22 July 2014 12:10

Professor Zhang Jianhua from the Chinese University of Hong Kong is among six people distinguished in their field who have been awarded honorary degrees at the July graduation ceremonies.

Zhang Jianhua is a Professor of Plant Biology in the School of Life Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Director of the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology at CUHK.

In 2008, Zhang was identified by Nature magazine as one of ‘five crop researchers who could help change the world.’

He was awarded his PhD in Biological Sciences from Lancaster University in 1988 and since then he has worked in Asia.

Professor Zhang has achieved great distinction through his research in fundamental plant science but particularly through the application of novel plant science to agriculture (particularly food production) in some of the driest places in the world.

The focus of his work is to help farmers produce more ‘crop per drop’ of water. The development of water saving techniques for farmers in some of the driest parts of the world has helped enhance the health and wellbeing of large numbers of people.