University Officers
Professor Rick WK WONG
Professor Rick W. K. Wong obtained his BSc degree in California State University in 1974. He furthered his studies in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he received his PhD degree in 1978. He then spent a year at UCLA as a post-doctoral researcher with Professor John Gladysz before moving on to work with the late Nobel Laureate, Professor Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson at Imperial College, London (1979−1984), and at the same time obtained the MSc degree in Management Science in 1983. He joined the Department of Chemistry of Hong Kong Baptist University in 1989 (the then Hong Kong Baptist College) and was promoted to Chair Professor of Chemistry in 2005. In 2002, he was appointed Dean of Science.
In 2010, he was Vice-President (Research and Development), whose major responsibilities included the development of the University’s research strategies, advancement of R&D and knowledge transfer, enhancement of taught and research postgraduate programmes, and promotion of HKBU’s internationalization and collaboration with the Mainland universities.
Professor Wong was appointed Interim Provost in February 2021. His main responsibilities include institutional strategic planning and implementation as well as planning and management of academic human resources.
Professor Wong’s main research interests lie in organometallic synthesis, bioactivity of inorganic/organometallic compounds, luminescent materials and homogeneous catalysis. He has published more than 270 scientific papers in major international chemistry journals with an h-index of 52. He was invited to serve as Guest Professor and PhD Supervisor by Wuhan University (2002) and Sun Yat-sen University (2004).
Professor Wong has served on many public organizations, including the Research Grants Council from 2018 to 2021, Hong Kong Chemical Society (as Honorable Secretary in 1985 and Chairman from 1986 to 1988), Open University of Hong Kong (as Council Member from 2004 to 2010), and the Hong Kong Institution of Science (as Founding and Council Member since 1995).
