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On a mission to advance the frontiers of science and technology, the Faculty of Science of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has experienced and worked towards many thrilling developments over the past decade. Our research efforts are underpinned by state-of-the-art facilities including one State Key Laboratory, four University Research Facilities and several Research Institutes/Centres/laboratories in areas covering chemical and environmental analysis, carbon-strategic catalysis, life sciences, big data analytics, quantitative finance, materials characterization and device fabrication, nanoscience and nanotechnology, food and nutrition, Chinese medicine innovation and future food.

We have strived for internationally recognized innovations in different disciplines. The research projects that our four departments focusing on includes:

Department of Applied Biology & Chemical Technology

  • drug discovery and cancer, synthetic & medicinal chemistry, chemical biology & healthcare, materials & sustainable chemistry, and molecular design for functional materials

Department of Applied Mathematics

  • applied optimisation and operations research, applied statistics and financial mathematics, engineering and computational mathematics
Department of Applied Physics
  • green energy & carbon neutrality, machine learning & computation physics, nanomaterials & micro/nanoelectronics, photoncs plasmonics & optoelectronics, and quantum physics & devices
Department of Food Science & Nutrition
  • food safety and bacterial antimicrobial resistance under one health framework, microbiome in nutrition and human health, food sustainability, functional foods & Chinese medicine, nutrition and human health: the emergence of precision nutrition


The excellent results of Research Assessment Exercise 2020 showcased our collaborative efforts, demonstrating the strength and excellence of our “world-leading” research work.

Over the years, our faculty members have received international and national accolades including the TechConnect Global Innovation Awards (TechConnect World Conference and Expo), State Technological Invention Award (State Council), and Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Ministry of Education). A respectable number of our researchers were named in the list of Highly Cited Researchers and Top 2% Scientists by Clarivate and Stanford University, received individual awards such as RGC Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow Awards, China National Science and Technology Progress Award, Croucher Innovation Award and invited as Founding Member of The Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences. These distinguished honours are testimonies of our contributions to academia, industries and the community.

Our Faculty has been paying much effort in transferring research outcomes to applications. Collaboration with industry is encouraged and some startup companies are established by our academics and their graduates to commercialize their research works.

The research and consultancy work undertaken by our academics also underpin our teaching. In a vibrant learning and teaching environment, we offer MPhil, PhD and postdoctoral training and a comprehensive range of academic programmes at postgraduate and undergraduate levels. Our programmes are designed to groom young talents to become key players and even leaders in the science field in academia and industry.

The Faculty is proud to be awarded several Endowed Professorships in the past few years, in the disciplines of Applied Chemistry, Energy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. With the ardent support from industries and the community, we will endeavour to scale new heights in research and technology transfer.

For information about the research areas of the Faculty, please visit the Faculty’s website or contact Ms Ada Poon at ada.poon@polyu.edu.hk.

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