The Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation held an award ceremony today (3 November) at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. Shen Yueyue, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Wan Gang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, also attended the ceremony. During the event, Yonghua Song, rector of the University of Macau (UM), received the Science and Technology Progress Award, in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of electric power systems. Other award recipients at the ceremony include Zhong Nanshan, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation adopts a transparent selection process that includes public nomination, peer review, and independent evaluation, in order to select the best scholars for its awards. In accordance with the foundation’s selection regulations, nomination forms are sent, at the beginning of each year, to more than 2,000 individual nominators and six institutional nominators, namely the Ministry of Education, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Science and Technology Commission of the Central Military Commission, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the State Administration of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense. The nominees are then evaluated by a panel of experts, who are appointed by the selection committee of the foundation. The awards are presented annually, following international practices and the principles of ‘fairness, impartiality, and openness’.

Rector Song’s research and expertise have contributed to the development of the electricity market and have earned him an international reputation in the fields of energy, information, and control engineering. From 2004 onwards, he was successively elected fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, fellow of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, fellow of the International Euraian Academy of Sciences, member of Academia Europaea, fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, expert in the World Bank Energy Program for Romania Power and for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) aided project for Chinese Power Industry Reform, vice president of the Chinese Electrotechnical Society, member of the IEEE’s fellow selection committee, and member of the selection committee for the IEEE PES CSEE Yu-Hsiu Ku Electrical Engineering Award. He has been serving as an advisor on the Science and Technology Committee of the Macao SAR government since 2002. He has published seven Chinese and English books and more than 300 research articles. According to statistics from Google Scholar, his works have been cited more than 18,000 times.

Rector Song’s research in the field of new electric power systems aims to answer the country’s need for advanced technologies and he has achieved world-leading results. In 2019, he received three first-class provincial and ministerial science and technology awards in the field of demand-side management. His application for the 2020 National Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Class) has passed preliminary evaluations, and the related technology has been successfully applied in 11 provincial power grids in China. Since assuming office as the rector of UM in 2018, Song has been committed to promoting the development of innovation and technology and enhancing the university’s education quality and international reputation. He led the establishment of the first state key laboratory in China in the field of the internet of things for smart cities, which promotes innovative research in the field of smart energy in Macao and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Rector Song has also led a team of researchers to investigate deep-level interaction and coupling between smart energy and various systems such as ecological and intelligent transport systems, using a digital-anologue hybrid drive approach, making outstanding contributions to smart city development in China. In terms of technology transfer, he has led the university in the establishment of Macao’s first academia-industry demonstration base in the Greater Bay Area, which helps to nurture innovative and entrepreneurship professionals in Macao and integrate the city into the development of the Greater Bay Area.

In addition, Rector Song has made significant contributions to national talent acquisition and higher education management. He travelled to the United Kingdom in 1991 to pursue a career in teaching and research. He was appointed professor of electrical and computer engineering at Brunel University in 1997 and pro-vice-chancellor for graduate studies at the same university in 2004, becoming the first Chinese person to be appointed vice-chancellor of a UK university. He also served as the executive president of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou.

In 2009, Rector Song returned to China to serve as a professor and assistant to the president of Tsinghua University. He was concurrently appointed director of the Chinese National Office of the Recruitment Programme of Global Experts. In November 2012, he was appointed executive vice president of Zhejiang University, founding dean of the university’s international campus in Haining, and professor of electrical engineering and higher education at Zhejiang University, in charge of promoting globalisation, planning of university development, and facilitating the recruitment of top young talent at the university.

The Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation is a foundation registered and established in Hong Kong in March 1994 with a joint donation of HKD 400 million made by patriotic financiers Ho Sin Hang, Leung Kau Kui, Ho Tim, and Lee Quo Wei. The foundation’s awards include the Science and Technology Achievement Award, the Science and Technology Progress Award, and the Science and Technology Innovation Award, which aim to promote science and technology in China and award outstanding Chinese scientists.

Source: Communications Office

Media Contact Information:Communications Office, University of Macau

Albee Lei     Tel：(853) 88228004Judite Lam  Tel：(853) 88228022Email：prs.media@um.edu.mo

UM Website：www.um.edu.mo