The other stuff
Mission statement
I am passionate about science popularisation and a keen public speaker. In particular, I am keen on initiating outreach projects targeted to secondary school students. I visited local schools regularly to give talks about my research and about innovative ideas on teaching and learning. Some of these talks have been shared on social media, on such topics as curiosity-driven learning, learning science in English as a second language and Science-Art teaching.
In 2021-2022, I initiated and coorganised, with Department of Chemistry and College of Science of CityU, a number of school competitions as outreach activities. The first one is the CityU Science Video Competition. The idea, inspired by the Richard Feynman quote "If you want to master something, teach it", is to ask secondary students to explain a scientific concept with a 5-min video. The second one is the CityU Science Patent Challenge, in which secondary school students will come up with new inventions and the winning teams will have their invention patented in Hong Kong. I will strive to continue my public engagement work at Huddersfield.
I am the founder and organiser of Leonardo Art and Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) Hong Kong. LASERs are an international programme of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together for informal presentations and conversation with an audience. A part of the Leonardo organisation, LASERs are being held in more than 30 cities around the world, and Hong Kong is the home of the first LASER in Asia. I am also a co-organiser of the Café Scientifique Hong Kong. Café Scientifique is an international programme currently held in more than 60 towns and cities world-wide. It is a place where anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology, outside a traditional academic context.
I have collaborated regularly with artists. I was a scientist-in-resident at SymbioticA, the centre of biological art in Perth, Australia in 2019. I worked with Mexican artist Maro Pebo on the artwork “Microbial Emancipation” (2020), and is the scientific advisor to a number of artworks, including “Magic Wands, Batons and DNA Splicers” by Wong Kit Yi (2018) and “CRISPR Seed Resurrection” by Ken Rindaldo (2021).