We organized a townhall meeting on October 12, 2021 (an eventful day as the typhoon no 8 signal was hoisted!). This event was important for the Institute as it was the first official meeting where Professor Max Shen, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), engaged the ten HKU Faculties to register their interest in data science research and share with each other the strengths and specialties in particular areas.  A total of 60 invited researchers from the ten Faculties attended. The purpose was to gauge interest in and potential for research development in data science, and to then decide the themes in which the Institute will inject resources to grow platforms of capabilities and cross-disciplinary synergies.  We received enthusiastic responses from Deans or representatives of Faculties sharing impressive research themes in data science from a few chosen projects.   The meeting, which consisted of parallel break-out sessions among different groups and a wrap-up plenary session, has pathed the way for identifying the current three research focus areas that the Institute has pledged to develop in the coming years.  The event provided a good opportunity for the new IDS hires to introduce themselves to HKU’s more established researchers, and also raised the visibility of the Institute in the University community.