The 2025 Asian Young Scientist Fellowship (AYSF) Annual Conference, one of the highlights of the 2025 Future Science Prize Week, was held today (23 October) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Twelve outstanding young scientists from Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore were awarded the “2025 Asian Young Scientist Fellowship”. Today’s Annual Conference also featured Professor Randy SCHEKMAN, laureate of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, who shared his scientific journey and insights with the young scientists.

 

300 young scientists, researchers from various regions, and members of the public were invited to the Conference. The event aimed to foster interdisciplinary dialogue among emerging scientists and spark innovation through meaningful exchange and collaboration.

 

Professor Jay Steven SIEGEL, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), The University of Hong Kong, along with Professor Tim Kwang Ting CHENG, Chair of the 2025 Steering Committee of the Asian Young Scientist Fellowship, and Vice-President for Research and Development at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, delivered the opening remarks. Committee representatives, including Hee-Sup SHIN, Honorary Fellow, Institute for Basic Science (IBS); Professor Hongming WENG, Professor of Physics at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Professor Jong Hae KEUM, Professor at the School of Mathematics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study; and Professor Akihiro NAKAO, Professor at the Department of Systems Innovation, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, presented awards to the attending awardees of the 2025 Asian Young Scientist Fellowship across three major fields: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Mathematics and Computer Science.

 

The award ceremony was followed by a panel discussion to explore the theme "Building the Asian Scientific Research and Innovation Ecosystem." The session was moderated by Professor Stephanie MA, Vice President of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences and Associate Vice-President (Research and Innovation) at The University of Hong Kong. The distinguished panellists included Professor Randy SCHEKMAN; Professor Tim Kwang Ting CHENG; Professor Wanjin HONG, Chief Business Development Officer of the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) at A*STAR; Ambassador George HARA, Group Chairman and CEO of DEFTA Partners; and Jenny ZENG, Founding Donor of the Asian Young Scientist Fellowship and Founder and Managing Partner of MSA Capital.

 

This year, the twelve awardees of the "Asian Young Scientist Fellowship" were recognised for their remarkable achievements in a variety of research fields. Among them, Professor Danfeng LI, Associate Professor at City University of Hong Kong, was honoured for his discovery of the first nickelate superconductor, becoming the sole local scholar to receive the award. Professor Jun LIU, Assistant Professor at the School of Life Sciences, Peking University, was recognised for revealing the regulatory mechanisms by which RNA modifications modulate chromatin function – such as gene transcription and genome stability –and their critical roles in early embryonic development, stem cell fate determination, and cancer. Professor Wenya WANG, Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, was recognised for her contribution to the integration of symbolic logic and deep learning, with the aim to build more robust artificial intelligence models. Professor Seongjun PARK, Associate Professor at Seoul National University, Korea, was honoured for his pioneer work in developing generation biomedical and neural interfaces that connect living systems with non-living systems.

 

The Asian Young Scientist Fellowship (AYSF) Annual Conference aims to encourage and support promising and outstanding young researchers in Asia, supporting creative and transformative research, fostering cross-disciplinary innovation and international exchanges. Each of the 12 awardees will receive USD$100,000 in funding over two years.

 

The third day (24 October) of the 2025 Future Science Prize Week will feature the "Science Symposium I" event. More than 30 renowned scientists will participate, including Professor Arieh WARSHEL, the 2013 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, who will share insights on the past and future of computational biology. The 2025 Future Science Prize Week events are being live-streamed and can be watched on the official website (https://www.futureprize-hk.org) and on the social media platforms of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences.