The Successful 2nd International Workshop on Intelligent Tropical-Storm-Resilient Systems for Coastal Cities (INTACT 2025) Paves the Way for Future Urban Resilience

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering successfully hosted the 2nd International Workshop on Intelligent Tropical-Storm-Resilient Systems for Coastal Cities (INTACT 2025) on August 25–26, 2025. Building upon the success of last year’s event, INTACT 2025 served as a premier platform dedicated to addressing escalating challenges posed by tropical storm disasters and advancing climate-adaptive urban systems.

The workshop was chaired by Prof. Yi-Qing Ni, with Prof. You Dong, Dr. E Deng, and Dr. Yue Dong serving as workshop secretaries. The sessions were co-chaired by Prof. Song-Ye Zhu, Prof. Huan-Feng Duan, Prof. Siu-Kai Lai, Dr. Guang-Hao Zhai, Dr. Jia-Yao Wang, Dr. Imran Ghafoor, and Dr. Bin Lu. The workshop also constitutes a key component of a five-year project funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme.

Over 100 researchers, experts, and industry leaders from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Canada, Australia, and other regions participated in the two-day event. Prof. Yi-Qing Ni extended a warm welcome to participants during the opening ceremony, highlighting the workshop’s significant achievements. These included the development of a LiDAR network for enhanced cyclone forecasting, AI-powered prediction models developed in collaboration with NVIDIA, and notable advances in structural health monitoring and climate risk assessment.

The program featured four keynote speeches from distinguished scholars, including Prof. Kenny Kwok (The University of Sydney), Prof. Ming-Feng Huang (Guangxi University), Prof. Johnny C. L. Chan (City University of Hong Kong), and Prof. Ashraf El Damatty (Western University), as well as presentations by young researchers from leading universities and industry partners. Technical sessions showcased the latest progress and future directions of the project’s main research tasks, facilitating in-depth discussions among participants.

The workshop successfully promoted knowledge exchange, collaboration, and the development of innovative strategies to enhance safety and resilience in coastal cities facing climate change challenges.

Figure 1. Group photo

Figure 2. Prof. Yi-Qing Ni

Figure 3. Prof. Kenny Kwok

Figure 4. Prof. Ming-Feng Huang

Figure 5. Prof. Johnny C. L. Chan

Figure 6. Prof. Ashraf El Damatty

Figure 7. Prof. Bo-Wen Yan

Figure 8. Prof. Gang Hu 

Figure 9. Prof. Xiao Li (Represented by Prof. Bo-Wen Yan)

Figure 10. Prof. Shi-Fei Tu

Figure 11. Prof. Sun-Wei Li (Online report)

Figure 12. Dr. Charles Cheung 

Figure 13. Dr. Da-Zhi Xi

Figure 14. Dr. Ji-Ze Zhang

Figure 15. Dr. Jian-Han Yu

Figure 16. Panel discussion