Welcome to the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) at HKUST!
Formed in 2008 as the Interdisciplinary Programs Office (IPO), we have grown rapidly into an education center nurturing cross-disciplinary professionals, an incubator for new interdisciplinary programs, and an interdisciplinary research powerhouse. In July 2023, IPO was renamed as the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies to reflect our school-level scale, the evolved functions in interdisciplinary education and research, as well as the new role as a special academic zone to carry out missions with flexibility and agility.
AIS has made many new initiatives in interdisciplinary education, including offering the Individualized Interdisciplinary Programs at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels – the first of their kind in the Greater China area, that allow students the academic freedom to create their custom majors; launching the first Dual Degree Program in Technology & Management in Hong Kong which provides high-flying students an opportunity to gain two full degrees in five years; the first in Hong Kong to introduce a novel academic framework “Major + X” as a new degree option for undergraduates to excel in an extended major of an emerging hot topic such as Artificial Intelligence or Digital Media and Creative Arts.
Currently, AIS offers over 10 undergraduate programs and postgraduate programs which are all highly interdisciplinary and relevant to our modern world. Offered by our world-class AIS faculty members, these exciting programs have attracted talented students globally, with our 1291 undergraduates hailing from 24 countries and 802 postgraduates comprising 28 nationalities as of May 2024.
AIS provides a nurturing environment for faculty members from different backgrounds working together for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research. Our faculty members are clustered into five academically significant and socially impactful divisions, namely the Division of Environment and Sustainability, the Division of Public Policy, the Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, the Division of Integrative Systems & Design, and the newly established Division of Arts and Machine Creativity, with a wide range of research focus in air and health, climate adaptation and resilience (CARE), green finance and net zero solutions, science, technology, and innovation policy, environment policy, sustainability, social changes, robotics and AI, IoT for integrative systems, art management and machine creativity, and other emerging areas. One-third of our faculty members have joint appointments with other departments like Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Economy, Civil Engineering, and Social Science, to name a few.
In our rapidly evolving world, grand challenges faced by humans today require solutions beyond individual disciplines. AIS will explore new pedagogy to cultivate students’ competencies in fusing knowledge and know-how from different fields to drive positive changes in the world. New interdisciplinary research clusters will be established at AIS to tackle today’s challenging and multi-faceted issues. AIS also plays an important role in support of the strategic plan of HKUST, including HKUST (GZ).
As the Dean of AIS, I encourage you to join us in transcending traditional academic boundaries and broadening our reach through partnerships within the community, industry, academia in Hong Kong and beyond.
Sincerely,
Prof. Huamin QU
Dean, Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies
