Issue 1

Areas of Excellence Scheme (AoE) 2020/21

The University Grants Committee (UGC) announced the funding results of the Areas of Excellence Scheme (AoE) 2020/21 recently. AoE aims to provide support to the UGC-funded universities to build upon their existing strengths and develop them into areas of excellence. In this round of exercise, the RGC received a total of 20 eligible preliminary proposals. 7 proposals were shortlisted for submission of full proposals and 6 proposals were selected for interview. Finally, the RGC supported 4 proposals including the project “Meta-optics, Meta-acoustics and Meta-devices” which was led by Prof. Din-Ping Tsai. About HK$65 million funding will be granted to the research team to develop novel meta-materials and meta-devices that can control and manipulate electromagnetic and acoustic waves for improving the quality of human daily life. Metamaterials and meta-devices take advantages of the localized and non-localized resonances of artificial structures in which the response of the electrons, phonons, plasmons, and excitons are strongly modified to give novel properties and functionalities which are not found in nature. The project will cover the design, numerical simulation, advanced manufacturing, characterizations and measurements of these materials for various applications including environment, biomedical, imaging and sensing, and information security. It is expected that this AoE project will generate a new platform for knowledge-based intelligent artificial materials and devices which are low energy consumption and compatible with advanced manufacture 4.0 in micro- and nano-electronics industrial techniques for wearable or portable innovation.