- Scholarship in 2022 at Imperial College London
About King Heng Lau’s work
King Heng Lau is an aspiring atmospheric physicist studying the dynamics of tropical cyclones through new observations and model simulations. Predicting risks associated with landfalls requires a thorough understanding of the physical processes that govern the evolution of landfalling cyclones and their remnants, which would constitute the physical basis of reliable predictive cyclone models. More research is needed on the boundary layer processes during tropical cyclone landfall and the dynamics of cyclone motion over land.
King Heng will be collaborating with meteorological agencies in the UK and Hong Kong, using rare wind profile observations and pioneering modelling techniques to gain further understanding of landfall processes, evaluating the performances of climate models in simulating these processes, and providing first insights into potential future changes in cyclone land penetration. The results will ultimately lead to improved disaster prediction and mitigation, and facilitate better climate change adaptation strategies globally.
Biography
King Heng Lau is a PhD student at Imperial College London's Space and Atmospheric Physics Group. He earned a BSc in Earth System Science from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He has previously been awarded The Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarships, The Innovation and Technology Scholarship, was on both the CUHK Shaw College Head's List and CUHK Science Faculty Dean's Honours List, and won the Sophie Wai Chee Cheng Research Prize.