In the vast spring sunshine, it is the perfect time to strive forward. To fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and all previous plenary sessions, thoroughly carry out the directives of the university's 2026 Spring Work Conference, recognize excellence, boost morale, and solidly advance the School's high-quality development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering recently held a grand ceremony for the 2025 "Light of Science" series of awards and the 2026 Spring Work Conference. Yao Zhen, Deputy Secretary of the University Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, attended the meeting. The School's leadership team, all faculty and staff in Harbin, and student representatives participated in the main venue, while faculty stationed in Qingdao participated online simultaneously.

Recognizing Excellence and Setting Benchmarks: The "Light of Science" Illuminates the Original Aspiration and Mission

The first segment of the meeting was the award ceremony for the 2025 "Light of Science" series of awards. To better inspire all faculty and students to practice the School's motto of "Aiming High, Striving Continuously, Seeking Truth and Pragmatism, Encouraging Learning for the Benefit of the People," the School established 14 award categories, including the Party Building Pioneer Award, Innovative Team Award, Academic Peak Award, Moral Education Award, and Dean's Award. A total of 25 recipients—including grassroots Party branches, teams, faculty members, and students—who demonstrated outstanding performance in areas such as Party building leadership, teaching reform, scientific research breakthroughs, commercialization of achievements, moral education, national defense service, and school administration and management, were recognized. This recognition serves both as a vivid缩影 of the entire School's faculty and students fulfilling their original aspirations and mission, and as a comprehensive display of the School's fruitful achievements over the past year.

Summarizing and Deploying to Clarify Direction, Pooling Wisdom to Forge "Core Competence"

During the Spring Work Conference segment, the School's leadership in charge of various areas delivered special reports covering talent cultivation, faculty development, scientific research and international cooperation, and administration and safety asset management. The reports comprehensively summarized the achievements of 2025, deeply analyzed current shortcomings and challenges, and closely aligned with the university's "15th Five-Year Plan" development strategy and annual key tasks. They clarified the work approach and key initiatives for 2026, coordinating efforts to advance AI-empowered education and teaching, talent recruitment and cultivation, disciplinary advancement, scientific research breakthroughs, industry-academia-research collaboration, and international cooperation.

Dean Liu Zhihai presented the School's work report, systematically reviewing the School's development achievements during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and objectively analyzing existing gaps and pressures in areas such as disciplinary ranking, research structure, talent cultivation, and commercialization of achievements.

Liu Zhihai conveyed the spirit of the university's 2026 Spring Work Conference, pointing out that the university is currently in a golden window of development opportunity, and that the School must seize the momentum and take proactive action. The School will adhere to the development strategy of "Land-Sea Synergy, Opto-Acoustic Coordination," targeting the overall goal of advancing the Optical Engineering discipline into the top 10%. It will focus on emerging directions such as underwater optical quantum detection, integrated packaging and testing, underwater energy devices, and high-energy particle detection, while strengthening scenario-driven and organized research, and striving to secure approval for a first-level doctoral program in Physics.

The report also provided a detailed explanation of the upcoming sixth round of post appointment reform, emphasizing the principles of "constraint-based guarantee, incentive for excellence, and dynamic retroactive evaluation." It highlighted the use of quantified teaching hours as a key metric, underscored rewards for landmark achievements, and guided all faculty to actively align with national strategies, serve the regional economy, and engage in disciplinary development, thereby fostering a vibrant atmosphere of striving for excellence and entrepreneurial dedication.

Yao Zhen, Deputy Secretary of the University Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, delivered a speech on behalf of the University Party Committee. He highly praised the School's achievements over the past year and extended warm congratulations to the recognized collectives and individuals. He noted that this meeting serves as both a recognition and motivation session, as well as a mobilization and deployment gathering, and that the "Light of Science" symbolizes direction, warmth, and strength. He put forward four requirements for the School's next phase of work: First, strengthen the Party's overall leadership, uphold the principle of fostering virtue through education, solidify the ideological foundation, establish and practice a correct approach to governance, and implement the university's guiding principles of "Five Persistences and Five Emphases"; Second, deepen the discipline's intrinsic value, strengthen innovation-driven development, proactively align with national strategies, reinforce organized research, promote interdisciplinary integration, and implement the spirit of the Spring Work Conference; Third, unite the entire School's efforts, foster a holistic "one-game" mindset, with the leadership team taking the lead and coordinating collective efforts to tackle challenges; Fourth, uphold bottom-line and red-line principles, steadfastly fulfill the political responsibility of comprehensive and strict Party governance, rigorously manage teacher ethics, confidentiality and security, and ideological work, and create a clean and upright educational environment. Yao Zhen stated that the University Party Committee has high expectations for the School's development and hopes that all faculty and students will build on the momentum and achieve even greater success.

Meng Ting, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School, delivered a concluding speech. She pointed out that 2026 marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the third anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s inspection visit to the university, the kickoff year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and a golden decade of vigorous development for the university. Holding this conference successfully bears great significance. She emphasized three priorities: First, strengthen Party building for guidance, continuously polish the distinctive Party-building brand of "Convincing People through Reason", foster and practice a correct understanding of governance performance, fully implement responsibilities for full, rigorous Party self-governance, and firmly uphold the bottom line of teachers’ ethics and conduct. Second, focus on core responsibilities and primary missions, consolidate the foundation of talent cultivation, further implement the development strategy of "Land-Sea Integration & Opto-Acoustic Coordination", and take proactive steps to align with the university’s Three Major Campaigns. Third, fuel development with talent-driven momentum, fully leverage regional resources in Jiangsu, Hainan, the Yangtze River Delta and alumni strengths, advance faculty team building, unlock the development vitality of young and middle-aged teachers, and translate work blueprints into task lists and outcome lists.

With a Defined Blueprint, We Embark on a New Journey; Chasing Excellence, We Forge Ahead

This conference serves both as a concrete action meeting to implement the spirits of the university’s Spring Work Conference and a mobilization rally to strive for breakthroughs by anchoring the development goals of the 15th Five-Year Plan and advancing high-quality development of the School. The conference unified thinking and clarified the direction. Standing at a new historical starting point with a well-drawn blueprint, the School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering will take hard work as its foundation, forge forward in pursuit of light, adhere to the school-running principle of "Five Persistences and Five Emphases", uphold the main theme of reform and innovation featuring "Six Focuses and Six Strengthenings", strive to cultivate well-rounded talents with firm political stance, solid expertise and lofty dedication, conduct research with a strong sense of mission, sprint to achieve the "Physics Acceleration" of the School’s high-quality development, and make greater contributions to the university’s Double World-Class Initiative, the development of a leading country in education and a maritime power.