The University of Hong Kong

Overview of Research Activities of The University of Hong Kong 2007-08

 

Major Institutional Policy Developments

 

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) seeks to sustain and enhance its excellent reputation as an institution of higher learning through outstanding teaching and world-class research, so as to produce rounded graduates with life-long abilities to provide leadership within the society they serve.

 

The University’s research policy flows directly from this institutional vision. Its aim is to strengthen its capabilities in both basic and applied research within a culture that strives for excellence and relevance as well as collaboration.  The University emphasises innovative, high-impact and multidisciplinary research, and believes that a fine research record enhances the quality of research postgraduate education.  It recognises that it must be fully accountable for the effective management of the public and private resources it deploys towards its research aims, and welcomes the opportunity to act in partnership with the wider community to generate, disseminate and apply knowledge.

 

To further develop the University’s research excellence and to realise its vision to be recognised as one of the top research-led universities in Asia and in the world, the University Research Committee has developed the following five strategies:

 

1.          to develop strategic research areas and themes;

 

2.          to support ‘blue-sky’ and curiosity-driven research;

 

3.          to nurture next-generation scholars and researchers;

 

4.          to encourage knowledge transfer to community and society; and

 

5.          to enhance international and Mainland collaborations.

       

The University places particular emphasis on strategic interdisciplinary research in selected fields for the valuable synergies it can produce.  During the reporting year, the University undertook a review of the 8 strategic areas and 21 themes initially identified in 2004–05 for support and investment. The review has enabled the University to develop and refine the areas and themes as the focus for the coming 3 years. The current 5 areas of interdiscplinary research for strategic development are as follows:

 

§             Biomedicine

 

§             China

 

§             Community

 

§             Environment

 

§             Frontier technology

 

Within these five strategic areas, the University has identified 19 themes, with a focus on creating critical mass and synergies. It is also striving to provide the research environment for new and important niche areas of research to develop, and has provided funding for three emerging strategic research themes.

 

While strengthening its research focus in this way, the University is also investing in the human resources necessary to sustain a research culture dedicated to excellence.  It intends to

 

(a)        recruit 200 additional professoriate faculty members internationally by 2012;

 

(b)        increase the proportion of full professors to attain a minimum of 30% of academic staff, with funding for at least 50 endowed professorships; and

 

(c)        triple the number of postdoctoral fellows (from 100 to 300) and more than double the number of research postgraduate students (from 1,500 to 3,600).

 

Within this broad strategic framework the University continues to encourage research excellence in a number of important specific areas.  It continues to fund curiosity-driven research with small project grants, and to incubate new research initiatives with seed-funding grants.  It continues, through its RPg reform policies, to develop a culture of student-centred, performance-based, and shared-responsibility research.  It continues to support specific research proposals with a China focus by supplying matching funding for the central government’s ‘973’ and ‘863’ projects (the major mainland programmes for basic and applied research respectively). The University has a number of measures to support and enhance General Research Fund applications, including a new inititaive introduced during the reporting year of a series of seminars by former RGC Panel Chairs held in April to June 2008.

 

The following institutional policy developments took place during the report period. 

 

 

Strategic Research Areas and Themes

 

The University continues to support collaborative, interdisciplinary research. A major Review Forum by the University Research Committee (URC) of the 8 strategic research areas and 21 strategic research themes identified for support from 2004–07 was held in September 2007. Through the Review, the URC was able to consider the future direction of the SRTs, how they might be reformulated or rationalised, and how new and emerging SRTs might be identified. During this Review, individual theme groups were invited to present their research findings and discuss with the URC issues such as strength of collaboration, international prominence, and scope for development. Proposals for new themes were also put forward. In March 2008, the URC approved the 5 areas and 19 themes that would be targeted for seed funding or continued support for the coming three years. Some of these themes are continuations of those in the first round, some have been slightly modified to better represent the research work, and a few are completely new themes. The research teams of each theme were asked to submit a proposal outlining their plans for the coming three-year period.

 

 

URC Research Support Budget

 

In June 2007 the URC decided to replace the existing, fragmented funding system for research spending at the University of Hong Kong with a single, forward-looking research support budget. This reform was made in the context of an anticipated increase in research spending (largely accounted for by the recruitment of additional staff under the University’s Centenary Recruitment Plan) from its 2006–07 baseline level of $78.801 million by at least 20% in the next three years.   

 

 

Research Integrity

 

In 2005–06, the University established a central University-wide committee structure to give ethical clearance to research proposals from both clinical and non-clinical faculties involving human participants and live animals, and introduced appropriate operational guidelines and procedures.

 

The University considers that one of the best ways it can maintain its high standards of research integrity is to impress on research postgraduate students and new members of the research staff how much importance is attached to this issue.  These young researchers are best placed, as their careers progress, to influence others by their own good example. In line with its commitment to research integrity, the University held a Forum on Research Integrity on February 21, 2008, which was attended by RGC Chairman Professor Roland Chin, HKU members, and representatives from sister institutions. The programme consisted of a formal presentation by Professor Ovid J.L. Tseng, Chancellor of the University System of Taiwan, followed by a forum chaired by Professor P.K.H. Tam, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Vice-President.  Professor Tseng spoke on international experience in fostering responsible research and  discussed his impressions of the SRF-ORI First World Conference on Research Integrity held in September 2007.

 

 

Conference Grants

 

Starting from July 1, 2007, the previous cap of HK$4,000 on conference registration fee and accommodation expenses for staff conference grants has been removed to provide staff with more flexibility. In addition, to reflect price increases, the maximum amount to be granted has been raised to HK$16,500 with effect from July 1, 2008.  The Committee on Research and Conference Grants will consider conference grant provision to RPg students in 2008–09.

 

 

HKU–SPACE Research Fund

 

In December 2006 the Board of Directors of the University’s extension arm, HKU–SPACE, agreed that a sum of HK$2.5 million should be used to establish an HKU–SPACE Research Fund.  The Fund would be used to support research activity at the University, particularly in the area of small research grants.  The URC and the Postgraduate Board of Postgraduate Education agreed that this sum should be made available to newly-appointed staff within the first twelve months of assuming duties for a top-up grant to support Type B RPg student places.  They would be allowed to apply, on a first-come-first-served basis, for a top-up grant of up to HK$104,800 to support a Type B RPg place, on condition that the top-up grant was matched dollar for dollar by the applicant’s Faculty or Department, and the newly-appointed staff has obtained a Type B quota from the Faculty’s main pool allocation. 

 

 

Collaborative Research

 

The increasing importance of collaboration in research is fully recognised by the University’s management and by individual researchers.  In addition to joining forces with local institutions, the University is an active participant in Universitas 21, a consortium of leading universities around the world dedicated to the internationalisation of higher education. 

 

The University also collaborates with a number of leading institutions, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and government bodies, both in mainland China and overseas. Partnership with industry has also been reinforced to promote the application of research results.

 

Large numbers of individual researchers undertook collaborative projects during the report period with researchers in the PRC or elsewhere in the world across a wide range of activities, including joint research projects, co-authoring of papers, teaching or lecturing, providing consultancy or peer review services, supervising research students, and serving as external examiners. 

 

In May 2007 the University launched a major collaborative initiative with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to study Kunqu, the art form behind all modern forms of Chinese opera.  During the current reporting year, an international conference was held in Beijing on October 8–11, 2007 to celebrate the 6th anniversary of the inclusion of Kunqu in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.  A collaboration between the Research and Development Project on Kunqu at HKU, the China Art Academy and Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre, and co-organised by the Cultural Industries Institute of Peking University, the four-day conference incorporated three performances of the classic A Youthful Rendition of the ‘Peony Pavilion’ produced by internationally renowned scholar, Professor Pai Hsien-yung.

 

To strengthen the partnership between HKU and King’s College London, both universities have agreed to launch reciprocal King’s/HKU Fellowship Awards to enable their academic staff members to visit the partner institution. Under the terms of this award, the University also seeks to support research initiatives that are in line with the University’s five research strategies, ensure that collaborations or academic exchange add value at an institutional and individual level, and develop research and related links with the receiving department/faculty and King’s College. Applications were sought during the reporting year to visit King’s College in the 2008–09 academic year. Future collaborations of this nature will be considered with other appropriate institutions.

 

 

University–Industry Partnership

 

The University encourages the commercialisation of its intellectual property through technology transfer, as the practical application of technological advances benefits both the University and the community as a whole. The Technology Transfer Office was established in September 2006 to carry out technology transfer, legal, and liaison operations, while commercial operations come under Versitech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University.

 

There were a number of examples of successful university-industry partnership during the report period. Within 2007–08, Versitech Ltd undertook a total of 15 contract research projects with various industrial sectors.  As of 2007–08, Versitech Ltd has licensed a cumulative total of 53 inventions and know-hows to industry, representing 24.3% of all the University’s inventions and know-hows. The Faculty of Engineering has licensed 44.3% of its inventions and know-hows, the Faculty of Science has licensed 21.6%, and the Medical faculty has licensed 11.8%.

 

The University has been active in bidding for funds under the Innovation and Technology Fund’s University-Industry Collaboration Programme (UICP) and the Innovation and Technology Support Programme (ITSP).  Since the inception of the programmes in 1999, the University has received total funding of just under HK$25.5 million for 25 approved projects under UICP and HK$255.22 million for 70 approved projects under ITSP.

 

 

Research Highlights

 

Significant Research Achievements

 

A number of research highlights in 2007–08 are listed below:

 

 

2008–09 GRF Exercise

 

The results of the 2008–09 GRF exercise were announced in July 2008. In this exercise the University submitted a total of 527 applications, of which 221 were approved (one quarter of the total number of projects supported). The University’s overall success rate showed a significant improvement from last year, rising from 36% to 41.9%. Maintaining its past track record, the University received the lion’s share of the funding (now for ten out of the last eleven exercises).  It was awarded HK$148.034 million—28.9% of the total CERG funding allocation of HK$512.449 million.

 

 

Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme: Fourth Round

 

In the fourth round of the AoE scheme, results of which were announced by UGC in September 2007, an HKU-lead project on the “Control of Pandemic and Inter-pandemic Influenza” was awarded HK$76 million. The overall goal of this AoE is to enhance public and animal health by developing a multi-disciplinary influenza research programme of international excellence through the integration of basic, clinical, and epidemiological research spanning the animal-human interface. The programme commenced in January 2008, with completion set for January 2016. This AoE project is the fourth to be awarded to the University as lead institution of the ten funded by UGC to date.

 

 

Innovation Technology Support Programme (ITSP)

 

Awards from the Innovation and Technology Fund under ITSP have been an increasingly important source of funding for the University since the programme’s introduction in 1999.  The University had 70 projects approved from 1999 until the end of the reporting year (representing 24% of the 299 projects approved under ITSP), and has been granted funding of $255.22 million for these projects.

 

 

NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme

 

The University also did well in 2007–08 in bidding for funds under the National Natural Science Foundation of China/Research Grants Council (NSFC/RGC) Joint Research Scheme.  Funding of HK$15 million was awarded to 23 projects submitted by six UGC-funded institutions.  The University submitted 41 preliminary proposals, of which 13 were shortlisted and 6 funded.  It received funding of HK$4.15 million, 26% of the total allocation.

 

 

Croucher Foundation ASIs

 

The Croucher Foundation sponsors a number of Advanced Study Institutes (ASIs) each year, to enable experts in a particular field to meet and conduct advanced tuition on a defined topic. In April 2007, funding of HK$590,000 was granted to the University of Hong Kong for the ASI “Recent Advances in Diabetes and its Complications” by Professor S.S.M. Chung (Department of Physiology). This ASI was conducted on September 3–7, 2007.

 

In May 2008 the University was awarded funding of HK$600,000 and HK$597,000 for two ASIs, “Ageing and Longevity: Biology and Challenge” by Dr Z. Zhou (Department of Biochemistry) and “Biomarkers for Early Detection of Cancers: Technological Advances and Clinical Readiness” by Dr J.M.C. Luk and Professor R.T.P. Poon (Department of Surgery), respectively.

    

 

Croucher Foundation International Conferences and Seminars

 

The Croucher Foundation also provides sponsorship for international conferences and seminars in the fields of natural science, technology or medicine.  Such events must be of direct benefit to Hong Kong, and preferably have a strong research emphasis.  Two such conferences were organised by the University’s researchers during the report period:

 

(a)        November 16–19, 2007, Second International Conference on Evidence-based Advanced Dentistry, by Professor L.P. Samaranayake (Faculty of Dentistry); and

 

(b)       January 22–24, 2008, Stem Cells in Leukemia and Lymphoma: Biology, Animal Models and Future Directions, by Professor L.C. Chan (Department of Pathology).

 

During the report period the Croucher Foundation also approved three sponsorship grants to organise the following events:       

 

(a)        Dislocations 2008, by Professor A.H.W. Ngan (Department of Mechanical Engineering) (October, 2008);

 

(b)       6th National Conference on Coordination Chemistry (cum International Symposium on Coordination Chemistry), by Professor V.W.W. Yam (Department of Chemistry) (July, 2009); and

 

(c)        11th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management, by Professor A.G.O. Yeh (Department of Urban Planning and Design) (July, 2009).

 

 

External Academic Honours

 

The University of Hong Kong has a proud record of academic recognition.  Ten of its researchers are members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, more than at any other UGC-funded institution.  The University has also been awarded more Croucher Foundation Senior Research Fellowships (28 out of a total of 72 fellowships awarded since 1997, including Senior Medical Research Fellowships) than any of its sister institutions.

 

During the report period a number of the University’s researchers received important academic honours:

 

(a)        Professor T.W.K. Fung (Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science) was awarded a Croucher Foundation Senior Research Fellowship.

 

(b)       Professor Ngaiming Mok (Department of Mathematics) was conferred a second-class award of the State Natural Science Award 2007 on the basis of his research programme “Complex geometry on symmetric and homogeneous spaces”. He was one of just two recipients of the State Natural Science Award in Mathematics in 2007 in all of China.

 

(c)        Professor Che Chi Ming (Department of Chemistry) became the first Hong Kong scientist to be awarded the prestigious Prize of Ho Leung Ho Lee (HLHL) Foundation for Scientific and Technological Progress.

 

 

Outstanding Researcher Award Scheme

 

The University continues to encourage and reward distinguished research achievement by its staff by conferring its own outstanding research awards at a well-attended annual ceremony. At a ceremony held on 22 January 2008 the University conferred the following awards in respect of research achievements during and prior to the report period:

 

(i) Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Awards

 

-        Prof. E. C. M. Lo (Faculty of Dentistry)

 

(ii) Outstanding Young Researcher Awards

 

-        Dr D. W. Arner (Department of Law)

 

-        Dr C. K. Hui (Department of Microbiology)

 

-        Dr D. M. Pomfret (School of Humanities)

 

-        Dr A. S. T. Wong (School of Biological Sciences)

 

-        Dr J. Yang (Department of Civil Engineering)

 

(iii) Outstanding Researcher Awards

 

-         Prof. M. L. Chye (School of Biological Sciences)

 

-         Prof. S. Y. Leung (Department of Pathology)

 

-         Prof. A. H. W. Ngan (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

 

-         Prof. R. T. P. Poon (Department of Surgery)

 

(iv) Distinguished Research Achievement Award

 

-         Prof. V. W. W. Yam (Department of Chemistry)

 

(v) Internal Award for CAE Membership

 

-         Prof. K. Y. Yuen (Department of Microbiology)

 

Since 2005, the University’s Outstanding Researcher Award Scheme has included the Research Output Prize to reward the authors of outstanding individual publications such as refereed journal papers, books, or CD-ROMs. Faculties can determine the research output form that best represents their research achievement and select on output item each year for the prize. Ten Research Output Prizes were awarded in January 2008 for the following items of research output:

 

-         Faculty of Architecture: Prof. D. P. Y. Lung, ‘Sustainable Cultural City: Risks and Opportunities of Cultural Tourism Development in Hong Kong, Macao and Kaiping’, Historic Environment, 19, 2 (2006), 20–5.

 

-         Faculty of Arts: Prof J. Ci, The Two Faces of Justice, Harvard University Press (2006), 252 pages.

 

-         Faculty of Business and Economics: Dr J. Han, Prof. H. T. Tan, ‘Investors’ Reactions to Management Guidance Forms: The Influence of Multiple Benchmarks’, The Accounting Review, 82, 2 (2007), 521–43.

 

-         Faculty of Dentistry: Dr C. K. Y. Yiu, Prof. N. M. King, M.R.O. Carrilho, S. Sauro, F.A. Rueggeberg, C. Prati, R. M. Carvalho, D. H. Pashley, F. R. Tay, ‘Effect of Resin Hydrophilicity and Temperature on Water Sorption of Dental Adhesive Resins’, Biomaterials, 27 (2006), 1,695–1,703.

 

-         Faculty of Education: Dr L. Zhang, R. J. Sternberg, The Nature of Intellectual Styles, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (2006), 235 pages.

 

-         Faculty of Engineering: Y. Liu, H. Pottmann, J. Wallner, Y. L. Yang, Dr W. Wang, ‘Geometric Modeling with Conical Meshes and Developable Surfaces’, ACM Transactions on Graphics, 25, 3 (2006), 681–9.

 

-         Faculty of Law: J. M. Brabyn, ‘Protection against Judicially Compelled Disclosure of Identity of News Gatherers’ Confidential Sources in Common Law Jurisdictions’, The Modern Law Review, 69 (2006), 895–934.

 

-         Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine: Dr T. L. Chan, S.T. Yuen, Dr C. K. Kong, Y. W. Chan, A. S. Y. Chan, Dr W. F. Ng, W. Y. Tsui, M. W .S. Lo, W. Y. Tam, V. S. W. Li, Prof. S. Y. Leung, ‘Heritable Germline Epimutation of MSH2 in a Family with Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer’, Nature Genetics, 38, 10 (2006), 1178–83.

 

-         Faculty of Science: Dr Z. Geng, Dr B. Chen, Dr P. Chiu, ‘Total Synthesis of Pseudolaric Acid A’, Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 45, 37 (2006), 6197–201.

 

-         Faculty of Social Sciences: Prof. T. M. C. Lee, M. W. C. Chan, C. C. H. Chan, J. Gao, K. Wang, Dr E. Y. H. Chen, ‘Prose Memory Deficits Associated with Schizophrenia’, Schizophrenia Research, 81(2006), 199–209.

 

Major International Research Events

 

A number of important international research conferences were organised during the report period by the University including the following examples:

 

(a)    February 18–22, 2008—The International Astronomical Union Symposium on Organic Matter in Space was held at the University, the first time it has been held in Hong Kong. The symposium was opened by the President of the International Astronomical Union, Dr. Catherine Cesarsky, Director General of the European Southern Observatory.

 

(b)    March 15, 2008—The International Conference on “The Olympics in East Asia: Nationalism, Regionalism, and Globalism on the Centre Stage of World Sports” was held at the University and was jointly organised by the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, HKU, and the Council on East Asian Studies, Yale University.

 

(c)    June 8–11, 2008—The ACGA-HKSMG International Conference on Genetic and Genomic Medicine was held at the University. A number of distinguished scientists including Dr. Oliver Smithies, a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, were invited to deliver keynote lectures. Dr. Smithies also gave a public lecture at the University that attracted an audience consisting not only of HKU teaching staff and postgraduate students but also many secondary school students.

 

(d)    June 18–20, 2008—Issues related to the impact of English as a medium of instruction in universities was explored by over 250 attendees from Hong Kong and around the world in an international conference at HKU entitled “Language Issues in English-medium Universities: A Global Concern”.

 

 

Published Research

 

The University has an excellent record of published research, both in discipline-specific journals and in more high-profile publications such as Science, Nature, and The Lancet.  As far as its academic publishing is concerned, it has the highest number of refereed publications, both in absolute terms and expressed as a ratio of publications per staff member, of any UGC-funded institution.  According to the latest available statistics, for 2006–07 (see RGC Annual Report 2007), the University had 4,960 peer-reviewed refereed publications. 

 

The University does particularly well in scientific publications.  According to statistics published by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), there were a total of 172,240 citations of 18,514 HKU papers in journals tracked by the ISI between 1998 and June 2008.  This was the highest number of citations of any UGC-funded institution.  In 2007 the University had 2,640 publications in journals tracked by the ISI, again more than any other UGC-funded institution.  The ISI also ranked 96 HKU academic staff among the world’s top 1% of scientists.    

 

Patents

 

The University has filed 775 patents in various parts of the world since 1998, mostly in the United States (376), the European Union (143) and Greater China (105 in China, including Hong Kong, and 15 in Taiwan).  During the same period 161 patents were granted, principally in the United States (80).  During the 2007–08 academic year, the University filed 66 patents.  During the same period 24 patents were granted and 13 patent applications were abandoned.

 

Agreements/Legal Documents

 

During 2007–08, the University has signed or reviewed 260 technology transfer related agreements/legal documents—such as licensing, consultancy and materials transfer agreements—with counter signing parties mostly in Hong Kong (82), the United States (73), the European Union (38) and the People’s Republic of China (30).

 

RGC Visit

 

In June 2008, a delegation of about 60 RGC members visited the University as part the RGC’s schedule of visiting all institutions in Hong Kong. During the visit, the delegation sought to gain a clear picture of research at HKU, including its strategies, activities, facilities, achievements, and output. The University provided this information through meetings, a presentation, a detailed poster display, visits to school and departments, and discussion opportunities with academics and students involved in research. Some 140 posters were displayed giving an overview of research policy and practices, research programmes and directions, and highlights of the University’s AoE, Collaborative Research Fund, and Innovation and Technology projects as well as the work of our two State Key Laboratories. To enable in-depth insight to some areas of the University’s research, eight sub-groups of the delegation visited schools and departments across the University. Details on over 500 research projects were provided.  

 

 

 

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