Spotlights

At the recently concluded 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya, the national team won an impressive 5 gold, 17 silver, and 33 bronze medals. Among the participants are students, faculty, and alumni of National Taiwan University (NTU). Not only did these NTU members pushed their limits in various athletic competitions, but they were also extensively involved in coaching, refereeing, press coverage, and volunteer services. This demonstrated the diverse capabilities and profound professionalism of the NTU community in international sports.... more

An international research team led by Prof. Yi-Chia Chou from the NTU Department of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Academia Sinica, has published a breakthrough study in the prestigious journal Nature. The research showcases a novel material design process that successfully achieves the wafer-scale epitaxial growth of monolayer p-type boron carbon nitride (BCN) semiconductors. By achieving well-defined atomic substitution—precisely embedding carbon atoms into the crystal lattice of single-layer boron nitride (BN)—the team realized high hole mobility. This breakthrough effectively overcomes the long-standing bottleneck in 2D CMOS technology caused by the severe lack of high-performance p-type materials, demonstrating how modifying electronic states via atomic substitution can be applied to monolayer BCN.... more

The "Taiwan Bridges Program" is an initiative that united 12 academic and research institutions, in partnership with the International Peace Foundation (IPF), to invite 31 Nobel Laureates to Taiwan over a 7-month period spanning 2025 and 2026 for a series of lectures and exchange activities. The program held its closing ceremony at National Taiwan University on October 12, 2026. The program held the closing ceremony at National Taiwan University on October 12, 2026. ROC President Ching-te Lai, serving as the Honorary Chairman of the program, stated that this series of events has built bridges of knowledge, generations, and peace. He emphasized that the government will continue to strengthen basic research and higher education, expand collaborations with international institutions, and unite government, corporate, and societal efforts to establish stable, long-term support for research and talent cultivation. The ultimate goal is build a free academic environment in Taiwan for democratic dialogue, making Taiwan a vital global hub for the exchange of knowledge and talent.... more

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. While immunotherapy has brought new hope to patients in recent years, its efficacy is limited for a significant proportion of cases, making the underlying mechanisms a critical focus of international research. Led by Prof. Leanne Li—a Visiting Professor at the NTU Department of Medicine currently with the Francis Crick Institute in the UK—a multinational research team, in collaboration with National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) and Harvard Medical School, has unveiled for the first time a novel neuroimmune axis by which lung cancer suppresses immune defenses. The study confirmed that lung tumors activate nociceptive sensory neurons, and that blocking these neural signals restores the assembly of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS)—crucial immune defense hubs—thereby enhancing the immune system’s anti-cancer capabilities. This breakthrough unlocks a pioneering "power cut" strategy for lung cancer treatment. These findings have been published in Cell.... more

A research team led by Prof. Ya-Ping Chiu from the Department of Physics at National Taiwan University (NTU) has developed "Operando Cross-sectional Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (Operando XSTM)" technology. This technique enables the direct measurement of electron transport behavior at the metal-semiconductor contact edge with atomic-level spatial resolution while the semiconductor device is actively operating. In collaboration with Prof. Lain-Jong Li’s team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Prof. Yen-Wen Lan’s team from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), the NTU team successfully conducted the first direct measurement of the carrier transfer length at the contact edge of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor transistors. These findings were published in the premier journal Nature on July 1, 2026 (Nature 655, 350-356 (2026)).... more

On July 9, 2026, Academia Sinica announced its 35th class of Academicians. Among the 19 distinguished scholars inducted, five are current faculty members at National Taiwan University (NTU), namely: Wen-Ching Winnie Li and Yu-Ju Chen (Division of Mathematics and Physical Sciences), Tei-Wei Kuo (Division of Engineering Sciences), Ruey-Hwa Chen (Division of Life Sciences), and Chien-Liang Lee (Division of Humanities and Social Sciences) .... more

The 2027 QS World University Rankings were announced on June 18, 2026 (Taipei time). National Taiwan University (NTU) ranked 54th, marking its best performance in history and advancing 9 spots from its 63rd place ranking in the previous year. Despite the number of universities evaluated by QS increasing from 8,467 last year to 8,808 this year, NTU's ranking still managed to improve in this highly competitive international higher education landscape .... more

National Taiwan University (NTU) held its 2026 Commencement Ceremony at NTU Sports Center on May 30, 2026. This year, a total of 11,543 graduates—comprising 5,497 bachelor's, 5,440 master's, and 606 doctoral degree recipients—embarked on their next journeys. NTU President Wen-Chang Chen expressed his expectations for the graduates to forge ahead with a global perspective, pursue truth, love innovation, hone professional expertise, practice gratitude and altruism, and contribute back to society. He urged them not only to carve out their own paths but also to become a force that influences others.... more

The scientific community has long believed that deep seawater was the main force in sequestering carbon dioxide (CO₂). However, a recent international study has shattered this understanding. A team led by Dr. Tapia and Prof. Sze Ling Ho at the Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, successfully reconstructed 600,000 years of ocean history, pointing out that the long-overlooked "Antarctic Intermediate Water" (AAIW), located 500 to 1,500 meters below the sea surface, played a core role in the major transitions of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past million years. This achievement has been published in the top international journal, Science Advances.... more

Fluorite-structured "zirconium dioxide (ZrO2)" has long been considered an antiferroelectric material with immense potential. However, traditional theory posits that its antiferroelectricity primarily originates from irreversible crystallographic phase transitions, which are accompanied by volume changes and lattice strain, subsequently degrading its stability and endurance under electric-field driving. A cross-institutional research team led by Prof. Tsung-Lin Hsieh from the NTU Department of Materials Science and Engineering has successfully challenged this long-standing theoretical framework. Utilizing precise "Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)" technology and interface engineering design, the team successfully stabilized nanoscale ZrO2 thin films in a specific crystalline phase that maintains a nearly constant volume and can cycle reversibly between non-polar and polar structures. In this state, when a cyclic electric field is applied, the oxygen atoms within the zirconium dioxide only need to undergo minute displacements to complete the reversible structural transformation. This drastically mitigates the lattice strain and structural fatigue of the thin film while simultaneously exhibiting pronounced antiferroelectric characteristics.... more

Prof. Joachim Frank, the 2017 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, delivered a speech titled "Cryo-electron microscopy, a new foundation for molecular medicine and drug design" at National Taiwan University on May 6, 2026. As a pioneer in the high-resolution applications of cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM), he pointed out.... more

Established in 2023, the NTU Royal Palm Lecture Series aims to invite distinguished global scholars and industry leaders to broaden the international horizons of our faculty and students. On March 6, 2026, Academia Sinica President James C. Liao speaks on the topic of “Future Society: The Development of Technology and Humanities from an Evolutionary Perspective,” exploring technological advancement, human values, and potential future societies through an evolutionary lens.... more

As spring begins, National Taiwan University (NTU) campus sees the blossoming of beautiful azaleas and another annual NTU Azalea Festival. The theme of the 2026 NTU Azalea Festival is “As Streams flow with ancient water, youthful dreams dance with azalea flowers,” showcasing NTU’s unique natural landscape, cultural history, and youthful vitality. To expand the celebration of the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Azalea Festival, the university announced the “The Beauty of NTU Photography Contest,” encouraging crowds to capture the splendid visuals for NTU and setting up for the centennial celebration... more