Lingnan University scholar Prof Helen Geng Hongyan wins UGC Teaching Award for using AI to promote interdisciplinary learning and inspire creative thinking in students

Today, 29 September, the University Grants Committee (UGC) presented the 2026 UGC Teaching Award to Prof Helen Geng Hongyan, Assistant Professor of Teaching of the Division of Science at Lingnan University. She received the award in the General Faculty Members category. The award recognises her student-centred, innovative teaching approach, which breaks through traditional boundaries between the arts and sciences, incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and Service-Learning in science education, stimulates students’ interest in interdisciplinary learning, and demonstrates excellence in teaching.

The UGC Teaching Award includes three categories. In addition to Prof Geng, the interdisciplinary innovation team behind the Global Development and Sustainability programme, comprising Prof Paul Whitla, Professor of Teaching of the Department of Marketing and International Business; Prof Bradley R. Barnes, Special Advisor to President on Internationalisation, Director of Global Education; Prof Paulina Wong Pui-yun, Head and Associate Professor (Presidential Early Career Scholar) of the Division of Science; and Dr Nicole Lee Man-ying, Associate Programme Director of the Office of Service-Learning, was the finalist of the Collaborative Teams category.

The Hon Andrew Yao Cho-fai, Council Chairman of Lingnan University, welcomed Prof Geng Hongyan’s receipt of the UGC Teaching Award. He said, “Prof Geng has actively explored the possibilities of science popularisation education, providing students with a solid science-based education. Her efforts are closely aligned with Lingnan University’s development direction of ‘Liberal Arts + Technology’, further strengthening Lingnan’s position as a research-oriented liberal arts university comprehensive in arts and sciences in the digital era. At the same time, her achievements will provide important impetus for Lingnan to capitalise on its geographical proximity to the Northern Metropolis and deepen industry-academia-research collaboration in the Greater Bay Area, promoting the integration of education, technology, industry, talent and urban development under the ‘One Town, Five Elements’ framework. This will accelerate the transformation of research outcomes into new quality productive forces and lay a stronger foundation for Lingnan’s high-quality development in the new era.”

Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University, said, “The UGC Teaching Award is a prestigious teaching honour in the higher education sector of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China. In her Science courses, Prof Geng uses AI and Service-Learning to elevate teaching and learning, encouraging students to learn from real-world issues and develop solutions through interdisciplinary research. This award acknowledges her years of student-centred and innovative teaching, and highlights the widespread recognition of Lingnan University’s educational success. Lingnan has made continued efforts to enhance teaching quality, actively promote ‘Liberal Arts + Technology’ and ‘AI+’ development, and integrate AI and digital elements into different disciplines to provide students with quality education that meets the needs of the digital era.”

Prof Geng joined Lingnan University in 2019 and is primarily responsible for undergraduate Science core courses. She is committed to engaging students across the arts, business, social sciences, data science, etc., using AI simulations and research to inspire creative thinking and address real-world issues, turning classroom learning into practical action.

Prof Geng explained, “Students in the core course come from different disciplines, and many of them have limited interest in science before taking the course. I therefore developed the ‘C.O.R.E’ – Co-creation, Operationalisation, Realisation and Empowerment – teaching framework, which concentrates on student participation, practice, and reflection. This enables students to progress from understanding science and sustainability issues to participating in addressing real-world problems.”

For example, Prof Geng uses AI in a course activity on “Sustainable fashion and textile waste reuse” to simulate a community with low participation in textile recycling. This stimulates students’ creative thinking, and allows them to use real data to respond to potential concerns raised by the community. Students are required to analyse, communicate, and collaborate, and then make decisions when addressing real-world issues with no standard answers. After the simulation exercise, they work with local non-profit organisations to apply what they have learned in class to textile waste issues, and turn it into concrete measures that serve society.

An internal survey showed that, following the introduction of the C.O.R.E. framework, students’ scores for critical thinking increased from 4.00 to 5.38, out of 6. Prof Geng, serving as Principal Investigator of a UGC-funded project, is currently leading an Inter-institutional Collaborative Activities (IICAs) teaching initiative across all eight UGC-funded universities, aiming to build an AI-Empowered Tripartite Platform connecting industries/NGOs, educators, and students to cultivate students’ spirit of autonomous learning, cognitive resilience, and interdisciplinary collaboration, and to extend the C.O.R.E. framework across UGC-funded universities. In addition, Prof Geng has also collaborated with Imperial College London in the UK, the University of Wollongong in Australia, the University of Oulu in Finland, Nanjing University, and the Shandong University of Science and Technology to introduce the C.O.R.E. framework among these international partner institutions.

She also promotes research-informed learning, which links her academic research with student learning. One of her research projects involves students analysing mercury levels in hair to understand the relationship between dietary habits and mercury exposure. For example, consuming contaminated fish or seafood is one of the main sources of mercury exposure in daily life and, through hands-on research into the impact of environmental pollution on human health, students can see how scientific research contributes to global sustainable development.

Established by the UGC, the Teaching Award is the most authoritative teaching award in the HKSAR's higher education sector. The three awards, presented each year (one in the General Faculty Members category, one in the Early Career Faculty Members category, and one in the Collaborative Teams category), recognise academics’ excellence in teaching performance, leadership, and scholarly contribution. Recipients are hailed as “ambassadors of good teaching” who advance teaching excellence throughout the HKSAR.