Meetings

Professor Jay Siegel, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), delivered a visionary address at the 2026 Inclusion Conference on the Bund in Shanghai on 10 September. In his speech, Professor Siegel emphasised the necessity of a human-centric AI economy and the critical importance of anticipating the long-term societal impacts of rapid technological advancement.

The HKU Academy for the Talented (the HKU Academy), a global talent platform for secondary school students worldwide managed by the Admissions Office of The University of Hong Kong (HKU), LIGHTSPEED STUDIOS, and Tencent WeTech Academy, have successfully concluded the third edition of “AI Adventures: When AI Meets Games with Tencent”. The programme brought together secondary students in Secondary 4 to 6 (Years 11 to 13 / Grades 10 to 12) for five days of immersive learning at the intersection of artificial intelligence and game development. The response from participants was overwhelmingly positive. 

Insilico Medicine will present the first clinical findings for ISM6331, its AI-designed pan-TEAD inhibitor, during a Rapid Oral session at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026, taking place October 23–27 in Madrid. The presentation will report initial safety, pharmacokinetic and antitumor findings from a global, multicenter Phase I study in patients with mesothelioma and other advanced solid tumors.

Designed with support from Insilico’s generative chemistry platform Chemistry42, ISM6331 is an investigational oral small molecule that inhibits all four TEAD family transcription factors, disrupting tumor-promoting signals associated with Hippo pathway dysregulation. The program has received U.S. FDA Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation for mesothelioma.

ISM6331 reflects Insilico’s strategy of using AI to develop precisely designed medicines against difficult-to-treat, age-associated diseases. The presentation will take place Sunday, October 25, from 8:30–10:00 a.m. CEST in the Cordoba Auditorium – Hall 4.

The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) and Elsevier will host a free webinar to connect researchers and scientists across Asia with opportunities to publish, collaborate and engage with an international scientific community through the SLAS journals. The webinar takes place Wednesday, September 23, 2026, 5:30 AM CDT / 4:00 PM New Delhi / 6:30 PM Beijing.

The 2026 MRS International Risk Conference, themed "AI in an Uncertain World," was successfully held from July 17 to 19, 2026, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Hosted by the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the conference was co-organized by China Finance Review International (CFRI), Modern Risk Society (MRS), and the Dishui Lake Advanced Institute of Finance at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Bringing together over 300 scholars and students from around the world, the conference featured 64 parallel sessions with 199 papers presented. More than 15 sessions focused on AI-related topics and 14 on climate finance and climate risk, reflecting the most pressing concerns in today's international financial research. As one of the co-organizers, CFRI actively participated in the event and awarded the CFRI Research Excellence Award. The organizing team also visited the Shidler College of Business to discuss international academic cooperation and journal development.

ARDD 2026 will convene senior leaders from Novartis, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Takeda, Menarini, GSK, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk and other global pharmaceutical companies alongside leading academics, regulators, investors and biotechnology innovators at Harvard University from October 1–3.

Newly announced program highlights include a pharmaceutical chief executive panel moderated by TIME Senior Health Correspondent Alice Park; an FDA and ARPA-H discussion on aligning clinical trials with regulatory mandates; and presentations from the 11 XPRIZE Healthspan finalist teams preparing aging interventions for Phase 2 clinical trials.

Dedicated forums will examine AI-enabled drug discovery, pet and animal longevity, and virtual cell models that capture biological change and aging over time. The three-day program will span aging biology, clinical development, pharmaceutical R&D, regulation, investment and the translation of longevity science into new medicines.

Now in its 13th year, ARDD brings together the scientific, commercial and regulatory leaders shaping longevity biotechnology. The meeting will take place at the David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University in Boston.

The 12th World Sustainability Forum (WSF-12) was held in Hong Kong, China, from 21 to 24 August 2026. Organized by the MDPI journal Sustainability, the event brought together over 300 experts, scholars, policymakers, and industry representatives from more than 100 universities and research institutions. During the forum, three MDPI Sustainability Foundation Awards were presented, celebrating the achievements of researchers whose work is advancing sustainability science and delivering meaningful societal impact. Nominations for the 2027 flagship awards are now open.

New research is changing what we know about breast, lung, and prostate cancers. On Thursday, October 1, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology will host a public webinar highlighting key findings from Alliance and Alliance Foundation Trials (AFT) studies presented at the 2026 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

October’s Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation will showcase breaking science that spans widely used treatments and emerging innovations