Jointly organised by the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Hong Kong Institution of Science, the "Distinguished Master, Accomplished Students Mentorship Programme" was officially kicked off and officiated by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam on January 28. At the kick-off ceremony, Mrs Carrie Lam expressed her hope that students can learn from the mentors' unfailing persistence and attitudes so that they will reach their full potential.

In her speech, she quoted Isaac Newton in saying, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants", which echoes the vision of the programme. Through the mentorship programme, 33 distinguished scientists and engineers will act as pro bono mentors for a two-year period, to provide a total of 128 local secondary school students with advices and other support for their life planning to help them grow along the science journey. Based on mutual preference, each mentor will be assigned 3 or 4 mentees. During this period, the mentors and their mentees will meet at least once a year. In addition to the mentors providing advices, the mentees are encouraged to maintain a close connection with respective mentor through a mutually agreed way of communication. Each enrolled mentee will have to submit a pro forma annual report on his or her progress to the organisers for review and follow-up where necessary and to their mentors for comment.

Participating mentors include Prof Tsui Lap-chee, President of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong, Prof Tony Chan, President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Mr Shun Chi-ming, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory. Click here for more details.