Summer Research Internship 2025
The 2-4 weeks long research internship provides an opportunity for secondary school students to undertake engineering-related research of their interest at CityUHK during summer under the supervision of a faculty member and PhD students.
During the internship, students will:
- develop research skills and knowledge in a specific area of interest
- join a world-class research team and work alongside leading experts in the field
- establish professional networks for future studies and career
Eligibility:
- Secondary 4 - 6 students
- High proficiency in English with good academic standing
- Nominated by a referee who is REQUIRED to be a CURRENT teacher at the secondary school attended by the student
Key Dates:
| Application Period | 6 January 2025 (Monday) – 9 February 2025 (Sunday) |
| Interview Period | mid February 2025 – mid March 2025 |
| Announcement of Successful Applicants | by 26 March 2025 (Wednesday) |
| Summer STEM Activities Kick-off Ceremony & Briefing Session of Summer Research Internship (Compulsory for Successful Applicants) | 12 April 2025 (Saturday) |
| Internship Duration | 2-4 weeks in June - 13 August 2025 (Minimum of 64 contact hours in total on CityUHK campus) |
| Submission of Assignments | 17 August 2025 (Sunday) |
| Award Presentation Ceremony | 20 September 2025 (Saturday) - Tentative |
Awards:
- Each intern will receive a Certificate of Achievement upon completing 64 contact hours on the CityUHK campus and submitting all required assignments.
- Interns with excellent performance will be selected for the Outstanding Summer Research Intern Award, and will receive a trophy and a certificate.
Application:
Students are required to complete the online application form and provide the contact details of their referees.
The referees will receive an email from the Hub requesting their recommendations.
Online Application: Apply Now!
We will acknowledge receipt of your applications by email.
Details:
The internship period is tentative and will be finalised later by the department and supervisor.
| Department | Code | Research Topic | Description | Internship Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture and Civil Engineering | ACE-S1 | Development of Useful Concrete Products using Local Waste Materials through Carbon Capture Techniques | This project will provide basic knowledge about waste management in Hong Kong and train the students with some experiences to convert waste materials such as recycled concrete waste into valuable construction materials and make them into value-added products via carbon capture techniques, which will contribute to emission reduction, environmental protection and sustainable development in Hong Kong. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
| ACE-S2 | Cool Building using Natural Ventilation | Students will explore innovative ways to cool buildings using natural ventilation techniques. Participants will investigate principles of air movement, heat transfer, and sustainable design to create practical and energy-efficient solutions. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
|
| ACE-S3 | Built-informatics and Smart Cities Cluster: The Access to the Metaverse of Digital Architecture and Engineering | Students will gain a better understanding of architecture and engineering through this research internship. Digital tools inside the BIM lab will allow students to explore digitalisation in construction and learn basic 3D modelling theories. Students will research innovative designs and create VR models through hands-on tutorials. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
|
| Biomedical Engineering | BME-S1 | Digital Healthcare Buddy - AI Based Systems | The global education sector faces significant resource shortages, exacerbating educational inequities. To address this, we propose the "IntelliLearn AI" project, which aims to develop an AI-driven learning platform integrating advanced 2D/3D characters with the GPT-4 database. This platform will offer dynamic, interactive AI courses, leveraging real-time engagement to mitigate educational resource scarcity. Through foundational training, hands-on workshops, and seminars, students will develop valuable skills in scientific discovery, problem-solving, and design verification. | 11 July - 7 August 2025 (4 weeks) |
| Computer Science | CS-S1 | Categorisation of Question Types in VLM Datasets and Analysis of Model Performance | Students will try different categories of questions to analyse the performance of Vision Language Models (VLMs). Students need to categorise the questions into different types, such as colour inquiries, numerical estimations and object identification. Then, students will explore the strength and the weakness of different VLMs on different categories of questions. | 7 July - 18 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
| CS-S2 | Exploring the Challenges of Understanding and Reasoning in Vision Language Models | This project involves using APIs to test and analyse the behaviour of Vision Language Models (VLMs) in reasoning and inference tasks under various input manipulations - such as cropping, noise addition and style change. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities and challenges that these models face and create a small yet useful evaluation benchmark. | 21 July - 1 August 2025 2 weeks) |
|
| Electrical Engineering | EE-S1 | State Key Lab Research Summer Internship | Students will gain valuable learning experience at the State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimetre Waves, City University of Hong Kong, to perform research activities in the area of antenna design, communication design, software and hardware designs. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
| EE-S2 | CityUHK Architecture Lab for Arithmetic and Security (CALAS) Internship | Students will gain valuable learning experience in the Arithmetic and Security Architecture Laboratory of the City University of Hong Kong, e.g., gaining an understanding of the fundamentals of the arithmetic unit, conducting research activities in the area of security-aware systems, and considering the trade-offs between time-area, performance-security, and energy-cost. Specific security-aware hardware embodiments, such as microprocessors with security-related customised instructions, robust data path design, multi-core security, and secure embedded systems are among the topics. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
|
| Mechanical Engineering | MNE-S1 | LLM-based Visual Navigation System in Complex Crowded Area | With the successful development of Robotics and LLM (ChatGPT), we see a new future via combining robotic operation and the common-sense ability of LLM. In this project, we will leverage the great generative ability of ChatGPT to assist the robot in the visual navigation of complex crowded areas. Which was hard decades ago but is possible now. | 15 July - 30 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
| MNE-S2 | Pedestrian Detection for Mobile Robots | Students will join the CityUHK Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) as junior members to gain some insight into robotic research. Pedestrians are common obstacles for mobile robots. This project will use a 2-D LiDAR to detect pedestrians. The students need to demonstrate pedestrian detection in a simulation environment. | 1 June - 14 June 2025 (2 weeks) |
|
| Materials Science and Engineering | MSE-S1 | High Energy-Density and Safe Aqueous Zinc Batteries |
The project will offer a stimulating and educational experience for secondary school students interested in exploring the fascinating world of battery technology and engineering research in Department of Materials Science and Engineering at CityUHK. This research endeavour is centred on the exploration of state-of-the-art aqueous zinc batteries—a pioneering energy storage technology renowned for its cost-effectiveness, high-energy density, safety, and environmental sustainability. Throughout the internship, students will have the chance to gain hands-on experience with battery assembly and electrochemical performance measurement. Students will be involved in diverse tasks including the preparation of iodine cathodes, fabrication of zinc-iodine batteries, conducting cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge discharge test, evaluating cycling performance, and performing data analysis. By actively engaging in this research project, students will not only broaden their knowledge of battery technologies but also develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills essential for a research career. |
21 July - 3 August 2025 (2 weeks) |
| MSE-S2 | Shape-morphing Kirigami Scaffold for Water Harvesting | This project invites high school students to design and fabricate kirigami-inspired scaffolds that enhance water collection from fog or dew. By combining hands-on fabrication techniques, such as laser cutting or manual scoring of kirigami patterns, with experimental testing in a controlled humidity chamber, students will evaluate how the scaffold's morphing behaviour influences droplet capture and transport. The project will also introduce concepts of sustainability and the global water crisis, fostering a deeper understanding of how innovative material design can address pressing environmental challenges. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
|
| Systems Engineering | SYE-S1 | Prototypes for Smart Cities and Smart Manufacturing | Students will join our research teams to design, develop, and test various prototypes for smart city and smart manufacturing system design and management. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
| SYE-S2 | Reliability Study of High Performance Microelectronic Chips | Students are welcomed to join our research teams and study the reliability issues for high-performance microelectronics that can be applied in a data centre for AI calculations. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
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| SYE-S3 | Building Structural Digital Twin of Critical Urban Assets | Students will join our research group to build a structural digital twin of a critical urban asset in smart city. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
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| SYE-S4 | Intelligent Vehicle Trajectory Reconstruction Summer Internship | Students will learn Python programming and apply their skills to real-world data. They will source online videos and footages of traffic incidents and use mathematical modelling and computer vision to reconstruct and interpolate vehicle trajectories from the sourced videos. The insights gained from this project will be helpful in designing controllers for autonomous vehicles. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
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| SYE-S5 | Development of New Methods for 3D Display and 3D Industrial Inspection | Students will join our research team to design and develop new methods for 3D display, holograms, and 3D imaging applications that can be used in a smart city. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
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| SYE-S6 | Smart Cloud Detection and Forecast Model | In weather analysis and forecasting, especially in the prevention of severe weather events, clouds play a crucial role. However, due to the chaotic nature of weather systems, cloud prediction is challenging. Building a cloud recognition and prediction model based on new deep learning models and satellite images holds significant application significance. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
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| SYE-S7 | Machine Learning - Augmented Discrete Optimisation | Students will explore how to leverage machine learning methods to enhance discrete optimisation techniques. They will learn to use Python toolkits to implement learning-augmented methods and apply them to boost the performance of discrete optimisation algorithms. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
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| SYE-S8 | Bayesian Optimisation for Complex Industrial Process Intensification | Students will explore how to use a derivative-free optimisation algorithm, Bayesian optimisation, to solve large-scale, nonconvex optimisation problems arising from complex industrial processes involving differential equations and bi-level optimisation structures. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
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| SYE-S9 | Developing Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells | Students will join our research team and study the fabrication processes of perovskite solar cells. They will learn how to characterise the perovskite and measure the device's performance. | 14 July - 25 July 2025 (2 weeks) |
Enquiry:
Please contact us at 3442 2770 or email BFEngg.Hub@cityu.edu.hk
