Honoured Yam's lonely toil in HK's science 'battlefield'
A University of Hong Kong professor, named one of five winners in the annual L'Oreal-Unesco Women in Science awards, says doing research in Hong Kong is a lonely business.
Chemistry professor Vivian Yam Wing-wah was honoured for her work on light-emitting materials and innovative ways of capturing solar energy.
But for all the glamour coming with the recognition of her efforts, she said working in science was a lonely pursuit in Hong Kong.
'It's like going to the battlefield on your own,' she said.
'Ordinary people in Hong Kong, a financial hub, think you are weird doing scientific research.'
'I hope the award can let the general public understand more about scientific research and that a more supportive atmosphere could be nurtured.'
She is the second local woman scientist to be awarded the honour. Yam said the prize validated the achievements of women in scientific research.
'There's not much difference between men and women doing scientific work.
'We don't do scientific research to win prizes, but I was happy that my work got recognised.'
The annual awards are for scientific achievement by woman researchers from five continents.
Yam was picked as the recipient for the Asia-Pacific region.
Each laureate receives US$100,000 in prize money.
Born and educated in Hong Kong, Yam became a professor at the University of Hong Kong in 1997 and was promoted to chair professor in 1999.
She was the head of the university's chemistry department from 2000 to 2005.
Aged 38 in 2001, she became the youngest person to be appointed an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
She said it may take 10 years before the fruits of her research could be widely applied in public. But she hoped her work could help make a 'quantum leap' in the field of sustainable energy development.
'The solar dyes I am exploring might absorb the same amount of solar power [as current materials], but they can convert power into electricity in a more effective way.'
Her work on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), currently widely used in TV screens, also has the potential to drastically reduce energy consumption.
If OLEDs could be made to emit white light, they could deliver the same brightness as a normal bulb using much less energy, Yam said. 'An eight-watt white OLED can emit the same intensity of light as a 60-watt tungsten incandescent light.'
She appealed to the government to follow the examples of Japan and Korea in providing long-term funding to researchers who are well recognised in their fields.
This would spare them the hassle of writing detailed proposals to compete for funding for every project they do.
She said: 'Writing reports and proposals can be time-consuming.
'If a researcher's work is already well recognised, there should be exceptional treatment for them so they don't have to spend too much time on administrative work.'
The Women in Science awards presentation ceremony will be held in Paris in March.
The first local woman scientist to win the award in 2004 was biochemistry professor Nancy Ip Yuk-yu, co-director of the Molecular Neuro- science Centre of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
