Three distinguished PolyU scholars were awarded the prestigious Research Grants Council (RGC) fellowship for their outstanding research achievements.

Both Professor Hao Jianhua, Chair Professor of Materials Physics and Devices at the Department of Applied Physics, and Professor Zheng Zijian of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing were conferred the 2021/22 RGC Senior Research Fellowship; while Dr Peng Gang, Associate Professor at the Department of Chinese Bilingual Studies, was awarded the 2021/22 RGC Research Fellowship.

Speaking at the RGC’s presentation ceremony, Mr Kevin Yeung, Secretary for Education, said the awardees of both fellowships have conducted cutting-edge research projects offering “innovative solutions that bring substantial benefits to our society, as well as significant and positive changes to our lives.”

The selection panellists said that the awardees have “excellent research outputs, strong track records, remarkable leadership and global vision in their respective areas of research.” The fellows were also commended “on their mentoring success and well-formulated engagement plan to nurture the next generation of our research talents with their fellowships”.

Details of the PolyU awardees’ projects:

Prof. Hao Jianhua – Coupling Ferroelectrics and Piezoelectrics to Optoelectronics: From Fundamentals and Materials to Device Applications

• to couple ferroelectric and piezoelectric effects on the optical and optoelectronic process in broad classes of cutting-edge materials and devices, investigate physical properties in the material systems, and demonstrate device applications based on the coupling effects

Prof. Zheng Zijian – Permeable and Multi-functional Stretchable Electronics: Materials, Device, and 3D Monolithic System

• to develop a new type of high-performance wearable and breathable sensor system integrated with various sensitive, reliable and multiplexed sensors on the basis of highly breathable materials and structures

Dr Peng Gang – Cortical Dynamics of Cantonese Lexical Tone Processing

• to fill the research gap in neuroanatomical basis of lexical tones by investigating the cortical dynamics of Cantonese lexical tone processing from different perspectives with behavioral and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) measurements

According to the RGC, a grant of HKD 7.8 million will be awarded for each Senior Research Fellowship, while HKD 5.2 million will be granted for the Research Fellowship, both covering a period of five years.