Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences shares reflections on interdisciplinary innovative research at PAIR distinguished lecture

Prof. ZHENG Quanshui, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Founding Principal of X-Institute and Professor of Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, China, delivered the 31st PAIR Distinguished Lecture titled “Reflections and suggestions from 20 years’ interdisciplinary innovative research” on 21 November 2024 on the PolyU campus. The lecture attracted about 100 participants to join in person and captivated an online viewing audience of over 11,800 from different countries and regions to watch the live broadcast on multiple social media platforms, including Bilibili, WeChat, Weibo and YouTube.

The lecture commenced with a warm welcome and a brief introduction of the speaker by Prof. CHEN Qingyan, Director of PAIR. Prof. Zheng kickstarted his presentation by outlining the key driving forces of innovation and technologies. He shared that achieving success in the “from zero to one” and the subsequent “from one to N” innovation stages often come with the inevitable “valley of death” period, which spans over a decade. He then elaborated on how he and his team have spent 20 years of relentless effort overcoming the “valleys of death” in studying structural superlubricity, building a model for talent development, and entering into the next “one-to-N” development phase. Prof. Zheng also shared the key turning points in his academic and research journey and outlined how the X-Institute nurtures interdisciplinary research talents.

Following the presentation, Prof. Chen moderated a lively and insightful question-and-answer session. The audience engaged in a productive discussion with Prof. Zheng.

Please click here for online review.