HKU Centennial Distinguished Chinese Scholars Scheme Public Lecture: From Light to Life, from Seeds to Sustainability

Food production is one of the most powerful forces shaping the planet, placing enormous demands on land, water, energy and biodiversity. As the global population moves toward 10 billion by 2050, the world must produce more, better, and more nutritious food under increasing climate uncertainty and resource constraints. At the same time, rapid advances in genomics, biotechnology and genome editing are opening a new era of agriculture guided by biological understanding and precision design.

In this public lecture, Professor Deng will share how fundamental discoveries in plant biology can be translated into crop improvement and real-world agricultural impact. Using examples from wheat, soybean, peanut, watermelon, pepper, tomato, pumpkin, kiwifruit and grape, he will show how modern plant science can accelerate gene discovery, trait improvement and precision variety development.

He will also introduce the “Xiashan Model” ─ an integrated framework linking basic genetic research, crop innovation, efficient cultivation, seed production, brand development and market delivery. The lecture invites the HKU community to consider a larger question: How can fundamental biology help design the future of sustainable agriculture?

~ A story of discovery, translation and agricultural transformation ~

From pioneering discoveries on how plants perceive light to building a modern agricultural innovation platform in China, Professor Xing Wang Deng will share how fundamental plant science can translate into real-world impact andhelp design the future of sustainable agriculture.

從北大求學，到赴美深造；從耶魯大學終身教授，到美國國家科學院院士；再到重返北大、創立現代農業研究院，鄧興旺教授以植物科學推動精準育種，為中國與世界農業的未來貢獻智慧與力量。