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Competition

CUHK CAPSTONE PROJECT PRESENTATION COMPETITION 2025

Capstone projects are the culmination of students’ university experience, demonstrating their knowledge of their field as well as research and problem-solving skills.

 

This competition aims to provide a university-wide platform for students to showcase the outcomes of their year-long capstone projects to a much wider audience.

 

Prior to the contest, a training workshop will be organized to equip prospective student contestants with communicative and language skills.

 

We believe that this initiative will promote academic excellence and interdisciplinary communication by providing an opportunity for final-year students from across the faculties to gain valuable experience in presenting their research work in public. Winning students will receive trophies, certificates and Amazon gift cards, and their great performances will be showcased as exemplary samples in their capstone programmes.

CPPC Grand FInal Mass Mail Poster

TIMELINE

DETAILS

Format

 

Inspired by competitions including the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®), Four Minute Thesis (4MT), and Rapid Fire Presentation, students will be given a maximum of 4 minutes to present their capstone project with a maximum of 4 slides. The goal is to effectively communicate your capstone project in a short period of time to a non-specialist audience.

Eligibility

 

All students completing their capstone projects in the current academic year are eligible to participate in the competition. Students may enter individually for solo capstone projects or enter as a team for group projects.

 

Competition spots are limited and will be allocated in the order of registration.

Training

 

To help prospective contestants prepare for the competition, a Training Workshop on “Communicating your capstone project to a wide audience” will be organized. The workshop is open to all students interested in joining the competition or simply sharpening their capstone presentation skills for free.

 

Date: 26 February 2025 (Wed)
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Venue: LSK 212

 

To register for the workshop, click here (Deadline for registration: 24 February 2025 (Mon), 11:59 p.m.)

Qualifying Round

 

Applicants should fill in the online registration form for the competition and submit a video recording of their capstone presentation. For students competing as a group, all students must register but only one student (team representative) needs to submit a video on behalf of the group.

 

Online registration form: Click here
Video submission deadline: 11 April 2025 (Fri), 3:00 p.m.
Video submission guidelines: Click here

Video submission form: Click here

Evaluation criteria: Click here

Contestants will be notified of the qualifying round results by 16 April 2025.

Grand Final

 

Date: 23 April 2025 (Wed)

Time: 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Venue: LSK LT3

Panel of Judges:

Professor CHUNG Pei Chi

Associate Professor
Department of Cultural and Religious Studies

Professor KING Irwin

Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Professor TSANG Wai-chung Arthur

Associate Professor
Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Grand Finalists:

Ms. Lavanya ANTHWAL

Global Economics and Finance, Faculties of Business Administration and Social Science
– “How does Vastu Shastra Affect Housing Prices in South India?”

Ms. Jarinyagon CHANTAWANNAKUL, Kiwi

Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
– “DUALVein - Optical Illumination for Needle Injection Guidance”

Mr. Ho Lun CHEUNG, Louis

Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
– “Development of Graphene Biosensors for Bacteria Detection”

Ms. Wing Yan CHEUNG, Heidi

Psychology, Faculty of Social Science
– “Hearing Negative Voices: Is It Me or the Suppression Mechanism?”

Ms. Zakiyah Gabrielle Lim GADI

Economics, Faculty of Social Science
– “Statistical Arbitrage in Cryptocurrency Markets: Asset Clustering Through Principal Component Analysis (PCA)”

Ms. Ho Yee LEUNG, Holly

English, Faculty of Arts
– “Investigating the Prevalence of American English Features Among Local CUHK Students in Hong Kong”

Mr. Anujit SAHA

Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
– “Anatomical Tracing of Lesions After Stroke”

Ms. Shalina Alisha TELAGA

Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine
– “Developing Cell-Derived Secretome-Based Biologics for Reversing Axonal Degradation in Diabetic Neuropathy”

Mr. Eric WANG

Psychology, Faculty of Social Science
– “Emotion Influences Behavioral Outcomes and Attention During Goal-Directed Reading”

Ms. Airan WEN, Ariel

English, Faculty of Arts
– “The Greater Bay Area: A Dystopian Story”

Results:

Champion –

LEUNG Ho Yee, Holly (English, Faculty of Arts)

WEN Airan, Ariel (English, Faculty of Arts)

First Runner-up –

Lavanya ANTHWAL (Global Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration)

Second Runners-up –

Jarinyagon CHANTAWANNAKUL, Kiwi (Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

Eric WANG (Psychology, Faculty of Social Science)

Audience Choice Award –

CHEUNG Ho Lun, Louis (Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

Creativity Award –

WEN Airan, Ariel (English, Faculty of Arts)

Honourable Mentions –

HE Jia Ying, Chris (Journalism and Communication, Faculty of Social Science)

Hio Hei HONG (Psychology, Faculty of Social Science)

Po Mau LUI (Earth System Science, Faculty of Science)

Jolie Sherrie LUM (Music, Faculty of Arts)

Hung Wa Helen WONG (Energy and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

Nok Yiu WONG (English Studies and English Language Education, Faculty of Education)

Yian ZHU (Chinese Studies, Faculty of Arts)

PRIZES

  • Champion: $3000 Amazon gift card
  • 1st Runner-up: $2000 Amazon gift card
  • 2nd Runner-up: $1000 Amazon gift card
  • People’s Choice Award: $1000 Amazon gift card
  • Creativity Award: $1000 Amazon gift card
  • Plus trophies and certificates for all winners

RULES

  • For the Grand Final (live presentation), each presenter/presentation group is allowed a maximum of 4 minutes and 4 PPT slides. PowerPoint slides should be submitted by 21 April (Mon) 2025, by 11:59 p.m.
  • The presentation content delivered must be ORIGINAL and must not have been used in any previous courses or competitions except for the credit-bearing Capstone Courses. Sources of reference, including any pre-approved AI use, should be cited in a reference list to be included in the presentation slides (excluded from the 4-slide quota).
  • The presentation content must NOT contain any material that is plagiarized, generated by AI (unless specific permission has been obtained from the contestant’s major department or programme), or infringes copyright; otherwise, the contestant will be disqualified.
  • Contestants’ performance will be evaluated in terms of content, language, delivery and visuals. See evaluation criteria here. 
  • Contestants who are over-timed by 30 seconds will be disqualified.
  • The organizer reserves the right to interpret or amend the above rules.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

  • The organizer reserves the right to edit and use the submitted entries, photos, slides and video recordings of speech performances in the competition for future promotion or educational (teaching or research) purposes.
  • The organizer reserves the right to revise the terms and conditions without making any advance announcement.

Organizing Committee

Acknowledgment

 

The CUHK Capstone Project Presentation Competition 2025 is funded by the Teaching Development and Language Enhancement Grant (TDLEG).

Project Team (Organizing Committee) 

 

Principal Supervisors and Co-supervisors

Dr Jose Lai

Co-Principal Supervisor
(852) 3943 7464
joselai@cuhk.edu.hk

Dr Olive Cheung

Co-Principal supervisor
(852) 3943 7427
olivecheung@cuhk.edu.hk

Ms Ella Leung

Co-supervisor
(852) 3943 7434
ellaleung@cuhk.edu.hk

Mr Marc LeBane

Co-supervisor
(852) 3943 5942
marclebane@cuhk.edu.hk

Project Staff

Ms CHAI Marion

Project Coordinator II
(852) 3943 5954
marionchai@cuhk.edu.hk

Ms FIEDLER Anna

Project Coordinator II
(852) 3943 1589
a.j.fiedler@cuhk.edu.hk

Ms CHUNG Amy

Project Coordinator II
(852) 3943 1895
puiyinchung@cuhk.edu.hk

Showcases

Champion:

LEUNG Ho Yee, Holly

(English, Faculty of Arts)

Project Title:

“Investigating the prevalence of American English features among local CUHK students in Hong Kong”

First Runner-up:

Lavanya ANTHWAL 

(Global Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business Administration)

Project Title:

“How does Vastu Shastra affect Housing Prices in South India?”

Second Runner-up:

Eric WANG

(Psychology, Faculty of Social Science)

Project Title:

“Emotion influences behavioral outcomes and attention during goal-directed reading”

Finalist:

CHEUNG Wing Yan, Heidi

(Psychology, Faculty of Social Science)

Project Title:

“Hearing Negative Voices: Is It Me or the Suppression Mechanism?”

Finalist:

Anujit SAHA

(Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

Project Title:

“Anatomical Tracing of Lesions after Stroke”

Champion & Creativity Award:

WEN Airan, Ariel 

(English, Faculty of Arts)

Project Title:

“The Greater Bay Area”: A Dystopian Story”

Second Runner-up:

Jarinyagon CHANTAWANNAKUL, Kiwi

(Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

Project Title:

“DUALVein – Optical Illumination for Needle Injection Guidance”

Audience Choice Award:

CHEUNG Ho Lun, Louis

(Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

Project Title:

“Development of Graphene Biosensors for bacteria detection”

Finalist:

Zakiyah Gabrielle Lim GADI

(Economics, Faculty of Social Science)

Project Title:

“Statistical Arbitrage in Cryptocurrency Markets: Asset clustering through Principal Component Analysis (PCA)”

Finalist:

Shalina Alisha TELAGA

(Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine)

Project Title:

“Developing cell-derived secretome-based biologics for reversing axonal degradation in diabetic neuropathy”

Reflective Statements

Lavanya ANTHWAL

(Business Administration & Social Science – Global Economics and Finance)
Project Title: “How does Vastu Shastra affect Housing Prices in South India?”

 

“Participating in the CUHK Capstone Project Presentation Competition proved to be a truly rewarding conclusion to my final year research journey. Not only did I get the opportunity to hone my presentation skills, but I could also foster brilliant inter-faculty connections by further gaining exposure to what my peers are working towards. Furthermore, the organising committee cultivated an extremely supportive and communicative atmosphere, ensuring a smooth flow of the competition progressions. I would strongly encourage all final-year students working on their thesis to step out of their comfort zone and participate in the competition!”

WEN Airan, Ariel

(English, Faculty of Arts)
Project Title: “The Greater Bay Area: A Dystopian Story”

 

“Participating in the CPPC was an unforgettable experience that pushed me to grow both as a creator and a communicator. Presenting my creative writing capstone project and game design to a broader audience helped me see my work from a new perspective. I learned that it’s not just about creating something meaningful, but also about finding ways to share it, explain it, and connect it with others. This experience strengthened my belief in the power of literature and in my ability to keep telling stories in new and creative forms. If you’re thinking about joining, I highly encourage you to seize the chance!”

Eric WANG

(Psychology, Faculty of Social Science)
Project Title: “Emotion influences behavioral outcomes and attention during goal-directed reading”

 

“Participating in the CUHK Capstone Project Presentation Competition was a truly enriching experience that allowed me to showcase the work and effort invested in my final year project. Throughout the competition, I was inspired by the diverse and innovative projects presented by students from different disciplines, which broadened my perspective beyond my own area of study. Nowadays, interdisciplinary approaches are the key to thrive, so I encourage everyone to step outside of their comfort zone and talk with students outside of their own discipline. Moreover, I think this is a great opportunity to practice the skills in communicating complex ideas clearly and confidently. In all, I highly encourage fellow students to seize such opportunities to challenge themselves and celebrate their hard work!”

LEUNG Ho Yee, Holly

(English, Faculty of Arts)
Project Title: “Investigating the prevalence of American English features among local CUHK students in Hong Kong”

 

“I feel incredibly honored to participate in the Grand Final of the CPPC, which allowed me to present live in front of esteemed scholars and fellow students. I learned so much about the finalists’ research topics and was amazed by how they simplified complex ideas for a non-specialist audience. As Professor King emphasized, it doesn’t matter how good our research is: if we can’t communicate it with others, it’s of little use. I truly enjoyed presenting—every second of it—thank you so much for giving me a stage!”

CHEUNG Ho Lun, Louis

(Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)

Project Title: “Development of Graphene Biosensors for bacteria detection”

 

“Participating in the CUHK Capstone Project Presentation Competition was an unforgettable experience, which allowed me to share my work with a diverse audience. The process of refining my presentation and conveying complex ideas clearly helped me develop essential communication skills, which I believe are invaluable for my future career.

I’m deeply grateful for the recognition in this competition, and I encourage others to seek opportunities like this to step outside their comfort zones and grow through new challenges.”

Jarinyagon CHANTAWANNAKUL, Kiwi

(Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering)
Project Title: “DUALVein – Optical Illumination for Needle Injection Guidance”

 

“Joining the Capstone Project Presentation Competition was a great way to wrap up the one-year effort I have put into my engineering project. It was not just about showcasing what I had built, but also about learning how to communicate my work to people from different backgrounds. As an engineering student, it was a challenge to step away from technical language and explain my ideas in a way that could resonate with audiences from the Arts, Social Sciences, and beyond. Nevertheless, I see this as an essential skill for future presentations like research pitches, competitions, or even my thesis defence.

I am very grateful to the ELTU CPPC Team for their dedication in organizing this event and offering such useful training. Listening to other presentations and learning new techniques from fellow participants made me realize how valuable it was to learn from my peers, all within a single event. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”