Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 1) – Three State Key Laboratories and the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study

Since its founding in 1991, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has progressively built a multi-tiered research establishment: at its core are three State Key Laboratories (SKLs) accredited by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of mainland China; the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) serves as HKUST’s most internationally prestigious interdisciplinary flagship. This first part outlines these two tiers; for the 15 research institutes, InnoHK centres, joint laboratories with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and honours such as fellowships and named professorships, see Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 2)^※.

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# 1. State Key Laboratories: HKUST’s ‘National-Level’ Heavyweights

A State Key Laboratory (SKL) is a research establishment within mainland China’s S&T system that is accredited by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and signifies national-level research capability. Since the handover, Hong Kong has been able to set up such units under frameworks including the “Partner State Key Laboratory” scheme, marking an important step in the integration of Hong Kong’s universities into the national innovation system. HKUST is one of Hong Kong’s major hosts of these “national-level” heavyweights, and currently operates three State Key Laboratories:

According to HKUST’s official announcement^※ and a School of Engineering overview^※:

Note: In accordance with this repository’s editorial principles, when involving current senior leadership, the position title is used rather than the name (see Editorial Principles on the homepage^※). The head of the SKLNSD is HKUST’s current Vice-Chancellor and President; the table therefore uses “the current Vice-Chancellor and President”. Her academic standing is as an internationally renowned neuroscientist; relevant factual and honorary records (such as fellowships and awards) are recorded accordingly in the biographical volume.

# 1.1 State Key Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases (SKLNSD)

This was HKUST’s first State Key Laboratory and Hong Kong’s first SKL in the field of molecular neuroscience. According to an HKUST announcement, it was founded in 2009, and its predecessor was the “State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience”^※; this lineage is also recorded in the University’s historical timeline^※ — the entry noting the laboratory’s formal establishment in 2010 refers to this sequence.

Following the restructuring announcement in February 2025^※, after the laboratory was renamed the “State Key Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases,” it has been carrying out “forward-looking fundamental and translational research.” Landmark achievements include a blood-based diagnostic technology for Alzheimer’s disease and a whole-brain gene editing system^※ (for detailed data on these scientific breakthroughs, see Landmark Discoveries and Signature Research Areas^※). The study of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s is precisely one of the life science directions at HKUST that has attracted the greatest international attention in recent years — an effort that also dovetails with the University’s approval in 2025 to establish a new medical school^※ (see Establishing a Medical School^※).

# 1.2 State Key Laboratory of Displays and Opto-Electronics (SKLDOE)

According to an HKUST announcement, this laboratory was approved in 2013^※ (jointly established with Sun Yat-sen University and initially operated as a “Partner State Key Laboratory”). It also completed its restructuring in February 2025^※, after which it was formally brought under the University’s independent management and its English name was adjusted to “State Key Laboratory of Displays and Opto-Electronics.” It is co-directed by Prof. Kristiaan NEYTS and Prof. FAN Zhiyong^※. The research focuses on innovative development in next-generation optoelectronic technologies, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing. According to the official overview^※, this covers perovskite-based optoelectronic materials, organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), quantum-dot LEDs, augmented/extended reality (AR/XR), 3D displays, and flexible sensors^※.

Displays and optoelectronics form one of the core segments of the electronic information industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The laboratory’s directions — perovskite, quantum dots, XR — align closely with the display panel and consumer electronics industrial chain spanning Shenzhen–Dongguan–Huizhou, making it a research vehicle frequently cited in the narrative of HKUST “serving the industrial upgrading of the Greater Bay Area.” The laboratory maintains an independent website^※ where its researchers and achievements are published.

# 1.3 State Key Laboratory of Climate Resilience in Coastal Cities (SKLCRCC)

This is the youngest of the three SKLs. According to the School of Engineering overview, it was established in 2025^※ and is jointly established by HKUST and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University^※, with Prof. Charles NG Wang-Wai^※ serving as the HKUST Co-Director. The research focuses on climate change, extreme weather, resilient infrastructure, compound disasters, coastal engineering, and risk management^※, and relies on HKUST’s internationally leading geotechnical centrifuge cluster testing platform for experimental studies.

Core Greater Bay Area cities such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are all large coastal megacities highly exposed to the risks of typhoons, storm surges, and sea-level rise. The laboratory’s focus on “climate resilience in coastal cities” represents a step by HKUST to align its accumulated strengths in geotechnical engineering, coastal engineering, and climate science with national and regional disaster prevention and mitigation strategies. The model of joint establishment by two institutions also reflects the synergy among Hong Kong universities within the State Key Laboratory framework.

# 1.4 The Threefold Significance of ‘National-Level’ Status for HKUST

1. Integration into the national research system — SKLs are accredited by MOST and represent a crucial channel for Hong Kong universities to substantively connect with the national research system and access national-level research resources and collaborative networks. The title of HKUST’s announcement — “Thanking MOST for the Vote of Confidence” — precisely reflects the weight this accreditation carries for the institution.
2. National endorsement of disciplinary directions — The three laboratories respectively correspond to neuroscience, optoelectronic displays, and climate resilience — exactly the areas in which HKUST’s School of Science and School of Engineering are most internationally competitive and which align closely with the strategic needs of the country and the Greater Bay Area.
3. Synergy through the ‘One Body, Two Wings’ framework — HKUST’s “One Body, Two Wings” structure, comprising the Clear Water Bay campus and HKUST(GZ) (see Greater Bay Area and National Role^※), makes it easier for the achievements of these laboratories to be translated and applied in the Greater Bay Area’s industries.

Note: The laboratory names, establishment years, and leading scholars mentioned in this article are based on what is recorded on the source pages; State Key Laboratories undergo changes such as renaming, restructuring, and evaluation — the restructuring in February 2025 is one such example. Please refer to the latest official HKUST announcements before citing.

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# 2. Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS): HKUST’s ‘Ideas Sanctuary’

The HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is one of the University’s most internationally prestigious academic establishments. Modelled on the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, it provides a space for top scholars to focus on frontier thinking, free from teaching and administrative obligations — in effect, an “ideas sanctuary” on the HKUST campus.

# Background and Inaugural Director

According to the IAS official milestones page^※, the IAS was established in 2006 as a key initiative of HKUST’s Strategic Plan 2005–2020^※. Its inaugural director was the then Vice-Chancellor and President, Prof. Paul Chu (the second Vice-Chancellor and a pioneer in high-temperature superconductivity)^※. Prof. Chu himself is an internationally renowned superconductor physicist, and his personally founding and leading the IAS imbued the institute from the very beginning with a strong orientation of “attracting first-rate scientists with first-rate scientists.”

# A Timeline of Milestones

The IAS building is a five-storey landmark that houses a 200-seat lecture theatre, an open-air auditorium, three seminar rooms, and approximately 100 offices^※, built with joint support from the Hong Kong SAR Government and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (for details on the connection, see Pre-history and Naming^※). Under the IAS umbrella are the IAS Atmospheric Research Centre, the IAS Centre for AI for Scientific Discovery, the IAS Centre for Fundamental Physics, and the IAS Centre for Quantum Matter.

# The Hawking Inaugural Lecture (15 June 2006)

The best-known event in the IAS’s history is its inaugural lecture, delivered by the cosmologist Stephen Hawking. The spectacular nature of this lecture and Hawking’s witty remarks on stage are recorded in detail in the chapter on HKUST Firsts and Major Achievements^※ (covering the over 2,200 ticket-holding attendees, the live television broadcast, the famous line about God playing dice from quantum cosmology, and more). For a young university that was only 15 years old at the time, being able to launch a new institute with a lecture by Hawking was in itself a powerful statement of the IAS’s international ambitions.

# An International Advisory Board Stacked with Nobel Laureates

The academic stature of the IAS is largely embodied in the composition of its International Advisory Board. According to a media report^※, the IAS’s development is guided by an International Advisory Board chaired by Nobel laureate in Physics Prof. C N Yang, with about 15 members, most of whom are Nobel laureates^※. With the backing of this board, the IAS has over the years hosted more than 30 lectures delivered by world-class scientists and Nobel laureates^※. The presence of Nobel laureates as “senior visiting members” who reside, lecture, and interact at HKUST for short periods is the core mechanism that sets the IAS apart from ordinary lecture programmes.

Note: The specific description of the chairmanship and membership of the Advisory Board is taken from the above media source (a HKUST 25th anniversary feature); the official IAS milestones page does not list the members individually. The membership may change over time. Before citing specific names, please refer to the latest directory on the IAS official People page.

# Partnership with the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

The IAS’s international standing is also reflected in its formal collaboration with the “ancestral home” of the IAS concept — the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. According to the IAS milestones page^※, by 2009, HKUST’s IAS had become one of only three universities in China to form a partnership with the Princeton IAS^※. The Princeton IAS is the legendary institution where masters like Einstein and von Neumann once worked, and it is the origin of the global “institute for advanced study” model. HKUST’s IAS being able to partner with it is a marker that its academic reputation has been recognized by top-tier international peers. This connection also carries a spiritual lineage with the von Neumann Institute established by HKUST in 2025 (named after the legendary Princeton IAS figure John von Neumann; see Robotics and Artificial Intelligence^※).

# Naming and Recent Developments

According to the milestones page^※, on 27 November 2013, the IAS was officially named the “HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study”^※ — a naming that extends the deep involvement of The Hong Kong Jockey Club in HKUST’s development since its earliest days (the Jockey Club donated HK$1.5 billion in 1987 for the construction of the Clear Water Bay campus; see Timeline of History^※ and Donations and Naming^※). In recent years, the IAS has continued to deepen its international research collaborations, for example by establishing the IAS HKUST–Scripps R&D Laboratory^※ to connect with the cutting edge of life sciences at the Scripps Research Institute in the United States. On the occasion of HKUST’s 35th anniversary (which also marks the IAS’s 20th anniversary), the IAS reportedly held a “Nobel Symposium” that attracted more than 450 faculty, students, and members of the public^※.

The IAS also served as one of the platforms through which HKUST recruited its first Nobel laureate professor — Sir Christopher Pissarides, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. For details of his connection with the Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS), see Interdisciplinary Research Institute Cluster^※.

# The IAS’s Place in the HKUST Narrative

From the perspective of institutional narrative, the IAS holds a threefold significance for HKUST:

1. A lever of prestige — By deploying international symbols such as the Hawking inaugural lecture, the Nobel-crowded Advisory Board, and the Princeton partnership, it swiftly accumulated academic prestige for a young university, and is a key element in the narrative of HKUST’s “leapfrog rise.”
2. An interdisciplinary hub — The IAS is not subordinate to any single school, but straddles science, engineering, business, and the humanities and social sciences, providing an institutional space for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research.
3. An extension of the ethos ‘don’t replicate, create’ — HKUST did not simply copy the Princeton model, but combined it with the location advantages of Hong Kong and Asia to develop its own system of visiting scholars, lectures, and forums.

Ultimately, the IAS is one of the most successful moves in HKUST’s strategy of “punching above its weight and establishing itself through novelty” — with relatively limited investment, it has leveraged an international academic reputation far exceeding its scale. For a young university without a century of heritage, rather than futilely compete with older institutions on “historical depth,” it made more sense to establish itself as an “ideas sanctuary” open to the world’s top minds, thereby overtaking others in terms of “present-day academic stature.” Hawking’s inaugural lecture, the Nobel-laden Advisory Board, and the partnership with Princeton — these international symbols, when superposed, mean that when the world talks about HKUST, it cannot ignore a university that has only existed for a little over thirty years.

Note: The years, figures, and collaboration relationships mentioned in this article are based on what is recorded on the source pages; the IAS’s programmes, collaborations, and personnel composition are continuously updated. Please refer to the latest official IAS announcements before citing.

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Continued in Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 2) – 15 Research Institutes, InnoHK Centres, and Talent Honours^※: covering the remaining 15 interdisciplinary research institutes, InnoHK centres, joint laboratories with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), as well as fellowship honours, named professorships, research awards, and named research centres.

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