Dr York Liao has been appointed Chairman of the Steering Committee for Research Themes under the Research Endowment Fund while six people have been named committee members for three years from July 1.

The members are Prof Joseph Lee, Prof Paul Lam, Prof Richard Wong, Regina Ip, Frederick Lam, and Kwok Kwok-chuen.

Welcoming the appointments Secretary for Education Michael Suen said the introduction of theme-based research funding will help University Grants Committee-funded institutions build research capacity on a more focused and sustained basis to serve Hong Kong's long term interests.