Professor Jin Di of the Department of Material Science and Engineering at CityUHK honoured at Croucher Tak Wah Mak Innovation Awards 2026
Professor Jin Di, Assistant Professor in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), has been honoured at the “Croucher Tak Wah Mak Innovation Awards 2026” in recognition of her outstanding achievements in scientific research. The award includes HK$5 million in research funding over the next five years.
The Croucher Tak Wah Mak Innovation Awards are one of the Croucher Foundation’s most prestigious awards, aiming to nurture emerging local researchers and support the development of education and scientific research in Hong Kong. Winners must be newly appointed or recently hired scholars holding full-time faculty positions at Hong Kong universities and demonstrate outstanding international competitiveness in their research fields.
Professor Jin’s research focuses on the natural lubrication systems of human joints to develop new materials and treatment for osteoarthritis. The fatty molecules (lipids) on healthy joint surfaces protect cartilage from wear, and there is evidence that certain mixtures of lipids perform far better than individual lipids alone, suggesting that nature uses finely tuned combinations rather than simple redundancy.
Combining molecular simulations, machine learning and experimental approaches, Professor Jin seeks to unveil the highly effective lubricating lipid combinations and apply them to the design of bioinspired materials. Her research promises new possibilities for treating osteoarthritis and developing more effective biomedical lubricants.
Professor Jin said, “With an ageing population, diseases like osteoarthritis affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but current treatments are limited. I’m deeply encouraged by this award, as it validates the timeliness and importance of my research direction. We will combine advanced computational tools with precision experiments to expedite the design of relevant materials and lay the foundation for a new generation of bio-inspired treatments for joint diseases.”
Professor Jin joined CityUHK in 2025 as a Presidential Assistant Professor. Prior to joining CityUHK, Professor Jin earned a Bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a Master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in Physics from Cambridge University. She then worked as a research associate at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where her research focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying cartilage lubrication.