previously unthinkable biological applications.

Gigantopelta aegis (Photo credit: Dr. CHEN Chong from JAMSTEC) A research team led by Prof. QIAN Peiyuan, Head and Chair Professor from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)’s Department of Ocean Science and David von Hansemann Professor of Science, has published their cutting-edge findings of symbiotic mechanisms of a deep-sea vent snail (Gigantopelta aegis) in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

A robotic fish collects microplastics samples to help alleviating marine pollution