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Two distinguished HKU scholars receive Croucher Senior Research Fellowships 2018

08 Dec 2017

 

This year, the University of Hong Kong again obtained the greatest share in the research awards by the Croucher Foundation. Two distinguished HKU scholars were among the three recipients of the Croucher Senior Research Fellowships for 2018-19. They are:

Dr Giulio Chiribella, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, HKU
Dr Giulio Chiribella is a leading expert of quantum information science and of the foundations of quantum mechanics. He investigates how the counterintuitive laws of the quantum world can be turned into working principles for future information technologies. With the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship he will explore a new paradigm of communication, in which multiple transmission lines are combined in a quantum superposition. Taking advantage of this new paradigm, future communication networks may be able to guarantee the transmission of data even in scenarios where no communication is currently possible. This research programme will explore a new interdisciplinary area at the interface between quantum mechanics, information theory, and space-time physics. (Please click here for Professor Dr Giulio Chiribella’s biography)

Dr Li Xuechen, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, HKU
The ever-increasing antimicrobial resistance has become a serious threat to human health globally. The urgent and public need for new antibacterial drugs grows in stark contrast to the slow drug discovery and development process. Dr Li Xuechen’s research team has been pioneering globally both in the new Ser/Thr ligation technology they developed and in chemical synthesis of antibiotics analogues for development of new generation antibiotics. The team developed the first chemical synthesis of an antibiotic drug – daptomycin in 2013, and completed the chemical synthesis of teixobactin in 2016, which enabled the search for the next generation daptomycin-based and teixobactin-based antibiotics, against “superbugs” including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). (Please click here for Professor Dr Li Xuechen’s biography)

About Croucher Senior Research Fellowships
The Croucher Senior Research Fellowships scheme was first introduced in 1997. It is awarded to local academics who have excelled in scientific research work as judged by leading international scientists invited to provide confidential reviews of candidates nominated in a competitive exercise. Funds are awarded to the universities of the fellowship recipients, enabling the university to recruit replacement teachers to take over the award winner’s duties for the period of the fellowship. This enables the awardees to devote more time and effort to research work.

The value of each award includes a HK$2 million research grant and the cost of a replacement teacher for a twelve-month period, currently stands at a maximum of HK$ $956,040 for the Senior Research Fellowships.

For the Croucher Foundation's press release: https://www.hku.hk/press/news_detail_17228.html

Media enquiries:
Melanie Wan, Communications and Public Affairs Office, HKU, Tel: (852) 2859 2600/  Email: melwkwan@hku.hk