Good News: We Have Secured Funding to Support the 2nd Phase of GEM Programme

On 29 December 2025, we received a good news that our research proposal on the 2^nd phase of the UN-endorsed Global Estuaries Monitoring (GEM) Programme was selected and funded by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR Government via its Research Impact Fund (RIF) scheme. Led by Professor Kenneth Leung, the Director of the GEM Programme, and the Director of State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Health (formerly called State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution) at City University of Hong Kong, we have secured US$1.32m for sustaining the GEM Programme until May 2031.

The RIF scheme aims to encourage Hong Kong’s academics to explore and articulate the potential of research to benefit the broader community, fostering impactful and translational research projects. It also seeks to promote increased collaboration beyond academia.

The GEM Programme, set to conclude its 1^st phase by the first quarter of 2026, has successfully established a global monitoring network with 120 researchers from 51 countries, and collected about 2500 water samples from 191 estuaries worldwide. The research team is currently analyzing data and drafting a manuscript to report the key findings of the first phase. Building upon the success of the initial phase, the 2^nd phase of the GEM Programme will focus on utilizing innovative passive samplers and estuarine sediment samples to monitor a broader spectrum of emerging contaminants in estuarine environments. The team will also conduct ecotoxicology studies to establish water quality criteria for these contaminants and enhance stakeholder engagement through capacity building initiatives.

Through these collaborative efforts, the GEM Programme aims to enhance global understanding of marine pollution in world’s estuaries, codesign solutions, and work towards cleaner and safer estuarine environments for all.