Hong Kong (VNA) – Dinh Vu Tung Lam of Vietnam has earned a doctoral scholarship in Mathematics worth more than 19,000 HKD (about 2,421 USD) per month at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), marking another milestone in his academic journey.
The scholarship will enable the 23-year-old man to pursue a four-year doctoral programme at HKU, where he will work with professors at the Department of Mathematics. His research will focus on Cluster Algebra, a field he has pursued since 2024.
In an interview with Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondents in Hong Kong, Lam said that his guiding principle since high school has been never to give up and to face every challenge with patience.
That approach has helped him achieve notable accomplishments. He won a silver medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) and co-authored, with his teacher Do Thanh Son, the book “Techniques and art of solving plane geometry problems.”
While studying Advanced Theoretical Mathematics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Lam won the university's Student Mathematics Olympiad for three consecutive years, received the S.S. Chern Class Scholarship and graduated with distinction.
Under the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP), he completed nearly 300 pages of research notes and detailed calculations, earning the Best UROP Mini-conference Paper Award in 2025.
For Lam, embarking on a doctoral journey means more than continuing his studies. It represents an opportunity to enter the demanding world of academic research, where researchers must formulate questions, persevere with difficult problems and accept periods without clear answers.
Despite his achievements, the young mathematician remains modest, describing himself simply as someone who loves mathematics and wants to pursue research seriously. He hopes his future work will contribute to Vietnam's mathematical community and enable him to pass on knowledge and experience to younger generations.
Lam said studying in an international academic environment requires not only hard work but also persistent self-study and adaptability. He has developed his own learning path by reading academic papers, attending specialised seminars and building networks with international researchers.
Discussing innovation in learning, he stressed the need to shift from passive learning to independent research thinking by asking questions, exploring new approaches and strengthening self-learning and adaptability.
Although pursuing pure mathematics, he said he believes that the discipline provides a foundation for modern technologies. Knowledge acquired at HKU could support research into the theoretical foundations of AI systems, optimisation methods and interdisciplinary projects in Vietnam.
Looking ahead, Lam plans to return to Vietnam after completing his doctoral programme to pursue teaching and research and help build internationally connected academic groups. He also expressed hope for more effective talent-attraction mechanisms, research funding and formal networks linking young Vietnamese intellectuals overseas with domestic universities and research institutes./.
VNA
