Charles Ng Wang-wai
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Charles Ng Wang-wai is the Vice-President of Institutional Advancement at HKUST, Clear Water Bay Campus[1]. He also serves as the CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability[2], Chair Professor[3] in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and Director of State Key Laboratory of Climate Resilience for Coastal Cities (SKL-CRCC)[4]. He is the past president of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), where he served as the 17th President from 2017 to 2022.[5]
Charles W.W. Ng | |
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| Education | University of Bristol (Ph.D in Civil Engineering) |
| Occupations | Chair Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| Employer(s) | The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology |
| Organization(s) | International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering |
| Known for | Geotechnical engineering, unsaturated soil mechanics, eco-geotechnics, debris flow and landslide hazard mitigation, soil-structure interaction |
| Awards | The 2025 Natural Science Award (1st class) by the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (中國岩石力學與工程學會2025年度自然科學一等獎（排名第1）).
The 2025 Telford Gold Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers 2022 Varnes Medal by the UNESCO-International Consortium on Landslides . |
| Honours | Elected as the 65th Rankine Lecturer (the first Chinese since the establishment of the lecture series in 1961). |
| Chinese name | |
| Traditional Chinese | 吳宏偉 |
| Jyutping | Ng4 Wang4wai6 |
| Website | https://charles-ng.hkust.edu.hk/ |
Education
Charles W. W. Ng attended the University of Bristol where he completed his PhD degree in civil engineering in 1993. From 1993 to 1995, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate in soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering with professors Malcolm Bolton and Sarah Springman at the University of Cambridge. He was elected as an Overseas Fellow of the Churchill College in 2005.
Career
Ng joined HKUST in 1995 as assistant professor and was promoted to chair professor in 2011. He was conferred the first CLP Holdings Professor of Sustainability[2] named professorship in 2017. He served as the dean of HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School at HKUST from 2020 - 2025 and the vice-president of HKUST (Guangzhou) campus from 2021 - 2025. He was appointed as the Vice-President for Institutional Advancement of HKUST in August 2025[1]. He is a Director of State Key Laboratory of Climate Resilience for Coastal Cities (SKL-CRCC) at HKUST since July 2025[4].
Awards
In 2002, Ng was the recipient of the Mao-Yisheng Youth Award by the Chinese Institute of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering for his significant contributions in geotechnical engineering. In 2007, he received the Overseas and Hong Kong, Macau Young Scholars Award by the National Science Foundation of China. In 2010, he was elected as a Changjiang Scholar (2010-2013) (Chair Professorship in Geotechnical Engineering) by the Ministry of Education in China. In 2015, he received the 2nd Prize of Scientific Technological Advancement Award by the State Council of China[6] and in 2020, he was the recipient of National Natural Science Award by the State Council of China.[7]
He is the recipient of multiple awards for his continuing research in soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering.[8][9][7][10][11][12][13]
| Date | Award |
|---|---|
| October, 2025 | Recipient of 2025 Natural Science Award (1st class) by the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (中國岩石力學與工程學會2025年度自然科學一等獎（排名第1）). |
| June, 2025 | Winner of the 2023 Scott Sloan Best Paper Award by Computers and Geotechnics recognising the top papers that have made a significant impact on the field of geotechnical engineering. This impact is based on SCOPUS citations (excluding self-citations) for the previous five years, in conjunction with the opinion of the Editors. |
| April, 2025 | 2024 Donald Stanley Award by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering for the best paper in Environmental Engineering. |
| March, 2025 | The 2025 Telford Gold Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers (The highest honour awarded by the Institution. He is the first awardee from greater China since its establishment by the Institution in 1838). |
| October, 2024 | Gold Award at the 2024 HKUST-SINO One Million Dollar Entrepreneurship Competition 4th October. |
| July, 2024 | Recipient of the 2024 R.M. Quigley Award, for the best paper among 143 papers published in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal in 2023. |
| April, 2024 | Gold+ medal with Congratulations from Jury at the Inventions Geneva. |
| January, 2024 | Natural Science Award of Hainan Province(1st class) 海南省自然科学一等奖 (4/6) |
| September, 2023 | 2022 Fredlund Award by the Canadian Geotechnical Society for the mostly cited article among ALL papers (more than 600) published in the prestigious Canadian Geotechnical Journal in the previous five years. |
| November, 2022 | Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress (何梁何利基金科學與技術進步獎). |
| November, 2022 | Varnes Medal by the UNESCO-International Consortium on Landslides |
| May, 2022 | The 2022 Hong Kong Institution of Engineers Best Geotechnical Paper Award. |
| December, 2021 | Frontrunner 5000 Top Articles in 2020 ALL Outstanding S&T Journals of China (中國精品科技期刊頂尖學術論文---2020領跑者5000): The 20th Huangwenxi Lecture (黄文熙講座) on “Atmosphere-plant-soil-interactions: theories and mechanisms”. |
| September, 2021 | Recipient of the 2020 National Natural Science Award (2nd class) by the State Council of China (中國國家2020年度自然科學二等獎（排名第1）). |
Honours
Ng was elected as a Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering in 2020[6] and a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering in 2008. He has been elected as the 65th Rankine Lecturer by the British Geotechnical Association.[14] The lecture will be held on 24th March 2027.
Professional affiliations
Ng is a chartered Civil Engineer (CEng) and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. He served as the 17th President of International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (2017-2021).
Ng served as the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Geotechnical Journal. He is an Associate Editor of the Landslides journal[15]. He serves as an Editorial Board Member of leading geotechnical journals: Computers and Geotechnics[16], Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment[17], Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering and Journal of Zhejiang University-Science A (Applied Physics & Engineering)[18].
Achievements
Ng has published extensively in the field of unsaturated soil mechanics, soil-structure interaction, debris flow mitigation and geotechnical design.[19][20][21][22] He holds 29 licenses and invention patents. More than 92 PhD and 63 MPhil students from 23 countries and regions have graduated under his supervision[23].
Ng is globally ranked 2nd in the list of Top 2% Scientists Worldwide in September 2025 by Stanford University in the subfield of Geological & Geomatics Engineering; Civil Engineering.
Personal life
On 5 January 2022, Carrie Lam announced new warnings and restrictions against social gathering due to potential COVID-19 outbreaks.[24] These new restrictions came into effect from 7 January 2022 onwards for a period of 14 days (up to 20 January 2022).[25] On 3 January 2022, Ng had attended a birthday party hosted by Witman Hung Wai-man, with 222 guests.[26][27][28][29] At least one guest tested positive with COVID-19, causing many guests to be quarantined.[28] Ng was photographed at the party without wearing a mask.[29]