Prof. Jiang Liwen, professor of CUHK's Department of Biology and director of the Centre for Cell and Development Biology, was awarded the Senior Research Fellowship of The Croucher Foundation on 24 March, in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements in the international scientific community.
The Croucher Senior Research Fellowships scheme was founded in 1997 to recognize research excellence and provide incentive for scholars who excel in scientific research. The value of each fellowship is about US$100,000 and it is used to sponsor the awardee's institution in recruiting a replacement for the awardee for a year. Fellows will be relieved from teaching tasks so they can devote fully their time and effort to research. Each awardee will also receive a grant of HK$60,000 to help cover research expenses.
Prof. Jiang is pleased to receive the award. 'I am very proud of the students and researchers from my laboratory. They have made great contributions towards our research over the past years. I am grateful for the continuous support from the Department of Biology, the Faculty of Science and CUHK.'
Prof. Jiang joined the Department of Biology at CUHK as an assistant professor in 2000. He was promoted to associate professor and professor in 2004 and 2007 respectively. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of protein trafficking and organelle biogenesis in the plant secretory and endocytic pathways, as well as their potential applications in plant biotechnology.
Prof. Jiang received awards from CUHK for his outstanding teaching and research achievements, including the Science Faculty Exemplary Teaching Award 2008 and the Research Excellence Award 2006–07. Over the past eight years, he has received competitive research grants totalling more than HK$20 million from, among others, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the National High-technology Research and Development (863) Programme.
A total of 18 scholars from CUHK have been awarded the Croucher Senior Research Fellowships/Senior Medical Research Fellowships so far.