Research Degree Programmes

The College of Science (CSCI) comprises four academic units: Biostatistics; Chemistry; Mathematics; and Physics, providing quality education programmes with an emphasis on interdisciplinary studies.

The College has a strong international reputation in research. In Chemistry, it was ranked 1st in Hong Kong and 53rd worldwide by the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities by National Taiwan University Ranking (NTU Ranking) (2022); top in Hong Kong and within the top 75 internationally by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) (2022). In Mathematics, it was ranked 1st in Hong Kong and 71st worldwide by the NTU Ranking (2022), and also within the top 100 internationally by the QS World University Rankings (2022). In Physics, it was ranked 1st in Hong Kong and 15th worldwide by the US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings (by subject: Condensed Matter Physics; 2023); and 1st in Hong Kong and 54th worldwide by the NTU Ranking (2022).

In addition, the excellence in research as accomplished by the College can be highlighted by the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (City University of Hong Kong), the Center for Neutron Scattering, and the Liu Bie Ju Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

Our Research Areas

Research focus/expertise in the Department include:

  1. Computational Statistics: Bayesian hierarchical models, empirical Bayes, large-scale data analysis, Markov chain Monte Carlo, statistical machine Learning;
  2. Functional Data Analysis: Bayesian inverse problems in physical oceanography, trajectory analysis in life course epidemiology;
  3. Inferential Statistics: efficient estimation for semiparametric models, empirical likelihood, knockoff statistics, model selection, non-standard asymptotic theory, post-selection inference;
  4. Statistical Genetics Genomics Omics: analysis of whole-genome sequencing data, integrative analysis of multi-omics data;
  5. Survival and Event History Analysis: competing risks models for HIV/AIDS data, counting process and martingale methods, network survival model;
  6. Time Series Analysis: inference for stochastic processes, risk management, statistical finance.

Research Degree Coordinator
Prof. Jinfeng Xu
Phone: 3442-4183
Email: jinfenxu@cityu.edu.hk

The Department is very unique in a multidisciplinary nature by integrating Chemistry, Biology, and Environmental Science. Research focus/ expertise include:

  1. Synthetic Chemistry: green chemistry; spectroscopy and catalysis; catalyst design and synthesis; organic electroluminescent devices; inorganic photo-responsive and luminescent chemosensors; organometallic chemistry; homogeneous catalysis;
  2. Materials Chemistry: green materials / manufacturing; organic and inorganic functional materials; nanoscience and nanotechnology; organic light-emitting devices; crystal phase control; solar cells;
  3. Biological Chemistry: chemical biology; bioinorganic chemistry; bioorganic chemistry; developmental and cell biology; nano-biotechnology and biosensing; DNA and RNA chemistry; genomics and biotechnology; proteomics and metabolomics;
  4. Computational Chemistry: energetics and reactivities of chemical species; mechanisms of chemical reactions;
  5. Environmental Chemistry: freshwater and marine pollution; aquatic ecology and conservation; renewable energy, energy storage and management, energy efficiency and conservation; ecotoxicology; environmental monitoring; environmental impact and risk assessment.

Research Degree Coordinator
Prof. Guangyu Zhu
Phone: 3442-6857
Email: guangzhu@cityu.edu.hk

Research strengths/disciplines of the Department include:

  1. Applied Analysis: approximation theory, asymptotic analysis, harmonic analysis, inverse problems, kinetic theory, learning theory, partial differential equations, random matrix theory, and special functions;
  2. Computational Mathematics: complexity theory, computational electromagnetics, image processing, numerical analysis, numerical linear algebra, and scientific computing;
  3. Mathematical Modelling: control and system theory, fluid mechanics, general relativity, granular materials, mathematical biology, mathematical elasticity, mathematical finance, mathematical modelling of waves, and mathematics of new materials;
  4. Probability and Statistics: Bayesian statistics, high dimensional data analysis, mean field games, probability theory, statistical learning theory, stochastic analysis, stochastic controls, and stochastic processes.

Research Degree Coordinator
Prof. Shun Zhang
Phone: 3442-9931
Email: shun.zhang@cityu.edu.hk

Research focus/expertise in the Department include:

  1. Theoretical and Computational Physics: condensed matter theory, computational solid state physics, computational electrodynamics, computational chemistry, computational biology physics, quantum computation and information, quantum simulation with cold atoms, machine learning;
  2. Spectroscopy and Imaging: sophisticated experiments involving quantum beams such as synchrotron x-ray, neutron, electron, coherent light, and NMR, the structure and phase transition in glass and liquids, Boson peak and the dynamics of glass and liquids, quantum interactions such as spin-orbital coupling in multiferroics, single molecule electronics;
  3. Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics: mechanism of noise and decoherence, open quantum system and quantum entanglement, multi-photon interference, non-equilibrium physics in AMO system, nonlinear optical spectroscopy, opto-mechanics, photonic crystals and metamaterials;
  4. Quantum Materials: topological quantum computing and Majorana fermions, Dirac and Weyl semimetals, Bose-Einstein condensation and spin-orbit coupling, quantum Hall Effect, transport phenomena, superconductivity, frustrated magnetism, 2D materials, heterostructures and interfaces;
  5. Soft Matter and Biophysics: dynamics of protein and subcellular processes, emergent phenomena in live cells, non-equilibrium mechanisms in active living matter, biological networks, biological and clinical experiments, novel physics-based data acquisition protocol, instrumentation in biomedical imaging, radiation biophysics, ion-track technology.

Research Degree Coordinator
Prof. Shubo Wang
Phone: 3442-9143
Email: shubwang@cityu.edu.hk

Entrance Requirements

Application Procedures

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