Prof. Charles NG, CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability and Chair Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was awarded the prestigious Varnes Medal 2022 by the International Consortium on Landslides and the Fredlund Award 2022 by the Canadian Geotechnical Society. Prof. Ng is also the Dean of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School and Vice-President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou).

The Varnes Medal recognizes professional excellence in landslide research and is the highest award bestowed by the International Consortium on Landslides. Prof. Ng is among the very few in Asia to receive the medal since it was established in 2003 to commemorate the significant contribution of Dr. David Varnes (1919–2002), a highly respected researcher in the landslide community. The medal was presented at the 6th World Landslide Forum in Florence, Italy in November 2023.

The Fredlund Award of the Canadian Geotechnical Society recognizes the most highly cited article published in Canadian Geotechnical Journal in the previous five years. Prof. Ng’s co-authored paper on “Cyclic Lateral Response and Failure Mechanisms of Semi-Rigid Pile in Soft Clay: Centrifuge Tests and Numerical Modelling” was selected for its outstanding contribution to the field of geotechnical engineering. Only one award is given each year, with citation count based on data from Scopus and author self-citations excluded. Prof. Ng received the award at the annual meeting of the Canadian Geotechnical Society in October 2023.

On top of these two recent honors, Prof. Ng also received the esteemed Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress 2022 earlier. Established in 1994, the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation is a Hong Kong-based non-government organization which annually bestows prizes upon Chinese scientists. The award ceremony was held in Beijing in February 2023 to honor 112 winners in 2021 and 2022. Past awardees of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Prize from HKUST include President Prof. Nancy Ip (2008), Prof. Zhang Mingjie (2011), Prof. Zhang Qian (2012), Prof Tang Benzhong (2017), Prof. Zhao Tianshou (2018), and Prof. Zhang Tongyi (2018).

Related link:

• Department news (Dec 14, 2023): Prof. Charles NG Receives Varnes Medal 2022
• Department news (Dec 15, 2023): Prof. Charles NG Awarded Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Prize
• Department news (Dec 20, 2023): Prof. Charles NG Receives 2022 Fredlund Award from Canadian Geotechnical Society