HKBU welcomes outstanding scholars under RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme
Four young students have joined HKBU under the Research Grants Council (RGC) Junior Research Fellow Scheme.
- Dr Jack Edward Adler-McKean, Academy of Music, School of Creative Arts. (Supervisor/Nominator: Professor Eugene Alexander Birman)
Embracing a multifaceted career as a soloist, improviser, and orchestral musician, Dr Adler-McKean is a performer-researcher dedicated to championing the tuba family through international collaborations with elite ensembles, composers, and academic institutions. After completing his Ph.D. studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, Dr Adler-McKean undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at Lund University. Supported by the Scheme, he will run his project, “Performance, timbre, and materiality: critical interdisciplinary perspectives on brass instrument studies,” under the mentorship of Professor Birman.
- Dr Luo Ziyuan, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology. (Supervisor/Nominator: Professor Wan Renjie)
Selected for the Scheme, Dr Luo has returned to his Ph.D. alma mater as a Postdoctoral Researcher under the supervision of Professor Wan to lead his project, “Safety-Aware Vision-Language-Action Models: Integrating Multi-Modal Risk Assessment for Robust Embodied AI Systems”. Dr Luo focuses on image/3D watermarking, LLM/RAG safety, and inverse scattering problems. He has been a Research Intern at the NVIDIA AI Technology Center since 2022.
- Dr Tang Jia, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology. (Supervisor/Nominator: Professor Liao Pan)
Building on her Ph.D. research into fungal natural products, Dr Tang now investigates the biosynthesis of bioactive monoterpenes. By employing integrated genomics, transcriptomics, and biochemical approaches, her work bridges fungal and plant metabolism to advance the sustainable production of high-value compounds for the food, health, and biotechnology sectors. Mentored by Professor Liao, Dr Tang will carry out her project “Deciphering the biosynthetic pathways of naturally-occurring perillene in Phallus impudicus and Perilla frutescens”.
- Dr Tang Yiling, Academy of Wellness and Human Development, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. (Supervisor/Nominator: Professor Wendy Huang)
Dr Tang specialises in physical activity, behaviour change, physical literacy, mental health, and mHealth. Under the supervision of Professor Huang, she will develop her project “An integrated intervention targeting physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep in school-aged children in Hong Kong: Development and evaluation in a pilot randomized controlled trial”. Since 2021, Dr Tang has collaborated with international researchers, and contributed to papers published in journals such as Digital Health, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, and International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
In this funding cycle, each will receive a total stipend of HK$850,000 over two years to support their proposed project.
Designed to nurture and expand Hong Kong's talent pool, the RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme provides promising local and non-local postdoctoral researchers at UGC-funded universities with crucial support at pivotal moments in their early careers, thereby moving the city's research and development forward.
