Date Time HKU-led Physics research team receives funding from Areas of Excellence Scheme Two-dimensional materials have offered great potential to revolutionize microelectronics and information technology. Image reproduced by permission of Wang Yao and The Royal Society of Chemistry from Chem. Soc. Rev., 2015, 44, 2643 A team of physicists, engineers and chemists from across local institutions, led by Chair Professor Wang YAO of Research Division for Physics & Astronomy under Faculty of Science, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), working on the research of fundamentals and emerging technologies of two-dimensional (2D) materials, has recently been awarded a funding of over HK$80 million from the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme 2020/21 (Ninth Round) under the University Grants Committee (UGC). This will facilitate the exploration of fundamental physics in the new realm of two-dimensional atomic crystals and their van der Waals heterostructures with the abundant quantum degrees of freedom (e.g. spin, valley); and to explore quantum engineering of materials and devices in the unprecedented atomically thin 2D geometries, with the aim to revolutionize electronics, optoelectronics and photonics.