HKU Professor Zheng Xiao GUO elected Member of Academia Europaea

Professor Zheng Xiao GUO, Associate Dean for China & Global of Faculty of Science and Professor of Departments of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), was elected as the Foreign Member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe) under the Chemical Sciences Section for his distinguished achievements in the discipline in 2020. Professor Guo will be inducted into the Academy along with 361 new members at the next Introduction Ceremony to be held in 2021.

“I am deeply honoured to be recognised by the membership of this distinguished Academy. I owe much of the recognition to the concerted efforts from my research students, associates and collaborators, who have kindly shared their valuable time, thoughts and thoughtfulness in our academic pursuance, from Materials Engineering to Chemistry,” said Professor Guo, who is delighted to receive the award.

The role of Materials Chemistry is becoming increasingly important in societal advancement. Whether it is for efficient solar energy harvesting to electricity and fuels, production of safe and powerful batteries, biosensing for health monitoring or detection of pathogens, or smartening-up of interconnectedness of things, tremendous effort has to be made to understand and tune the molecular interactions and stimulant responses of materials from electronic dynamics, atomic environment, crystallinity, intrinsic defects and interfaces cross multiple spatial, temporal and frequency scales. “This is not a trivial challenge! We need to integrate the state-of-the-art methodologies in theory, simulations, deep-learning and experiment, and more importantly, the efforts of many excellent minds. I hope to play a small part in this endeavour through this great academic fellowship, adding value to the leading science base at HKU and linking more closely with colleagues across Europe and beyond!” Professor Guo envisioned.

Dean of Science Professor Matthew Evans is exceptionally pleased with Professor Guo’s accomplishments. “I am delighted to see the recognition being given to Professor Guo by his election to the Academia Europaea – the Europe-wide academy covering the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Professor Guo’s research makes important contributions in both fundamental and applied materials chemistry,” remarked Professor Evans. “This recognition is extremely well deserved and I congratulate Professor Guo on his achievement.” He added.

Professor Guo obtained both his MSc (Res.) and PhD from the University of Manchester, UK. He is the Executive Director of Zhejiang Institute of Research and Innovation at HKU, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and an Honorary Professor at University College London. His research is strategically targeted at critical fundamental materials structural issues and synthesis processes that underpin mechanistic understanding and technological advancement, particularly in clean energy storage, conversion and harvesting, involving low-dimensional, high-surface area and/or porous structures. He has contributed 300 journal publications and attended more than 300 conference presentations, and has supervised 23 postdoctoral fellows and 52 PhD students. His contribution to Material Chemistry has been recognised internationally throughout the years. He received Lee-Hsun Lecture Award from the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2002 and was awarded the Sir Beilby Medal & Prize, jointly presented by the Royal Society of Chemistry, Society of Chemical Industry and the IoM3, UK. He has been a partner in research consortia valued over £100m. His CV can be viewed at: https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Guo_Zheng-Xiao

The Academia Europaea was founded in 1988 as an international, non-governmental association of individual scientists and scholars from all disciplines, who are experts and leaders of international distinction in their own subject areas as recognised by their peers, irrespective of nationality, gender, location or discipline. The primary criterion for membership is “sustained academic excellence in the candidate’s field”. Membership of Academia Europaea is by invitation after peer group nomination, rigorous review and assessment based on the scholarship and eminence of the individual in his/her chosen field, and recommendation to the Council of the Academia for formal election.

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