Professor Charles Xu Chunbao, Chair Professor of Advanced Biorefinery in the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong (CityU), has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award 2023 from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in recognition of his research and academic achievements.

The award is one of the highest recognitions in Germany for researchers living and working outside Germany. Every year, the Humboldt Research Award is granted to up to 100 internationally renowned researchers in all disciplines from abroad in recognition of their accomplishments in research and teaching. The Foundation maintains a network of over 30,000 Humboldt Foundation sponsorship recipients in more than 140 countries, including 61 Nobel Prize winners.

“It is a great honour to receive the Humboldt Research Award. It recognises the research we have been working on at CityU and Western University (Canada) and encourages my team and me to continue to carry out impactful and innovative research at CityU,” said Professor Xu. “I am very grateful for all the help that I have received from my team members and students at CityU and Western University.”

Professor Xu’s main research interests are chemical and thermal process engineering, and technical chemistry. With more than 20 years of research experience in biorefinery for biomass and biowastes valorisation, Professor Xu has profound, world-leading expertise in research, innovations and industrial applications for high-value bioproducts from renewable resources, particularly in the development of biofuels and bio-based chemicals and materials from forestry and agricultural residues and biowaste.

“At CityU, we are working on the resourceful utilisation of municipal organic solid waste, such as food waste, sewage sludge, yard waste and plastic waste for the production of high value-added products, including sustainable aviation fuels, green hydrogen, and bio-based chemicals and materials,” he said.

Winning the award will enable Professor Xu to conduct research in collaboration with his colleagues in Germany. “I am very excited about the opportunity to collaborate with German universities and institutes, in particular with Professor Marcus Rose at Technische Universität Darmstadt, and to foster scientific cooperation between CityU and research institutions in Germany,” he said.