Postgraduate Student Life @ CUHK

When Zhamilya Zhirenova first heard about The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), she was sitting in a classroom in Kazakhstan. University professors had travelled to her high school to promote their programmes—a small moment that would quietly redirect the course of her life.

Today, eight years later, she is an award-winning PhD candidate in Biomedical Sciences, splitting her time between CUHK's mountainside campus and Hong Kong Science Park. The teenage student who arrived not knowing quite what to expect has become a confident, independent scientist with her sights set on the biotech industry.

Staying for All the Right Reasons

For many undergraduates, a PhD means packing up and starting fresh somewhere new. Zhamilya took a different path—and she has no regrets. When her PhD offers arrived, one stood out clearly from the rest. “I had several options when I received my PhD offers, but the offer here was so attractive,” she recalls. “I already knew the lab from my time as a student helper, I knew the techniques, and the project suggested by my supervisor was incredibly exciting.”

The familiarity was a considered advantage. She knew the environment, trusted the science, and understood what she was committing to. That commitment deepened further through her involvement with the Center for Neuromusculoskeletal Restorative Medicine (CNRM), an InnoHK centre built on a collaboration between CUHK and Sweden's Karolinska Institutet.

Where many PhD students spend their years confined to a single university lab, Zhamilya found herself working extensively at Hong Kong Science Park, embedded in an environment that operates far closer to industry than academia. “It feels a little more like an industrial company,” she says, “and that experience has been invaluable.”

For a researcher with ambitions beyond the university, that early exposure to the pace and expectations of the biotech world has proved to be a significant head start.

Learning to Think - and Argue - Like a Scientist

The shift from undergraduate study to doctoral research is rarely smooth. The structured rhythms of lectures and deadlines give way to something far more open-ended, and many students find the transition harder than expected. Zhamilya credits the CUHK’s School of Biomedical Sciences (SBS) for building a support system that cushions that jump without removing its challenge.

“It is definitely a transition,” she says. “We are supported through induction training on publication ethics and experimental techniques, and we have the backing of core laboratories where experts train us on complex equipment.”

But what has sharpened her most, she says, is being made to stand up and defend her work in public. Mandatory events like the “SBS Postgraduate Research Day” have pushed her to communicate complex ideas clearly and confidently - a skill she has evidently mastered, having won multiple awards for both poster and oral presentations.

She also highlights the School’s commitment to global exposure, noting that they provide travel funding for students to present at major international conferences. Zhamilya herself has leveraged this support to deliver an oral presentation at the 2024 TERMIS World Congress in the USA and a poster presentation at the 2025 ISSCR in Hong Kong. “The more you present and the more questions you get, the more experience you receive on how to defend your work and address complex inquiries,” she reflects.

A Thesis Advisory Committee adds another layer of rigour, ensuring that every PhD student receives guidance from multiple faculty members and not just their own supervisor - a structure that broadens perspective and keeps research on track.

More Than a College, More Than a Lab

One of the more meaningful parts of Zhamilya's story is her long connection to Morningside College. She lived there as a student during her undergraduate degree and then continued to live there as a resident tutor. In a research life that can sometimes feel narrow and isolated, the College has given her something genuinely rare - a community that reaches across disciplines and across cultures.

“It is really like a second family,” she says warmly. “I get to interact not only with peers in my discipline but with students doing AI, maths, and physics. We talk about research, share our experiences at CUHK, and get to know professors from all faculties. It's a very nurturing environment.”

For international students in Hong Kong who might worry about finding their footing far from home, Zhamilya's experience at Morningside offers a reassuring model. Connection, it turns out, doesn't require sharing a research topic - just a willingness to show up.

Inside One of Asia's Fastest-Growing Biotech Ecosystems

Spend enough time at Hong Kong Science Park, and it becomes impossible to ignore the energy of what is being built there. Zhamilya sees it every day. Pharmaceutical companies, biotech startups, and government-backed initiatives share the same corridors, and the investment flowing into the sector is visible and tangible.

“I see people from different pharmaceutical companies and biotech startups every day,” she observes. “I see how much investment is being poured into this area and how much support comes from the government. It makes you realise you are part of a globally recognised hub for modern science.”

For a Hong Kong postgraduate researcher with one eye on industry, there are few better places in Asia to be building a career right now. The Greater Bay Area's ambitions in biotechnology are well documented - and CUHK sits squarely at its heart.

A Message to Students Back Home

Zhamilya is, by her own admission, an enthusiastic advocate for CUHK graduate programmes—so much so that her cousin is now preparing to follow in her footsteps. For students from Central Asia weighing up their options for Hong Kong graduate school, her advice cuts through the noise: be persistent, and trust the process. “A PhD is intellectually challenging and tests your persistence, as there will be failures throughout the cycle,” she says. “But as long as you stay motivated and hardworking, everything will work out.”

Ask her to sum up why a student should choose The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and three things rise to the top: a campus of rare natural beauty that somehow sits minutes from a world-class city, an international network built over years of genuine cross-cultural exchange, and a scholarship landscape broad enough to reward students of all kinds of talent and achievement.

“It's an amazing, beautiful place,” she says simply, “and above all, it is incredibly safe for an international student.” After eight years, that enthusiasm hasn't dimmed in the slightest—if anything, it has grown.