Open Projects

Open projects are valuable opportunities for the State Key Laboratory to foster collaboration with young researchers from both Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. Currently, the SKL supports up to five open projects annually, with funding of up to HK$200,000 per project per year. Please note that potential candidates should conduct research relevant to the four major directions of our SKL (please refer to the "current research" section).

Regulations: 1. For each major direction, the SKL would accept only one proposal every year. 2. The applicants should be young PIs, not sophisticated senior professors. 3. The amount for one project should not exceed HK$200,000, and the duration should be one year or above. 4. An outstanding proposal submitted by prominent candidates could be awarded funding support extension upon completion.

For candidates who are interested in applying for the open project from the State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry, please contact Prof. Che directly with a CV and research proposal. For any related inquiries, please contact Dr. Lihui Zhu at zhulihui@hku.hk.

2026 Awardees: 

Prof. Hairong Lyu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (extended)

Project Title: Application of a Highly Nucleophilic Boron Synthon in Organic Synthesis.

Prof. Qingyun Wan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (extended)

Project Title: Chiral Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Superconductor for Effective Spin Selection.

Prof. Gang Li, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory

Project Title: Scalable Proteome-wide Discovery of Covalent Ligands Targeting Diverse Nucleophilic Amino Acids via Library-versus-Proteome Screening

Prof. Edmund Chun Ming Tse, The University of Hong Kong

Project Title: Green Electrification of C–N Bond Synthesis via Scalable Flow Electrolyzer Development

Prof. Yufeng Wang, The University of Hong Kong

Project Title: Synthesis of MOF Supercrystals by Heteroepitaxy-Mediated Oriented Attachment

Previous Awardees:

Year of 2025: 

Prof. Hairong Lyu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Project Title: Asymmetric synthesis and derivatization of chiral gem-diborylalkanes.

Prof. Qingyun Wan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Project Title: Synthesis of 4f-π organic-inorganic hybrid molecular conductors.

Prof. Phillip Yong-Xin Li, The University of Hong Kong

Project Title: Harnessing P450 enzyme plasticity for generalizable peptide biaryl macrocyclization 

Prof. Hongzhe Sun, The University of Hong Kong

Project Title: Heavy Metal Chelators for Targeted Alpha Therapy for Cancer