Apple Pui Yi Chui wins Engage Breakthrough of the Year with project about Coral Nursery.
Apple Pui Yi Chui from the Chinese University of Hong Kong won the 2024 Falling Walls Engage Breakthrough of the Year for her project "Breaking the Wall to Engage Schools in Coral Restoration." The Coral Nursery Education Programme turns schools into coral nurseries, involving students in coral restoration to foster awareness of marine conservation and climate change. Falling Walls Engage featured 21 finalists promoting science engagement tied to sustainability and innovation, with a focus set by sponsor Hannover Re Foundation. The summit celebrates breakthrough thinking and global science collaboration.
Apple Pui Yi Chui wins Engage Breakthrough of the Year with project about Coral Nursery.
Berlin, 18 November, 2024 - This year’s Falling Walls Engage Breakthrough of the Year (BOTY) is Apple Pui Yi Chui with her project “Breaking the Wall to Engage Schools in Coral Restoration”. Chui is from the Chinese University of Hong Kong based in Hong Kong. She is the winner among 21 finalists who presented their Science Engagement projects in the Engage pitch contest at the Falling Walls Science Summit.
“Our programme offers first-hand experiences that help students develop deep emotional connection with local coral systems. This, in turn, inspires active engagement in marine conservation, empowering students to make a difference,” states Apple Pui Yi Chui. The finalists’ science engagement projects all have the aim to raise awareness and understanding for science and science-based decision making. “Involving citizens in science-based decision making is vital if we want to bring the public along with us and get our decision making right the first time. On issues like climate change, involving the public can also help policy be more ambitious and be quicker at finding solutions that work,” says 2024 Jury Chair Melanie Smallman, Co-Director of the Centre for Science Communication at UCL.
“Falling Walls Engage enhances science engagement and its impact globally, driving the conversation around innovations needed to solve global challenges. Our strong partnership enables us to generate broad publicity on climate change and climate change adaptation, linked to education and innovation. With the Coral Nursery Education Programme, a project has won that combines scientific expertise in coral research, commitment to tackling climate change, environmental education and the involvement of the next generation in a unique way,” says co-jury chair Olaf Brock, member of the Hannover Re Foundation’s Board of Directors and Managing Director and CEO of Hannover Re Takaful and Bahrain Branch. For the first time since Falling Walls Engage’s inception in 2020, all finalists showcased projects that promote science engagement with a connection to sustainability, innovation, and climate change. This focus was set by the Hannover Re Foundation as the exclusive sponsor of the Falling Walls Engage Pitches.
The winning project, The Coral Nursery Education Programme, launched in 2020 with the Hong Kong SAR Government, engages students in coral restoration by turning schools into nurseries. Over 12 months, students culture corals under expert guidance, which are later outplanted into the sea. The programme raises awareness about coral reefs and climate change, fosters connections with marine environments, and promotes conservation through eco-tours, aquarium visits, and community outreach.
Each year, Falling Walls Engage takes place as one of three pitch contests as part of the Falling Walls Science Summit. This year, 21 finalists were chosen from 300 applicants from over 100 countries.
About Falling Walls
The Falling Walls Foundation is inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 and the dawn of a new era of freedom. The non-profit foundation promotes breakthrough thinking and builds a growing network of leaders from science, business, and the public sector to tackle great challenges and make groundbreaking ideas accessible to society. The Falling Walls Science Summit is the leading forum for global science leaders with focus on science breakthroughs. The summit takes place every year in Berlin from 7 – 10 November, the anniversary day of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This holistic approach of international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral discourse is globally unique and attracts leading researchers, CTOs, science strategists, sciences funders, and media worldwide. More: falling-walls.com
About Hannover Re Foundation
Under the motto "Give back to the future!", the Hannover Re Foundation helps to preserve creative scope for future generations. In doing so, we are formulating a mission for ourselves: In a time marked by great challenges, we are helping to raise social awareness and constructively confront change. In doing so, we focus on two areas: In the area of art, we support artists and projects that address social issues and focus on discourse and possible solutions to problems. In the area of sustainability, we support projects that help mitigate the consequences of climate change or that help people adapt to the consequences of climate change. More at Hannover Re Foundation
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