Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 2): 15 Research Institutes, InnoHK Centres, and Talent Honours

This piece continues from Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 1): Three State Key Laboratories and the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study^※, mapping out HKUST’s 15 interdisciplinary research institutes, dedicated InnoHK government centres, joint laboratories with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the talent-recognition machinery — fellowship honours, named professorships, and major research prizes.

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# 1. Research Institutes (15 in total)

According to the Vice-President for Research and Development Office^※, as of the 2025/26 academic year, HKUST operates the following 15 research institutes:

The Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute (CKSRI) (see Robotics and AI^※) was named in 2021 after a HK$100 million donation from the Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation^※ in honour of the foundation’s Honorary Chairman, Dr. Henry Cheng Kar-shun. Several unicorns — including DJI — trace their origins to this institute (see HKUST’s Start-up and Unicorn Ecosystem (Part 2)^※). The Big Data Institute (BDI) was founded in February 2016, with strategic directions spanning smart cities, business intelligence, healthcare, and robotic design.

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# 2. InnoHK Research Centres (government-backed initiatives)

Under the Hong Kong SAR Government’s InnoHK scheme, HKUST leads or co-leads five research centres^※:

These five centres draw on partnership resources from Stanford, UC Berkeley, the National University of Singapore (NUS), ETH Zurich, and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, among others. (For the detailed landscape of the AI- and robotics-related centres, see Robotics and AI^※.)

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# 3. Joint Laboratories with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

The School of Engineering has established joint laboratories with multiple CAS institutes, supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Collaborative Research Fund^※:

Additionally, in 2025 HKUST signed a framework agreement^※ with the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, CAS (CSU.CAS) (中國科學院空間應用工程與技術中心) to jointly advance shared laboratories, talent development, equipment sharing, and space-engineering research.

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# 4. Research Centre Overview (selected highlights)

HKUST houses more than 40 thematic research centres^※ spanning an exceptionally broad range of fields. Below are representative centres from key domains:

• Display research: Center for Display Research
• Neuroscience: Daniel and Mayce Yu Molecular Neuroscience Center
• Artificial intelligence: Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAiRE); Center for Physical AI; Center for AI and Robotics for Space and Sustainable Autonomy
• Clean energy: Center for Decarbonisation Technology
• Environment and climate: Otto Poon Center for Climate Resilience and Sustainability
• Fintech: Center for Securities Analysis and Financial Technology
• Marine science: Ocean-dynamics-related centres (Nansha campus)
• Wireless communication: Center for Wireless Information Technology (CenWIT)

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# 5. Fellowship Honours: An Overview

# 5.1 Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Academicians (中國科學院院士)

In the 2011 election, three HKUST professors were simultaneously elected as CAS Academicians^※ — one of the most emblematic collective honours in the University’s history:

Nancy Ip (葉玉如) was also elected a CAS Academician — the specific year of election is recorded in her official HKUST profile^※.

# 5.2 U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) (美國國家科學院)

• Nancy Ip (葉玉如): Elected as a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences^※. This honour was conferred while she was Dean of Science at HKUST; she was one of 21 foreign associates elected in that cohort.
• Prof. Kam-Biu Luk (陸錦標): IAS Paul C W Chu Professor of Physics, Department of Physics. Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2026^※, in recognition of his role as a leading scientist of the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment.

# 5.3 American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) (美國藝術與科學院) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) (世界科學院)

Nancy Ip (葉玉如): Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences^※ while serving as Dean of Science at HKUST. According to her official HKUST profile, she is also a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences^※.

# 5.4 Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (HKAES / HKAE) (香港工程科學院)

Several School of Engineering professors have been elected Fellows of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences^※, including Prof. Qian Zhang (張清) (Chair Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering), Prof. Khaled B. Letaief (雷啟瑞) (Chair Professor, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, an internationally recognised authority in wireless communications), and Prof. Limin Zhang (張立民) (Head and Chair Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, elected an HKAE Fellow in January 2025^※).

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# 6. Named Professorships

HKUST uses its Named Professorship scheme^※ to attract and retain leading scholars. Representative chairs include:

In November 2013, three named professorships were launched during the IAS Naming Ceremony^※ (for the history of the IAS, see Key Laboratories and Research Institutes (Part 1)^※). Since then, the IAS has conferred named professorships on senior visiting scholars on multiple occasions, at one point awarding the title to ten senior fellows and visiting professors in a single batch^※. According to the HKUST research website^※, 21% of HKUST faculty were listed in Stanford University’s 2025 global top 2% of scientists^※.

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# 7. Major Research Prizes (selected)

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# 8. Named Research Centres (selected)

Several HKUST research centres bear the names of benefactors, illustrating the deep integration of academic resources and philanthropic giving:

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# 9. Coda: Three Institutional Layers Underpinning HKUST’s Research Reputation

Reading Part 1 and Part 2 together reveals a three-layer architecture behind the University’s research standing. State Key Laboratories provide national-level certification and a conduit to national research resources. The IAS + 15 research institutes + InnoHK centres + CAS joint laboratories form an interdisciplinary matrix. And fellowship honours + named professorships + major research prizes constitute the incentive structure that draws and retains top-tier talent. Stacked on top of one another, these three layers have enabled a university barely three decades old to gain a firm foothold on the international academic map.

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