Professor Wong was elected to the Department of Earth Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, becoming the only representative of Hong Kong and one of 39 outstanding scientists from 20 countries. Earlier, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Gennady Krasnikov, expressed confidence that joint efforts would contribute to fruitful cooperation between our countries. It should be noted that the election to the Academy is highly competitive and recognizes only scientists with exceptional scientific achievements. Accepting the diploma, Professor Ming Hung Wong stressed that this is the result of the support of the Government of the Russian Federation in general and the Southern Federal University in particular, as part of the implementation of the megagrant of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (No. 075-15-2023-587), which he led.

 Professor Wong was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of the Southern Federal University at the May Academic Council of the University, which traditionally took place in the Botanical Garden on May 31. It is a recognition of his significant contribution to the development of soil science, ecology and biogeochemistry related to monitoring and restoration of polluted ecosystems, as well as long-term cooperation with SFedU. Over the years, the honorary title of SFedU has been awarded to outstanding foreign scientists, writers, public and government figures, including Norwegian archaeologist and writer Thor Heyerdahl and French-Belgian ethnologist Claude Levi-Strauss.

 At SFedU, Professor Wong is the head of the Biorestoration of Polluted Soil Ecosystems Megagrant, which aims to identify sources of soil pollution by pollutants, analyze their behavior, and assess risks to the environment and human health. In addition, under the leadership of Professor Wong, the Soil Health laboratory was established at the D. I. Ivanovsky Academy of Biology and Medicine of the Southern Federal University, where more than 70% of young employees are involved. The laboratory develops and tests technologies for the bioremediation of polluted soil ecosystems within the framework of the strategic technology project "Technologies of Soil Bioengineering" of the strategic academic leadership program "Priority 2030". Professor Wong is also the head of another university research laboratory, the Biotechnology Cluster, whose activities are aimed at implementing the SFedU development program within the framework of Priority 2030 (the Youth and Children National Project).

 Professor Wong highly appreciated the work with his Russian colleagues and stressed that joint projects make it possible to solve world-class problems in the field of environmental sciences.

 Professor Ming Hung Wong is an Advisor on Environmental Sciences at Hong Kong Normal University, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (Shenzhen), Honorary Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Environmental Geochemistry and Health (Springer Nature, 1Q), is among the top 2% of the world's scientists in the field of environmental sciences and ranks 6th in citation among 66,925 scientists.

 During his scientific career, Professor Wong has led more than 50 projects, trained 39 PhD doctors, and published over 1,000 scientific papers, cited more than 50,000 times.

 The Southern Federal University, participating in the strategic academic leadership program "Priority 2030" (National Project "Youth and Children"), concentrates efforts on solving the tasks of scientific and technological development of the country. The Professor is also involved in these strategic initiatives, contributing to the development of projects on soil bioengineering and environmental technologies.

 Congratulations to Professor Ming Hung Wong on his high scientific recognition! It is a special honor for the Southern Federal University to have among its honorary doctors a world—class scientist who unites the efforts of Russian and Hong Kong researchers.