The opening ceremony
The 2024 Joint Annual Conference of Physical Societies in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was held in Macao. Rector Yonghua Song and Vice Rector Ge Wei of the University of Macau (UM), together with more than 320 experts and scholars in the field of physics from around the world, attended the conference to discuss the latest research findings and development trends in physics, and to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Song stressed the importance of innovation and cooperation in the field of physics in the GBA. He also pointed out that in recent years, UM has been committed to research in applied physics and materials engineering, and has established the Macao Centre for Research and Development in Advanced Materials to promote industry-academia collaboration. Sun Handong, president of the Physical Society of Macao and associate director of the Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering (IAPME) at UM; Wang Biao, chair of the Guangdong Physics Society; and Wang Xin, representative of the Physical Society of Hong Kong, also delivered speeches at the ceremony, sharing their visions for the future development of the physics community in the GBA.
Experts and scholars in the field of physics from home and abroad were invited to deliver master lectures at the conference: Ge Wei, vice rector of UM; Yang Wei, professor in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Zhejiang University; Cheng Huiming, honorary dean of the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at the Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology; Zhao Gang, researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Hyoung Joon Choi, president of the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies; Zhang Baile, assistant chair of the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at Nanyang Technological University; Ou Zheyu, chair professor in the Department of Physics at the City University of Hong Kong; Pan Hui, associate director of IAPME at UM; and Xing Guichuan, professor at IAPME at UM.
In addition, the conference received a total of 211 submissions from Chinese and international experts and scholars, including 165 oral presentations and 46 posters. The presentations and posters covered eight frontier areas: ‘Astrophysics and Astronomy’, ‘Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics’, ‘Biophysics and Soft Matter’, ‘Condensed Matter Physics’, ‘Interdisciplinary Physics’, ‘Materials Physics and Engineering’, ‘Scattering, Particle, Nuclear, and Plasma Physics’ and ‘Quantum and Statistical Physics’, providing participants with a platform for in-depth exchanges and discussions and laying a solid foundation for future research collaboration.
The conference was jointly organised by the Physical Society of Macao, the Guangdong Physics Society, and the Physical Society of Hong Kong. It aimed to strengthen communication between the physical societies at home and abroad, and to foster cooperation in the field of physics in the GBA. In the future, the physical societies in the GBA will continue to deepen their cooperation and exchanges, and work together to promote innovation and development in the field of physics, thus making greater contributions to the advancement of science and technology and human civilisation.
