On April 30, 2026, OCES gathered to celebrate the UG Graduation Dinner, an event dedicated to honoring our remarkable graduates. It was great to see our graduates and faculty came together to recognize the hard work and achievements of the Class of 2026. Read more

Our MPhil student Ziheng Wang has been invited to present his research at the Youth Geoscience Forum held in Guangzhou in April 2026. The forum facilitates intellectual exchanges, builds networks for young researchers, and showcases results from top research universities and institutes in the field of geoscience. Ziheng’s presentation received the Best Presentation Award in his subsection. Congratulations to Ziheng! Read more

It is with great pleasure that we share the news that Mr. Chen ZHAO has been awarded the prestigious and highly competitive Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship. This global initiative selects the most promising early-career researchers to revolutionize scientific discovery through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Read more

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  As part of HKUST Ocean Day 2026, the Department of Ocean Science launched its Educational Cruise Experience on 5 to 8 February 2026, offering students, faculty, and guests a special opportunity to board and explore the Research Vessel SHEN KUO. Read more

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The OCES Graduation Party 2025 was successfully held on 29 November 2025. The event brought together graduating students from our BSc, TPg, and RPg programmes, along with their families and friends to celebrate this meaningful milestone. OCES faculty members also joined the gathering, creating a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with our graduates and maintain those important relationships.  Congratulations to all our graduates! May the knowledge and experiences gained at OCES continue to inspire them as they embark on their next chapter. Read more

HKUST OCES, in collaboration with the Consulate General of France in HK and Macao and the HK chapter of the Royal Geographical Society, welcomed two highly experienced French deep ocean explorers from Deep Ocean Search for a sharing session at HKUST. Read more

Department of Ocean Science is pleased to announce that Prof. Julian MAK has successfully secured funding of HK$2.6 million (and around EUR 200,000 for the French side) through the France-Hong Kong ANR/RGC Joint Research Scheme for 2025/26. The funding will support a collaborative research project titled "Modelling the Ocean’s Breath: Improving Mesoscale Representation for Biogeochemical Cycles," which will run for a period of 36 months. Read more

A research team led by Prof. USHIO Masayuki from the Department of Ocean Science has developed a new method for monitoring cetaceans in marine ecosystems. Recently, techniques for analyzing environmental DNA (eDNA)—genetic material found in the environment—have advanced rapidly for biodiversity monitoring. However, detecting cetaceans remains difficult due to their low eDNA concentrations in the ocean. The team developed a novel, efficient eDNA marker to detect cetaceans and applied it to seawater samples from Hong Kong waters. Read more