Four PolyU young researchers receive China's Excellent Young Scientists Fund 2020

Four young researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have been awarded funding from China's Excellent Young Scientists Fund 2020. Each researcher will receive RMB1.2 million to conduct pioneering research in Hong Kong over a period of three years.

Under the National Natural Science Foundation of China, China’s Excellent Young Scientists Fund has been extended to young scientists in Hong Kong and Macau for applications from eight designated universities since 2019. It aims to support young scientists (under 38 for male and under 40 for female) who have attained outstanding achievements in fundamental research to pursue innovative research in areas of their choice, fostering them to be internationally leading scholars in their respective fields.

List of the funded projects is as follows.

Researcher	Department	Research title	Research summary
Dr Xiaolin ZHU, Assistant Professor	Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics	Remote Sensing: Time Series Image Processing	Dr Zhu has developed a series of advanced technologies for processing satellite images, which improve the ability and accuracy of time-series remote sensing for monitoring land surface changes. This project will further develop the framework and model for multi-dimensional data fusion, a technology needed for integrating data from multiple satellites in the near future.
Dr AN Liang, Associate Professor	Department of Mechanical Engineering	Flow and Heat/Mass Transfer in Electrochemical Energy Systems	Dr An has systematically studied the characteristics of flow and mass transport in a complex microporous structure in which electrochemical reactions occur, and achieved a number of innovative results. The primary objective of this project is to investigate key issues related to flow and heat/mass transfer in electrochemical energy systems at different scales.
Dr ZHOU Chao, Assistant Professor	Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering	Unsaturated Soils and Problematic Soils	This project aims to improve the fundamental understanding and modelling capability of unsaturated loess behaviour under cyclic thermo-hydro-mechanical loads. The success of this project will help engineers to improve the design of pavement and railway embankment in the loess region.
Dr YANG Lei Ray, Assistant Professor	Department of Computing	Battery-free Internet of Things	This project proposes an efficient and large-scale battery-free Internet of things (IoT), which aims to harvest energy from ambient electromagnetic waves for wireless communication and sensing. This project works towards the key theory and technologies of the new generation IoT, facilitates the coexistence and the fusion of multi-protocols, multi-target and multi-networks, and finally promotes its application in industry.

It is encouraging to see that more young scientists from PolyU are supported by the Nation to further develop their research. China’s Excellent Young Scientists Fund not only reflects the Nation’s substantial support to Hong Kong’s scientific research, but also encourages local young scientists to pursue excellence in basic research and research in cutting-edge technologies.

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