Key Milestones
2004
A team of researchers, led by CityU’s Prof. Rudolf Wu, Chair Professor in the Department of Biology and Chemistry, was awarded HK$45 million under the UGC's Areas of Excellence Scheme, for the establishment of "The Centre for Marine Environmental Research and Innovative Technology", laid a solid foundation for the establishment of SKLMP.
2005
The Centre for Marine Environmental Research and Innovative Technology was officially opened.
2007
Prof. Rudolf Wu submitted a proposal to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology to form the partner State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution (SKLMP).
2010
Partner State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution (City University of Hong Kong) was established. Prof. Paul Lam took up the Directorship of P-SKLMP.
2012
The Research Centre for the Oceans and Human Health (H2O), a satellite division of SKLMP in mainland China, was established in Shenzhen with the approval of the Shenzhen Municipal Government.
2018
SKLMP was rated "Outstanding" in the re-assessment of the existing Partner State Key Laboratories organised by the Innovation and Technology Commission.
2018
The Ministry of Science and Technology approved the renaming of "State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (City University of Hong Kong)".
2020
SKLMP celebrated its 10th anniversary.
2021
SKLMP initiated a ten-year "Global EstuariesMonitoring (GEM)" Programme, which was endorsed by the United Nations (UN) as an “Ocean Decade Action Programme” under the "UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)” in June 2021. It was the only endorsed proposal from Hong Kong and one of the 66 endorsed programmes in the world during the first round of the call.
2022
On 27 July 2022, the Partnership Council of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA; http://pemsea.org/about-PEMSEA) officially endorsed SKLMP as a Regional Centre of Excellence (RCOE) in Marine Pollution. As a PEMSEA-RCOE, SKLMP automatically became a member of the PEMSEA Network of Learning Centres, and would regularly organize training opportunities for people in the region regarding pollution monitoring and assessment, underwater survey and ecological restoration technologies. It was a great honour for SKLMP to be conferred as a RCOE in the region.
2023
On 5 April 2023, the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (SKLMP) of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) received unanimous support from Member States at the 14th Intergovernmental Session of the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) (4-6 April 2023, Jakarta, Indonesia) to host the first UNESCO Regional Training and Research Centre on Coastal Contaminant Monitoring and Marine Innovative Technologies (the RTRC-Coastal COMMIT) for the Western Pacific region in Hong Kong. This is the third UNESCO Regional Training and Research Centre in China and the sixth in the Western Pacific region.
2024
On 3 January 2024, ICMPE-10 witnessed a remarkable turnout, with about 300 participants from over 20 different countries and received a total of 270 abstracts. ICMPE-10 has been a signature event in the international arena of marine pollution research with 30 years of history.
2025
On 25 August 2025, Prof. Kenneth Leung, Director of SKLMEH, on behalf of the laboratory, have received the new SKLMEH plaque from the Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. We are celebrating the successful restructuring of our laboratory from the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution to the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Health (SKLMEH).