Six academics from Saint Francis University (SFU), Hong Kong’s newest university, have been recognized among the world’s top 2 percent most-cited scientists in a ranking Stanford University ranking, underscoring SFU’s growing reputation as a research-driven applied sciences university.
The six scholars, led by its president, Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, span disciplines that include finance, acoustics, nursing and social work, reflecting the breadth of the university’s applied research strengths. All six earned recognition in the careerlong impact category, with four also distinguished in the single recent year category, reflecting the sustained relevance of their research output.
Cheung, a distinguished scholar in corporate finance and capital markets, served as president of the Education University of Hong Kong before assuming the presidency of SFU. Under his leadership, the institution was successfully upgraded from a college of education to a full-fledged university — an achievement that earned him the informal title “the father of EdUHK”.
“We encourage our scholars to leverage their expertise to meet the needs of societal development,” he said, adding that SFU will continue to support interdisciplinary collaboration and high-quality research to translate meaningful outcomes into real-world benefits.
Six major research universities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region consistently place scholars on the list each year. The University of Hong Kong recorded 434 scholars on the 2025 ranking, while the Chinese University of Hong Kong had 431. SFU’s achievement of having six scholars recognized marks a significant milestone for the city’s newest applied-sciences university.
SFU traces its origins to Caritas Francis Hsu College, established in 1985, and operated as the Caritas Institute of Higher Education before being officially granted university status in 2024, when it also became Hong Kong’s first applied sciences university. For a university that received its university title only two years ago, placing scholars across four distinct applied disciplines on a list that evaluates over 100,000 scientists worldwide is a meaningful marker of research credibility.
It is an early signal that Hong Kong’s first applied-sciences university is building a serious research identity to match its teaching mission.
The Stanford ranking is compiled in two categories: careerlong impact, covering the period from 1960 to 2024, and single recent-year impact, measuring research influence in 2024 alone. The list is compiled using Scopus data and evaluates over 100,000 top scientists across 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields, based on indicators that include citation counts, research output and composite citation impact metrics.
