Hong Kong universities urged to invest in research for curiosity’s sake, create culture where people feel able to take risks

Nancy Ip Yuk-yu, president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), on Tuesday said that scientists doing passion-driven research had to be supported.

“If we just focused on applied or mission-driven research, the source of innovation would dry up,” said Ip, a renowned neuroscientist, referring to studies that addressed specific or practical problems rather than those that looked at broader theoretical questions.

Ip and University of Hong Kong (HKU) vice-chancellor Xiang Zhang were taking part in a public panel discussion organised by the Hang Lung Mathematics Awards, a prestigious biennial competition for secondary school students who produce exceptional research reports on maths-related topics.

The pair, in a lecture titled “What is Good Research?”, discussed not only the need for Hong Kong to support both fundamental and applied research to be a knowledge-based society, but how considerations such as funding and peer reviews shaped the sector’s ability to flourish.

While local universities “have less of a short-term, factory feel” in terms of reviewing staff research output and quality, Zhang said, “money is one thing, and culture is another”.