Dr. Zhikai Hu Secures RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme 2025/26 for Pioneering Research in Cross-modal Retrieval

The Department is pleased to announce that Dr. Zhikai Hu, a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, has been awarded the esteemed RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme (JRFS) for 2025/26 to advance his pioneering research in cross-modal retrieval.

Upon receiving the fellowship, Dr. Hu expressed his gratitude, “I am truly honoured to receive the JRFS Award under the mentorship of Professor Yiu-ming Cheung. His invaluable support and guidance are crucial to advancing my doctoral research in cross-modal retrieval.”

Dr. Hu's award-winning project, “Navigating the Unknown: Multi-Modal Retrieval for Vague Queries and Long-Tailed Data”, builds upon his PhD work by addressing real-world challenges in information retrieval. By leveraging large language models and multi-modal data analysis, he aims to develop intuitive retrieval systems that effectively decode ambiguous queries and manage underrepresented data patterns, significantly enhancing search performance.

The RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme is a highly competitive two-year programme that recognises only 60 early-career researchers annually for conducting postdoctoral research at UGC-funded universities. It fosters research excellence and nurtures talent in Hong Kong. Since its establishment, Dr. Hu is the second scholar from our Department to receive this distinguished fellowship.