The Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) hosted the Lightning Talk cum Best Research Award 2025/26 presentation ceremony on May 7, 2026 to celebrate outstanding research achievements and foster academic exchange.
 

The event began with the presentation of the AIS Best Research Award 2025/26 by AIS Dean Prof. QU Huamin.  Among the nominees, Dr. Ian VARELA SOARES (PhD in Public Policy, Class of 2025) and Ms. WANG Xiaoqing (PhD in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Year 3) received the First Prize and Merit Prize respectively, for the Clear Water Bay Campus category. Mr. LUO Yihong (PhD in Individualized Interdisciplinary Program (Data Science and Analytics), Year 5) and Dr. HE Yingqing (PhD in Individualized Interdisciplinary Program (Robotics and Autonomous Systems), Class of 2025 were awarded the First Prize and Merit Prize respectively, for the Guangzhou Campus Pilot Scheme category.

Following the award presentation, the event continued with a series of engaging presentations. Award recipients, faculty members, and students shared insights from their research and participated in lively discussions, creating a dynamic platform for interdisciplinary dialogue and knowledge exchange.

List of presentations:

1. Guangzhou Pilot Scheme: Mr. LUO Yihong (PhD in Individualized Interdisciplinary Program (Data Science and Analytics), Year 5) – “Diffusion Post-training for Efficient and Powerful Generation”
2. Guangzhou Pilot Scheme: Dr. HE Yingqing (PhD in Individualized Interdisciplinary Program (Robotics and Autonomous Systems), Class of 2025) – “From Video and Multimodal Generative AI to World Models”
3. Division of Integrative Systems and Design (ISD): Mr. Tony CHUI Pak-Ho (PhD in Integrative Systems and Design, Year 2) – “Industrial Design: AI‑Powered Human‑Centric Robot”
4. Division of Public Policy (PPOL): Ms. Meline YESAYAN (PhD in Public Policy, Year 2) – “The Dual Climate Role of AI in Policy: Evaluating Coherence and Explaining Variation Through Advocacy Coalition Framework”
5. Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas (EMIA): Mr. PANG Haokai (PhD in Individualized Interdisciplinary Program, Year 1) – “Streaming Video Understanding for Vision-Language Models”
6. Division of Environment and Sustainability (ENVR): Ms. Sharon Feliza Ann MACAGBA (PhD in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Year 3) – “The impacts of extreme urban heat on the mental well-being of informal settlement communities in Southeast Asian cities”
7. Dr. Sean GUO (Post-doctoral Fellow at HKUST) – “Culturally and Individually Tailoring Misinformation Interventions”