About the Hong Kong Laureate Forum

Welcome to the June 2025 issue of the newsletter of the Hong Kong Laureate Forum!

The 2nd Hong Kong Laureate Forum (“Forum 2025”) will take place from 5 to 8 November 2025, marking another milestone in fostering global scientific dialogue. Following the conclusion of our global recruitment, we are delighted to announce an exceptional response: over 420 applications were received from 40 countries and regions spanning all seven continents. The selection of participating young scientists is underway and a rigorous two-tier review process is overseen by our esteemed Scientific Review Panel, which comprises distinguished experts from both local and international institutions (click here to view the list of members of the Scientific Review Panel). During the first phase, the Scientific Review Committee representing the fields of Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences will evaluate each application through independent assessments by a minimum of two committee members. The second phase will involve the Scientific Review Board, which will decide the final 200 young scientists who will be invited to participate in Forum 2025. Successful applicants will receive notifications via email by the end of July 2025.

This year's Forum will be graced by the participation of 12 renowned Shaw Laureates, who will connect with the selected young scientists in a series of cross-generational and interdisciplinary exchanges, further enriching the scientific field (click here to view the participating Shaw Laureates). A press conference in mid-September will unveil further details. We invite you to stay updated on further announcements by visiting our website and social media channels.

We are also celebrating the fourth anniversary of “Exploring New Horizons”, one of our flagship initiatives, dedicated to inspiring the next generation of scientific minds. From January to March 2025, “Exploring New Horizons 2025” successfully brought together nearly 400 participants from 21 secondary schools across Hong Kong for an immersive journey into the world of cutting-edge research. Through 17 laboratory and enterprise visits, with interactive sharing sessions, students had the rare opportunity to engage directly with leading scientists and research teams, gaining exposure and insights to their groundbreaking work, laboratory procedures, and the challenges in real-world research. For anyone interested in reliving the event highlights, we invite you to visit our photo gallery, video gallery and YouTube channel.

We extend our deepest gratitude to all the students and teachers for their enthusiastic participation, and to the local scientists / research teams / enterprises for their support, including:

• Prof Chan Chi Hou and his research team from State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves of City University of Hong Kong
• Prof Tom Cheung and his research team from the Division of Life Science of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Prof Chu Ming Chung and his research team from the Department of Physics of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Prof Patrick Tang and his research team from the Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Prof Carmen Wong and her research team from the Department of Pathology of The University of Hong Kong
• Prof Savio Wong and his research team from the Laboratory for Brain and Education of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Research team from Centre for Chinese Herbal Medicine Drug Development Limited
• Research team from Centre for Eye and Vision Research
• Research team from Centre for Immunology and Infection
• Research team from Koln 3D Technology (Medical) Limited
• Research team from Open Lab of the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel
• Research team from the Department of Mathematics and the Mathematics Computer Lab of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Research team from Pasteur Research Pole of The University of Hong Kong

Looking ahead, while we are actively preparing for the upcoming Forum, we continue to foster strategic partnerships across organisations to advance scientific landscape in Hong Kong and beyond.