Civil Engineering PhD Student YANG Changyi Awarded NSFC Young Student Basic Research Program Grant

Civil Engineering PhD student Yang Chanyi (center) and his supervisor Prof. Zhao Jidong (right), Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, along with Prof. Law Kam-Tuen (left), Director of the HKUST Research Office and Chair Professor of the Department of Physics [Download Photo]

Civil Engineering PhD Student YANG Changyi, supervised by Prof. ZHAO Jidong, was awarded a grant under the 2025 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Young Student Basic Research Program (PhD student), totaling RMB 300,000.

Established in 2023, the NSFC Young Student Basic Research Program (PhD Student) aims to strengthen the training of early-career scholars, encourage independent thinking and innovation, and support their active engagement in scientific research. The grant provides two years of funding to help recipients explore new research directions, broaden their academic perspectives, and enhance their research capabilities as well as project management skills.

This is the first time that this highly competitive scheme is opened to Hong Kong. Changyi stands out as the sole awardee from the School of Engineering and one of only six at HKUST. His funded project is entitled “A Peridynamic-based Multiphysics Computational Framework for Seamless Phase Transitions and Fracture Dynamics”.

In addition to this achievement, Changyi recently won a Best Presentation Award at the “Fifth International Conference on Rock Dynamics and Application” (RocDyn-5), held in Singapore on January 15-17, 2026.