Outstanding students elevate excellence to impact
16 April 2026
CUHK is a seedbed of many talents. Some push their physical endurance to the limit on the ice or dance floor, while others harness research to alleviate human suffering and social challenges. In this issue, CUHK in Focus speaks with four winners of CUHK Outstanding Students Awards 2025 – students who consistently prove themselves while contributing to the world at the intersections of academia, professional practice and society.
The Outstanding Students Awards recognise distinction beyond academic attainment, spanning five categories: Arts, Innovation and Invention, Social Service, Special Achievement and Sports. This year, 199 students were honoured, comprising 173 undergraduates and 26 postgraduates, among them 36 non-locals who had chosen Hong Kong as the place to nurture their ideals.
At the presentation ceremony on 13 March, Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming reminded the award recipients that success was measured not only in grades, but also by character, passion and a willingness to serve others, so their achievements should encourage them to contribute to the wider community. “Now you carry with you not only personal success, but also a responsibility to lead by example and bring healing to others. Inspire your peers, uplift your community and employ optimism and resilience in all that you do.”
Solitude on ice melts in warm company
In the Sports category is awardee Jarke Zhao Heung-lai, a second-year student of Education (Physical Education, Exercise Science and Health) who began figure skating at five. Over more than a decade, he has honed his skills through discipline and perseverance, reaching the finals at the 2024 National Winter Games. In the following season, Jarke even recorded the highest score in the local men’s singles category and went on to represent Hong Kong at the 2025 Asian Winter Games.
Figure skating is a solitary pursuit. Through long hours of training and competition, he has often found himself in cold isolation, confronting his own limits. “There were moments of struggle – injuries, long training days or disappointing results,” he says, “but they taught me resilience and patience.” For him, the sport has long transcended competition, becoming a lifelong discipline in self-mastery and realisation.
CUHK added a different dimension. Within lecture halls and dormitories, the once solitary skater discovered companionship in a close-knit community of teachers and peers who supported one another like family. University life, as he came to realise, was a process of learning to connect with others, appreciate diversity and grow into a better version of oneself. With the understanding and flexibility accorded by his teachers, he has been able to balance studies with more than 25 hours of intensive weekly training, progressing steadily in both areas.
Looking ahead, the young achiever says he hopes to help develop figure skating in Hong Kong and encourage more people to step onto the ice to discover the enchantment of the sport.
New hope for stroke patients
If sport tests the limits of the body, the work of Shi Xiangqian addresses its fragility. A formative encounter with a stroke patient opened his eyes to the long and arduous path of rehabilitation, shaping his resolve to take research beyond the laboratory, where he is working towards a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and meet real patients’ needs.
Together with his team, Xiangqian developed HandTasker, a wearable robotic device that could detect muscle signals and provide precise help, enabling patients to regain hand movement. Some recovered essential hand functions in as little as six months. The technology has secured more than 20 patents, been published in top-tier journals and obtained international medical device certifications, including one from the US Food and Drug Administration. In Hong Kong, more than 40 hospitals and rehabilitation centres are using HandTasker.
The gadget has now earned Xiangqian a winning place in the Innovation and Invention category; to him, however, its true value lies not in the technology but in restoring autonomy and dignity to those in need. More than pursuing novelty, he immerses himself in hospitals, engaging with clinicians, patients and their families, and spends time in factories, learning from frontline workers and engineers. Such encounters instil in him a granular understanding of real-world demands, so he can translate ideas into meaningful applications.
The PhD student believes that CUHK’s well-established innovation ecosystem – from academic mentorship and knowledge transfer support to funding and incubation platforms – provides a complete pathway through which ideas can take material form. His own experience shows that “with perseverance and the right support, research can become a tangible force which truly improves lives”.
Reaching out to the world
Where Xiangqian seeks to restore physical functions through technology, Jasmine Ho Man-hei, a recipient in the Arts category, turns movement into a language of expression and connection. Having begun dancing at the age of two, she has grown from a child enthralled by sophisticated costumes and make-up into an artist who understands dance as a means of engaging with people.
Over the years, Jasmine has received many prizes in both interschool and international competitions, including the championship in the contemporary solo category at the International Young Dancers Competition 2024. Yet, what she cherishes most are behind the scenes, the long hours of training and the shared emotions of triumphs and setbacks alongside fellow dancers.
Their camaraderie drives her belief in dance as a way of opening up a space where freedom and aesthetic experience can be shared. Amid the demands of studies and training, she has co-founded with friends the Performing Arts Community Outreach Programme, which allows children from underprivileged backgrounds and those with special needs to have a taste of what it is like learning the performing arts.
Now in her second year of medical school – a pursuit kindled by a childhood injury – Jasmine envisions a future in which dance and healing converge, where an understanding of the body’s limits and the needs of dancers becomes the foundation for injured dancers to continue chasing their dreams.
Solidarity with the marginalised
The betterment of community is also the purpose to which Ma Donna Solis Rebong, a PhD candidate in History from the Philippines, dedicates her time, her research and her scholarship. A recipient in the Social Service category, Donna had long championed human rights, social justice and national development in her home country. Since arriving in Hong Kong in 2022, she has continued her advocacies by advancing the rights and welfare of migrant domestic workers through academic platforms and social networks.
Within CUHK’s people-centred environment, Donna has deepened her involvement by organising reading groups and interdisciplinary dialogues to bridge theory and practice. Her praxis is not only limited in classroom or academic discussion but also includes participation in Filipino activities on the streets. From linking up members of the Filipino community to holding cultural and academic events such as forums on domestic workers’ rights, she is constantly translating her knowledge into action of solidarity to the marginalised. For Donna, social service is never a one-way street. By supporting her countrymen, especially women migrant workers in Hong Kong, she draws strength and insights from their lived experiences and resilience, underscoring their significant contribution to Hong Kong society.
Donna hopes to pursue a career in education, continuing to build bridges between academia and communities in both Hong Kong and the Philippines to amplify the calls and advocacies of the marginalised communities. She also encourages fellow students to offer their knowledge, skills and capabilities to serve the society, especially those marginalised like the migrant sectors and to create positive change in the society. “Our individual efforts may seem small,” she says “but, if done collectively with others, they constitute a force capable of changing our society for the better.”
Highlights of the 2025 Outstanding Student Awards Presentation Ceremony:
By Jessica Chu
Photos courtesy of OSA and interviewees
