Engineering professors lead three newly inaugurated Jockey Club STEM Labs to advance pioneering research

2025-11-14
Media Release

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has received latest donation of HK$39.8 million from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (the Trust) to establish four Jockey Club (JC) STEM Labs. An inauguration ceremony for four new JC STEM Labs was held on 13 November 2025, with Professor Isabella Poon Wai-yin, CUHK’s Provost, and Ms Elsie Tsang, Executive Manager of Charities (Children & Youth in Families) for the Trust being the officiating guests.

Among the four new JC STEM Labs, three of them are led by professors from the Faculty of Engineering. JC STEM Lab of Advanced Wireless Networks for Mission-Critical Automation and Intelligence, led by Professor Lin Xiaojun from the Department of Information Engineering, is dedicated to advancing next-generation wireless technologies. The Lab focuses on developing low-latency and high-reliability wireless networks to meet the stringent demands of industrial automation and collaborative AI, enabling seamless and efficient connectivity for critical tasks.

JC STEM Lab of AI for Science and Engineering, led by Professor Ouyang Wanli from the Department of Information Engineering, is dedicated to driving AI breakthroughs in scientific research, enhancing research efficiency and helping to break new ground in scientific research. It will also focus on AI applications in the industrial sector and promote implementation of AI technologies.

JC STEM Lab of Integration of Machine Learning and Symbolic Reasoning, led by Professor Pan Jialin from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, is dedicated to advancing a new AI paradigm through the deep integration of data-driven machine learning models and knowledge-driven symbolic reasoning techniques.

In 2021, The Hong Kong Jockey Club approved a total donation of HK$500 million through its Charities Trust for the JC STEM Lab Initiative to support the establishment of laboratories for scholars under the Government-initiated Global STEM Professorship Scheme. The scheme aims to nurture STEM talent in Hong Kong, translate of new scientific research and technologies into social impact and expand Hong Kong’s innovation and technology talent pool over the long run.

Under this initiative, CUHK established five Trust-funded JC STEM Labs in 2023, of which two are led by professors from Faculty of Engineering. The four new labs take the total number of JC STEM Labs established by CUHK with Trust funding to nine. Among which, the total number of JC STEM Labs led by Faculty of Engineering’s professors has reached five.  

Officiating guests and JC STEM Lab Directors host a plaque unveiling ceremony

(From left) Professor Sung Wing-kin, Director of the JC STEM Lab of Computational Genomics; Professor Lin Xiaojun, Director of the JC STEM Lab of Advanced Wireless Networks for Mission-Critical Automation and Intelligence; Professor Allen Chan Kwan-chee, Associate Vice-President of CUHK; Professor Sham Mai-har, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK; Professor Isabella Poon Wai-yin, Provost of CUHK; Ms Elsie Tsang, Executive Manager of Charities (Children & Youth in Families) for the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust; Professor Anthony Chan Tak-cheung, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK; Professor Tsang Hon-ki, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of CUHK; Ms Agnes K.P. Tsang, Associate Vice-President of CUHK; Professor Ouyang Wanli, Director of the JC STEM Lab of AI for Science and Engineering; and Professor Pan Jialin, Director of the JC STEM Lab of Integration of Machine Learning and Symbolic Reasoning

Professor Lin Xiaojun and lab members

Professor Ouyang Wanli and lab members

Professor Pan Jialin and lab members