Foreword

The University of Hong Kong has dedicated itself to the pursuit of excellence in research and scholarship for over 90 years. Research and Scholarship is published online annually by the University to document the wide range of activities pursued by its academic staff and research postgraduate students.

Research and Scholarship 2007 contains three sections:

(1) An overview of the University's research, highlighting major institutional achievements during the report period (1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007);
(2) Details of ongoing research projects and publications published during the report period; and
(3) A list of titles of theses by HKU research postgraduate students for which higher degrees were conferred during the report period.

Section (1): Overview

This introduction below is organized under three headings:
(a) Major Institutional Policy Developments;
(b) Collaborative Research; and
(c) Research Highlights.

The major topics covered under each of the headings outlined are summarized below:

(a) Major Institutional Policy Developments: development of strategic research areas and themes; review of Research Assessment Exercise 2006 results; reformation of the URC Research Support Budget; raising awareness of the importance of research integrity; preparations for fourth round of the Areas of Excellence Scheme; review of the Research Output Prize; review of procedures for the administration of conference grants; allocation of additional posts to Faculties under the Centenary Recruitment Plan; and establishment of the HKU–SPACE Research Fund.

(b) Collaborative Research: launch of a collaborative initiative with three local universities to study Kunqu, the art form behind all modern forms of Chinese opera; collaborative alliance with the Shandong Computer Science Center of the Shandong Academy of Sciences for further research and development of the Digital Evidence Search Kit (DESK), a software package developed by the Department of Computer Science; and successful development of an environmentally-friendly micro-wind turbine technology jointly by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and French inventor Mr Lucien Gambarota, founder and president of Motorwave Limited.

(c) Research Highlights: results of Competitive Earmarked Research Grant applications; Innovation and Technology Support Programme; National Natural Science Foundation of China/Research Grants Council Joint Research Scheme grant applications; Croucher Foundation Advanced Study Institutes and International Conferences and Seminars; academic honours; Outstanding Researcher Award Scheme; published research; and details of patents filed and issued.

Section (2): Details of Ongoing Research Projects and Publications

The contents of this section are arranged under individual Faculties and Departments. Each research project entry includes the project abstract, name of investigator, funding source and project start date.

Section (3): Titles of Theses

Copies of the theses whose titles are given in this section are kept in the University Libraries, and their abstracts and tables of contents can be viewed online. The full text of a thesis can also be made available on request.