We are pleased to host the fifth Rising Stars Women in Engineering Workshop in Asia. Through this event, we endeavour to provide opportunities in mentoring, networking and collaboration to talented young women engineers who aspire to successful and satisfying careers in academia.

Promoting the exchange of researchers and students among Asian universities is the main objective of the Asian Deans’ Forum (ADF), inaugurated by UTokyo in May 2016. The Rising Star Women in Engineering Workshop was organized under this ADF framework. Active participation of women is one of the keys to strengthening academia which will lead to innovation in the Asian region. We are proud to support this workshop providing an excellent opportunity to empower promising female researchers in the engineering field through insightful lectures and discussion.

As the colleges of engineering and technology which boast a relatively-high percentage of women students, we value this chance to co-host the innovative program, the first Rising Stars Women in Engineering Workshop in Asia, very much. We aim to devoting ourselves into finding more opportunities for female academics through this event.

We are proud to co-host the Rising Stars Workshop to nurture and mentor young women engineers. HKUST is a young, dynamic, research-oriented, top-ranked institution. We highly value diversity and internationalization. I look forward to meeting and welcoming female academic leaders in engineering at the Workshop and developing closer working relationships with you at HKUST.

He Kebin is a professor of the School of Environment and Dean of the Institute for Carbon Neutrality at Tsinghua University, Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering; Vice Chairman of the National Expert Committee for Ecology and Environmental Protection; the Chairman of the National Teaching Steering Committee on Environmental Science and Engineering, Prof. He focused on the research of complex air pollution, He conducted researches on the fields of the identification of particulate matters and complex air pollution, characterization of complicated emission sources and multi-pollutant control, and the coordinated control of air pollution and greenhouse gases. He was selected as Elsevier Most Cited Chinese Researchers in 2014-2021 and Clarivate Global Highly Cited Researchers in 2018-2021.

As Dean of Seoul National University’s College of Engineering, I am pleased to co-sponsor the Rising Stars Women in Engineering Workshop. By hosting the 2019 workshop, we had the opportunity to incorporate diverse individuals, voices, and skills into engineering practice, setting the stage for sustainable relationships and opportunities. Similarly, all the previous workshops have delivered insightful experiences and provided invaluable networks that will endure for a lifetime. We sincerely hope that this year’s workshop will also assist our participants in navigating clear career paths and further encourage female engineers to become future academic leaders.

As Dean of the largest Engineering Faculty in Australia, I am very pleased that UNSW Sydney is a co-sponsor of this workshop. We seek to ensure the Engineering profession is formed from people who reflect the society we seek to serve. Building a community within our up-and-coming talented women engineers is very important and this workshop is an excellent way to train and showcase talented women engineers in our region.