CUHK
News Centre

Eight students from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), who excel in academic performance and possess a passion for innovation and technology, have been awarded the Innovation and Technology Scholarship 2022, one of the most prestigious academic awards in Hong Kong, offering outstanding undergraduate student opportunities to widen their international exposure via difference opportunities, thereby developing future leaders in innovation and technology.

The Scholarship offers 25 local undergraduates each in science, engineering and health a scholarship worth up to $150,000, allowing them to participate in exchange and attachment programmes overseas or in mainland China’s top universities, as well as mentorship, a service project and an optional local internship programme.

Michelle Sze-To, a Year 2 Bachelor of Public Health student, is passionate about discovering possibilities in preventive medicine for rare genetic disorders, raising awareness and generating change for people living with rare diseases. She plans to attend the International Statistical Genetics Workshop to be held by the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado next summer, to learn about essential knowledge and skills for genetic epidemiology research. She believes this opportunity will prepare her for future research work, such as identifying genetic and environmental etiological factors contributing to genetic diseases.

Michelle said, “I am a member of the CUHK Rare Disease Service Team and had the opportunity to interview and write stories about rare disease patients and their families. It is the compassionate feeling towards them that motivated me to study rare diseases and genetics. The scholarship will be a crucial first step for me to realise my aspiration, and I hope I can contribute my passion and knowledge to tackling rare genetic disorders, and enhance health equity in society.”

Man Hei Siu, a Year 3 Biomedical Engineering student and an Asia Pacific Generation Connect Youth Envoy for the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has immersed herself in promoting STEM, digital transformation, digital inclusion, and policy for young people. She has joined an attachment programme as a youth delegate at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) Youth Summit in Rwanda, and will be joining the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) as a research student.  

“The attachment programmes would motivate my aspirations in combining digital transformation, innovation, and sustainability to provide health-related solutions, alongside contributing to policies surrounding STEM and ICTs, such that scientific, technological and policy developments are for social good, and are pushed to their full potential in promoting novel, equitable, affordable and universal healthcare, especially for marginalised communities. I will continue advocating these issues to young people, so we could together pave the way to a sustainable future.”

Other CUHK awardees include students studying physics, earth system science and medicine. They will be joining a gravitational wave research group as well as courses and exchange programmes to learn about the latest environmental sciences and biomedical technologies.

About the Innovation and Technology Scholarship

The Innovation and Technology Scholarship, organised by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups with the joint sponsorship and support of the Innovation and Technology Commission and HSBC, aims to give due recognition to outstanding undergraduates in science-, engineering- and medicine-related fields. All 25 awardees each year are nominated by their university and then selected by an Awardee Selection Committee with members from different sectors.