In this seminar I will concentrate on describing The Laboratory for Space Research (LSR). The LSR is a multi-disciplinary research entity mainly based in the HKU Faculty of science but also with members from the Faculty of Engineering. We focus on space-based earth remote sensing; atmospheric science, near Earth environment, planetary and associated geological sciences, high-energy astrophysics from satellite-based telescopes and late stage stellar evolution, where our group is ranked 8th globally (SciVal). We are currently adding important, additional research capacity to these LSR activities as we emerges as a real interdisciplinary force at HKU. We have strong international and mainland collaborations established off the back of strong research outputs, with co- leveraged funding with key international partners including jointly funded postdoctoral fellows with Peking/KAVLI, Nanjing and Zhejiang universities in the mainland.
We have now established a sister laboratory at HKU-ZIRI that will concentrate on space-based satellite missions in partnership with the Zhejiang University microsatellite research group. Stronger involvement with computing science, big-data (via the FoS big-data research cluster) and the Faculty of Engineering is promised. This is germane given our planned satellite ground station and mission plans for the LSR both at HKU and in HKU-ZIRI.
Our strategic directions are clear. Success will depend on grasping opportunities in HK, Mainland China and elsewhere and having sufficient research capacity to make the most of these opportunities when they arise. So we are aggressively growing capacity. We are actively seeking (and finding) key, high-level partners to facilitate LSR capacity building, including via MoU’s, shared funding and new agreements with elite Mainland universities including Nanjing, Peking and Zhejiang and with our partner companies such as BISME. The greatest discoveries will likely be at the boundaries of disciplines and carried out by our highly capable LSR faculty, PDFs, RAPs and RPG students. This is a model that will be replicated at HKU-ZIRI LSR.
