About The Hong Kong
Laureate Forum
The Hong Kong Laureate Forum aspires to be a world-class academic exchange event to connect the current and next generations of leaders in scientific pursuit, and to promote understanding and interests of the young generation in Hong Kong and around the world in various disciplines in science and technology. > Learn more

Inaugural Forum
The inaugural Hong Kong Laureate Forum will take place in 13-18 November 2023. Shaw Laureates and distinguished scientists will spend a week in Hong Kong interacting with about 200 young scientists from around the world, sharing their views, experience and aspirations in various scientific fields. The week of programme will consist of world-class intellectual seminars, discussion groups, workshops, poster sessions and visits to the latest Hong Kong scientific development projects, universities and institutes as well as cross-cultural social activities.
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Science in the Community

Cluster-Based Aircraft Fuel Estimation Model for Effective and Efficient Fuel Budgeting on New Routes
Abstract: Fuel burn accounts for up to 25% of an aircraft's total operating cost and has become one of the most important decision factors in the airline industry. Hence, prudent fuel estimation is essential for airlines to ensure smooth operation in the upcoming financial year. Challenges arise when airlines need to estimate the total fuel consumption of new sectors where data are not available. This necessitates the derivation of a robust parametric model that can represent the characteristics of the new route even in the absence of relevant data. To address this issue, we propose a two-step approach to derive a model that can accurately estimate the aircraft fuel needed. The developed approach involves both unsupervised learning and a regression model. For the unsupervised learning step, hierarchical density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (HDBSCAN) is used to cluster the principal component analysis (PCA)-reduced data. This step can automatically separate flight sectors based on their underlying characteristics, as revealed by their principal components, upon filtering the noise in the data. Afterward, multivariate linear regression (MLR) is used to derive the equations for each cluster. The PCA-based clustered model is shown to be superior to using a global model for a single aircraft type. This approach yields fuel estimation with less than 5% root mean square error for existing routes within each cluster. More importantly, the proposed method can accurately estimate the total fuel of a new route with less than 2% aggregate error, thereby addressing one of the current limitations in the airline fuel estimation study...

Dog's Nose in Your Everyday Devices: Next Generation Gas Sensors Enabled by Porous Materials Chemistry
A dog's nose is regarded as one of the most powerful sensors that exist. Trained canines are even able to detect various clinical conditions, such as spikes in blood sugar and cholesterol levels, by sniffing the affected person. For routine clinical examinations, we would need a more practical and cost-effective way to "sniff". For my PhD project, my research was centered on developing a new method of integrating a 'dog's nose'-like system in our everyday device, using a material called metal-organic frameworks...

From Influenza to COVID-19: Is annual SARS-CoV-2 vaccination necessary?
After three years of living with masks and travel restrictions, most COVID-related restriction policies were lifted in March, 2023. While the mood of citizens in Hong Kong is boosted, there are rising number of COVID and influenza cases. Scientists round the globe have been surveilling the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and there are reports of constant mutation of the virus, together with report of declining antibody level in the blood, one question, thus, was raised: Should we get annual SARS-CoV-2 vaccine booster...