School of Energy and Environment (SEE) — Hong Kong’s first dedicated energy-and-environment school (2009)

Module: 01 Academics · Sub-file: School of Energy and Environment In 2009, long before “carbon neutrality” and “energy transition” became global mainstream agendas, City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) had already set up a school dedicated to tackling these very issues — the School of Energy and Environment (SEE). Over a decade later, CityUHK ranked first in the world for SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) in the 2026 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, with SEE one of the core schools underpinning that achievement. This entry traces its founding, positioning, programmes and three strategic research pillars. For the relationship between SEE’s curricula and the School of Data Science and the College of Computing, see 01-academics/college-of-computing-2024.md.

# 1. Founding: Hong Kong’s first, 2009

According to publicly available information^※, SEE was established in July 2009^※ as the first dedicated school of its kind in Hong Kong^※ and one of the few such dedicated schools in the Asia‑Pacific region^※.

Setting up a dedicated “energy + environment” school in 2009 was a remarkably forward-looking move — at a time when “carbon neutrality” and “energy transition” had yet to enter the global mainstream. It was yet another instance of CityUHK’s institutional instinct for “staking out a position early in emerging cross‑disciplinary fields” (akin to the School of Creative Media for digital media and the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine for filling Hong Kong’s veterinary gap).

# 2. Positioning: built for “megacities”

The School’s English abbreviation SEE works as a deliberate double meaning — it stands for School of Energy and Environment, but can also be read as Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.

Its stated ambition is to become a leading school in Asia, advancing sustainable energy and environmental technologies through an interdisciplinary approach, with a particular focus on megacities like Hong Kong and their neighbouring regions (ReThink HK^※).

“Megacity-facing” is SEE’s most distinctive positioning. Hong Kong is itself a super‑dense, high‑energy‑consumption, high‑emission metropolis, where energy and environmental problems — air, water, heat‑island effect, energy demand — are both textbook‑typical and particularly intractable. Anchoring its research in “megacity sustainability” aligns with Hong Kong’s own realities and resonates with the shared challenges of the Greater Bay Area urban cluster.

# 3. Three strategic research directions

According to public sources^※, SEE focuses on three strategic areas:

1. Sustainable Technologies for Energy, Environment and Health — linking energy, environment and health, and exploring how technology can serve all three simultaneously.
2. Urban Atmospheric and Aquatic Environment: science and policies — studying air and water in cities, and explicitly placing “science” alongside “policies”, signalling that the School is concerned not only with technical solutions but also with governance and policy.
3. Systems Approach to Smart and Healthy Cities: Nexus of Energy, Climate, and Environment — adopting a systems/nexus perspective that treats energy, climate and environment as an interconnected whole.

A common thread runs through all three: an emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the integration of “technology–policy–systems”, rather than isolated single‑technology breakthroughs — which is exactly what the inherent complexity of energy‑and‑environment problems demands. Faculty expertise specifically spans climate change and air pollution, building and energy efficiency, innovative environmental treatment processes, waste‑to‑energy, renewable energy conversion and storage, energy management, and sustainable‑development policy and economics.

# 4. Undergraduate programmes: four pathways

SEE’s undergraduate offering is built around two degree streams — Energy Science and Engineering and Environmental Science and Engineering — and split into four admissions pathways (per the CityUHK mainland‑China admissions page^※ and the local admissions page^※):

In Year 1, undergraduates take common foundation courses in mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry and biology before streaming into their majors. Both BEng programmes (Energy Science and Engineering; Environmental Science and Engineering) are accredited by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE)^※. At postgraduate level, the School offers a Master of Science (MSc Energy and Environment) as well as Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research degrees.

# 5. Postgraduate funding and fees

SEE’s PhD/MPhil research degrees follow the university‑wide funding framework applicable to all CityUHK departments (details in programs.md). The publicly available figures specific to SEE include:

PhD students must pass a qualifying examination within 10–24 months of admission^※ (a maximum of two attempts is allowed). Applicants who graduated from institutions where English is not the medium of instruction must meet a minimum threshold of TOEFL 79 (internet‑based) or IELTS overall band score 6.5.

# 6. Recent highlights: world No. 1 for SDG 9 and young‑researcher awards

CityUHK ranked first in the world for SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) in the 2026 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, with SEE being one of the principal contributing schools — a result directly connected to its research positioning around “energy–environment–health” and “smart‑city systems”.

Junior researchers from the School have also been making their mark on the international academic stage: according to public reports, two SEE doctoral students, Dongxue Zheng and Yabi Huang, achieved excellent results at the 2026 (10th) Academic Forum on Hydrological‑Environmental Modelling and Forecasting, offering a sideways glimpse of the School’s postgraduate training quality.

# 7. How SEE fits CityUHK’s broader character

• Early mover in emerging cross‑disciplinary fields. SEE (2009), the School of Data Science (2018), and the College of Computing (2024; see 01-academics/college-of-computing-2024.md) form a consistent lineage, all reflecting CityUHK’s strategy of creating dedicated schools at cross‑disciplinary frontiers.
• Mirroring the sustainable‑campus agenda. SEE’s research forms a “research‑plus‑practice” echo with CityUHK’s “net‑zero carbon campus” and its work on solar energy / perovskite solar cells (see 05-campus/architecture-and-sustainability.md and 04-research/perovskite-solar-cells.md).
• Serving the Greater Bay Area and national strategies. Megacity‑ and neighbouring‑region‑focused energy‑and‑environment research is a natural fit for the collaborative‑development needs of the Greater Bay Area.

# 8. In brief

• CityUHK’s School of Energy and Environment (SEE) was founded in July 2009 — the first dedicated school of energy and environment in Hong Kong^※.
• It is positioned to target megacities like Hong Kong and their neighbouring regions, advancing sustainable energy and environmental technologies through an interdisciplinary approach, with the ambition of becoming a leading school in Asia. All three strategic research directions emphasise interdisciplinarity and technology–policy–systems integration.
• Undergraduates choose from four admissions pathways spanning energy/environmental science and engineering majors and cross‑disciplinary programmes with finance and sustainable business. Postgraduate offerings cover the full spectrum of MSc, MPhil and PhD.
• CityUHK’s 2026 world No. 1 ranking for SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) counts SEE among its core supporting schools.