The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) marks a new phase in the promotion of innovative research in Hong Kong by world-leading scholars to address critical global challenges of today.

IAS, which was launched on 22 November, is one of the few such centres in the region. It aspires to be an international centre of excellence for the advancement of technology and innovation by bringing together an interdisciplinary team of world-renowned scholars and researchers, including Nobel laureates and academicians, to contribute to the solutions of pressing real-world problems.

IAS will extend the frontiers of knowledge, and enhance its global outreach by integrating research capabilities informed by the sciences, technology and humanities to develop innovative solutions for human betterment. It will raise and invest resources to advance interdisciplinarity and innovation work with an initial focus on three themes: One Health, Digital Society, and Smart City.

Professor Way Kuo, CityU President, said at the inauguration ceremony that IAS would be the perfect platform for spearheading the University’s drive for excellence in interdisciplinary research that benefits society.

“IAS will provide our faculty and students with an exciting environment in which to advance their work,” said Professor Kuo. “It will serve as a catalyst for many of the aspirations articulated in our new Strategic Plan, and I am sure I speak for the entire CityU community when I say how much I am looking forward to this new era of academia at CityU.”

Professor David Yao, IAS Director, who works at Columbia University and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, said IAS will attract some of the best minds in science and engineering to spend time on the CityU campus.

“The new initiative is dedicated to pursuing curiosity-driven ideas and studies and conducting unfettered research based on free and deep thinking, with the goals to seek truth, to advance knowledge and to better humanity,” he said.

Internationally acclaimed scholars appointed as IAS Senior Fellows will work with and mentor other research fellows and students at CityU in problem areas of their choice.

The newly appointed IAS Senior Fellows are:

Professor Philippe G. Ciarlet, Member of French Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Technologies, Academia Europaea and Chinese Academy of Sciences

Professor Herbert Gleiter, Member of German National Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering and American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Professor Serge Haroche, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Member of French Academy of Sciences

Professor Way Kuo, Member of US National Academy of Engineering and Academia Sinica in Taiwan; Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Russian Academy of Engineering

Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Member of French Academy of Sciences

Professor Pierre-Louis Lions, Fields Medalist, Member of French Academy of Sciences, Accademia dei Lincei and Academia Europaea

Professor Liu Chain-tsuan, Member of US National Academy of Engineering and Academia Sinica in Taiwan; and Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering

Professor Frank Shu, Member of US National Academy of Sciences and Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and Recipient of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy

Professor Stephen Smale, Fields Medalist & Wolf Prize Recipient and Member of US National Academy of Sciences

Professor David Yao, Member of US National Academy of Engineering

IAS will also benefit immensely from the expert guidance of Professor David D. Ho, Scientific Director and CEO of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and Member of US Institute of Medicine and Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and Dr Lee Kai-fu, Chairman and CEO of Innovation Works. They have joined IAS as members of its International Advisory Board.

The work of IAS is organised in research fellowships to enable world-leading visiting scholars to spearhead bold new research initiatives and nurture postdoctoral/postgraduate/undergraduate students in the pursuit of knowledge. It will also explore partnerships with prestigious academic institutions around the world in support of collaborative research that targets innovative solutions to global problems of critical importance. Conferences, symposiums and workshops will also be organised to facilitate the exchange of ideas among academic communities in Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas.