| Overview
of Research Activities of The University
of Hong Kong 2009-10
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. In 2008, the University identified 5 areas of interdisciplinary
research on which to focus support in the 2008 to 2011 three-year
period. These 5 areas 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 named
four emerging research themes: Communication Disorders, Diversity
Studies, Earth as a Habitable Planet, and Stem Cell and Regenerative
Medicine.
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 following institutional
policy developments took place during the report period.
Strategic Research
Areas and Themes
The University continues
to prioritise support for collaborative, interdisciplinary research
through its strategic research areas and themes. For the 2008–11
three-year cycle, the focus is on 5 areas—Biomedicine, China,
Community, Environment, and Frontier Technology—which incorporate
19 themes. There are also four emerging themes. This strategic
research areas approach strives to provide the research environment
for new and important niche areas to develop, and, for example,
has helped nurture successful Areas of Excellence (AoE) projects.
The identified areas and themes have been widely promulgated through
a website and a
booklet entitled Advancing Together, with Chinese versions of
both launched during the reporting year. To keep up the momentum
for interdisciplinary collaborations and to better monitor the
progress of each theme, HKU arranged a Strategic Research Themes
Forum on November 24–25, 2009, which has greatly improved communication
among the theme members, the University Research Committee and
the Central administration. Besides allowing new recruits to join
the relevant themes, the Forum also provided opportunities for
cross-fertilisation of ideas across themes and areas.
Research Integrity
The University is
dedicated to creating an environment that promotes responsible
academic conduct by embracing standards of excellence, credibility
and integrity. Professor Brian Duggan was appointed as Research
Integrity Liaison Officer in October 2008 to promote Responsible
Conduct of Research (RCR). A series of retreat-like seminars on
RCR were organised for 8 non-clinical Faculties on a cluster basis
in March and April 2010 and attended by more than 170 HKU academics
at all grades from Postdoctoral Fellows to Chair Professors. Another
RCR seminar for clinical Faculties has been tentatively scheduled
for early 2011. An on-line training programme for human subjects
and scientific research ethics was also introduced at the seminars
series, and an on-line handbook on RCR for scientists, which was
introduced at the seminar for the Sciences and Engineering group,
has been subscribed to by HKU and subsequently made available
on the University website for members' reference.
To raise students' awareness of research integrity, all RPg students
who will submit their thesis on or after January 1, 2011 are required
to have their thesis undergo a compulsory plagiarism check before
submission for examination. In addition, research proposals from
RPg applicants will also be checked before the offer of admission.
Moreover, all MPhil and 4-year PhD students registered on or after
September 2009 are required to take a compulsory core course on
ethics and research.
HKU has taken the
lead to organise a Forum on Research Data Sharing on behalf of
the Heads of Universities Committee (HUCOM) on June 28, 2010.
The Forum aimed to open up discussion on specific concerns related
to research data sharing with local institutions, research funding
bodies, and relevant Government units. Two overseas speakers—Professor
Denise Lievesley of King's College London and Professor Edward
Seidel of the National Science Foundation—were invited to share
their insightful views and best international practices on the
issue. Professor Roland Chin, as Chairman of the Research Grants
Council, gave an opening speech. In response to the call by the
Research Grants Council, the initial goal set at the Forum is
to develop, in conjunction with other fellow institutions, a proposal
on a Joint Research Data Archive for use by researchers and students.
The Forum was well received with an attendance of over 70 people
from local institutions, faculty members and officials from government
units and local funding bodies.
HKU–SPACE Research
Fund
An HKU–SPACE Research
Fund has been established to support research activity at the
University since 2007–08. A sum of HK$2.5 million is made available
to all newly appointed staff within the first twelve months of
assuming duties to apply for a top-up grant of up to HK$104,800
to support a Type B Rpg place. All awards are made on a first-come-first-served
basis on condition that the top-up grant will be matched dollar-for-dollar
by the applicant's Faculty/Department, and the associated Type
B Rpg quota place should be from the Faculty's main pool allocation
for the current quota year.
Collaborative Research
The increasing importance
of collaboration in research is fully recognised by the University's
management and by individual researchers. Internationalisation
has been a key feature embedded in many aspects of the University's
strategic development. HKU has positioned itself to be a globally
competitive, regionally engaged university, and in the face of
the challenges ahead, we very much value the enhancement of collaboration
with our international and Mainland partners. In addition to joining
forces with local institutions, the University is an active participant
in Universitas 21 (U21), a consortium of leading universities
around the world dedicated to the internationalisation of higher
education. In June 2010, the PVC (Research) attended the U21 annual
PVC (Research) meeting in the UK and gained insights into various
topics including research integrity, governance, research assessment,
management, and changes in measuring university world rankings.
HKU is also a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities,
a regional network of 42 world-class institutions.
The University also collaborates with a number of leading institutions,
laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and
government bodies, both in mainland China and overseas. We have
4 State Key Laboratories (SKLs), including the two new SKLs in
Synthetic Chemistry and Liver Research, which is more than that
of any other local institution. We will make good use of the prestigious
status of SKLs to reinforce our research collaborations with Mainland
partners for greater impact. Partnership with industry has also
been reinforced to promote the application of research results.
Shenzhen and the Pearl
River Delta are strategically the most natural and convenient
area of the Mainland for the University to establish a research
and development base in the region and foster much closer collaboration
with the Government, industry, education and research communities
in the Mainland. In April 2010, the University decided to go forward
with a project to establish the HKU Shenzhen Institute of Research
and Innovations (HKU-SIRI) in the Shenzhen Virtual University
Park (SVUP). This will enable HKU to expand its research scope
and impact; participate in research projects sponsored by various
government agencies in the Mainland; facilitate technology transfer
and participate in industry sponsored projects; and overcome limitations
in Hong Kong, in terms of for example research funding, personnel,
and space. A task force has been established, and the associated
processes to implement the project are in progress.
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.
To enhance research
competitiveness and international collaboration, the University
has established several schemes in the past few years, and the
2009–10 reporting period has marked the success of many of these
new initiatives:
(a) Visiting Research
Professors Scheme
The second round of
the Visiting Research Professors Scheme (VRP) attracted 13 nominations,
and 5 awards were made to leading professors from, inter alia,
Princeton, Rutgers, and Toronto. Since its introduction in 2009,
16 prominent scholars have been appointed under the VRP Scheme.
The Scheme, initiated by the University Research Committee with
funding from the University, aims to attract leading scholars
at professor level from overseas institutions to pay well planned
visits to HKU to make contributions through building research
collaborations, nurturing young researchers, and helping colleagues
in the preparation of GRF and other grant proposals. The visits
are for periods of up to 6 months within 2 to 4 academic years.
(b) King's/HKU
Fellowships
To strengthen the
partnership between HKU and King's College London, both universities
have launched reciprocal King's/HKU Fellowships to enable their
academic staff members to visit the partner institution. In the
first year of the Fellowships, one HKU scholar from Psychiatry
visited King's College for academic exchange. The number of awards
has been increased from 2009 in response to the high quality of
applications received. During the 2009–10 reporting years, four
awards were made to HKU members who will make visits to King's
within the 2010–11 academic year.
(c) HKU Overseas
Fellowships
The HKU Overseas Fellowship
awards were established to support academic staff members to visit
overseas institutions over a period of one to two months for research
collaborations that are in line with the University's five research
strategies: promoting strategic research themes, fostering curiosity-driven
blue-sky research, nurturing next generation researchers, developing
knowledge transfer, and strengthening international and Mainland
collaborations. In the 2009–10 application round, seven Fellowships
were awarded, each representing HK$50,000 to meet the costs of
return economy air travel and part of the living costs during
the visits, to take place in 2010–11.
(d) Doris Zimmern
HKU–Cambridge Hughes Hall Fellowships
To forge closer ties,
and foster cultural exchange and academic excellence, between
HKU and Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, HKU offers co-funding
alongside the Doris Zimmern Charitable Foundation to enable teaching
and research staff of the University to spend a period of time
at Hughes Hall, as visiting fellows, for research collaboration
and other academic purposes. The cost of the accommodation and
a pro rata College fee in respect of individual fellows will be
covered by the University. In the reporting year, four Fellowships
were given to HKU staff.
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 (TTO) 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.
In support of the
University's mission of knowledge exchange, the Technology Transfer
Office continues to strengthen professional capabilities in technology
transfer. Two intensive training courses were organised in the
past year as follows:
(a) TTO has partnered
with The Fédération of Internationale des Conseils en Propriété
Industrielle (FICPI) to run the South East Asian Drafting (SEAD)
patent prosecution and drafting training course in Hong Kong for
the first time. The course is divided into three segments, with
five internationally renowned patent attorneys serving as instructors.
Segment 1 is a series of tutorials and workshops for 5 days; segment
2 is for participants to work on a few drafting exercises by correspondence;
and segment 3 is a second series of tutorials and workshops over
5 days. The course attracted participants with legal, technology
transfer, industry or research backgrounds coming from Hong Kong,
the Mainland, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and
Thailand. Segment 1 was held from April 12–16, 2010, and segment
3 was completed in the week of September 20, 2010.
(b) In collaboration
with Oxford Isis, the technology transfer arm of the University
of Oxford, TTO organised a 4-day intensive Technology Transfer
Training Workshop from June 8–11, 2010. It was very well received
by technology transfer professionals coming from Hong Kong, the
Mainland, Macau, Malaysia and Italy.
Both training courses
emphasised practical skills and provided guidance to avoid common
pitfalls in managing TT activities, contract research, consultancies,
and so on, which participants have found valuable.
There were a number
of examples of successful university-industry partnership during
the report period. Within 2009–10, Versitech Ltd undertook a total
of 19 contract research projects with various industrial sectors.
As of 2009–10, Versitech Ltd has licensed a cumulative total of
69 inventions and know-hows to industry, representing 24.8% of
all the University's inventions and know-hows. The Faculty of
Engineering has licensed 47.9% of its inventions and know-hows,
the Faculty of Science has licensed 22.5%, the Faculty of Architecture
has licensed 20.0%, and the Medical faculty has licensed 12.3%.
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$26.84 million for 27 approved projects
under UICP and HK$315.95 million for 99 approved projects under
ITSP.
Research Highlights
Significant
Research Achievements
A number of research
highlights in 2009–10 are listed below:
Areas of Excellence
(AoE) Scheme: Fifth Round
In the fifth round
of the Areas of Excellence (AoE) scheme, results of which were
announced in September 2009, HKU researchers play a significant
role in four of the five awarded projects, with the three projects
led by HKU researchers having been awarded $272M over a period
of eight years, representing more than 70% of the total funds
in this round. The three projects are as follows:
(a) Center for Nasopharyngeal
Carcinoma Research, HK$92 million, Project Co-ordinator: Professor
M.M.L. Lung (Department of Clinical Oncology, Li Ka Shing Faculty
of Medicine);
(b) Institute of Molecular
Functional Materials, HK$92 million, Project Co-ordinator: Professor
V.W.W. Yam (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science); and
(c) Theory, Modeling,
and Simulation of Emerging Electronics, HK$90 million, Project
Co-ordinator: Professor F.C. Zhang (Department of Physics, Faculty
of Science).
2010–11 GRF Exercise
The results of the
2010–11 GRF exercise were announced in June 2010. In this exercise
the University submitted a total of 614 applications, of which
195 were approved, representing a success rate of 31.8%. The University
once again received the lion's share of the funding (now for thirteen
out of the last fourteen exercises), securing a quarter (25.6%)
of the total number of projects supported. As with the 2009–10
exercise, HKU received the largest amount of funds for projects
under the Physical Sciences Panel and the Biology and Medicine
Panel, and the second largest amount of funds for projects under
the Humanities, Social Sciences and Business Studies Panel. The
University was awarded HK$173.491 out of HK$626.266 million (including
the 15% on-cost from the RGC; the figures excluding the on-cost
are HK$150.862 and HK$544.58 million respectively).
2009–10 CRF Exercise
In the 2009–10 round
of the RGC's Collaborative Research Fund (CRF), HKU was awarded
the largest amount of funding through the scheme. Of the 9 projects
funded, HKU is lead institution of 3 projects and participating
in a further 5 projects as a collaborating institution, making
it the most successful university in terms of the number of projects
as lead and collaborating institution. The three projects with
HKU as lead institution are as follows:
(a) 'To Establish
a Metabolic Study Centre in Hong Kong: Focusing on the Liver-derived
Hormones', HK$7.13 million*, Project Coordinator: Professor K.S.L.
Lam (Department of Medicine), in collaboration with CUHK;
(b) 'Molecular Pathology
of Liver Cancer—A Multidisciplinary Study', HK$9.32 million*,
Project Coordinator: Professor I.O.L. Ng (Department of Pathology),
in collaboration with HKBU and HKUST; and
(c) 'Pluripotent Human
Stem Cell Platform for Tissue Regeneration and Drug Screening
for Cardiovascular Diseases', HK$7.71 million*, Project Coordinator:
Professor H.F. Tse (Department of Medicine), in collaboration
with CUHK.
*including 15% on-costs
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 99 projects approved from 1999 until
the end of the reporting year (representing 21% of the 466 projects
approved under ITSP), and has been granted funding of $315.95
million for these projects.
NSFC/RGC Joint Research
Scheme
The University also
did well in 2009–10 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 seven UGC-funded institutions. The University
submitted 63 preliminary proposals, of which 12 were shortlisted
and 6 funded. It received funding of HK$3.94 million, 26.27% of
the total allocation.
State Key Laboratories
(SKLs)
In June 2010, the
Ministry of Science and Technology of the Central Government approved
HKU's application to establish two new SKLs:
(a) The SKL of Liver
Research will undertake frontier basic research on the prevention,
diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases developed from hepatitis
B virus (HBV) infection. The sequelae of chronic HBV infection,
such as hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, are
major causes of death in Hong Kong and mainland China. The SKL,
while operating independently, will partner with the SKL for Oncogenes
and Related Genes of the Shanghai Cancer Institute.
(b) The SKL on Synthetic
Chemistry has two main objectives: (i) to create or identify novel
chemical entities that are of fundamental interest with regard
to structure and bonding and/or have unique properties that have
useful applications; and (ii) to devise/develop new environmentally
friendly methods for the synthesis of chemical entities of importance
to society. The SKL is set up in collaboration with the Chinese
University of Hong Kong, and it will partner with the SKL of Organometallic
Chemistry of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry.
The decision was made
by the Ministry in recognition of HKU's excellence in research
in the two areas, attributing to its outstanding research team
and advanced laboratory facilities. The University has also established
long-term partnership and cooperative relations with institutions
on the Mainland. The two new SKLs will add to the HKU SKL of Brain
and Cognitive Sciences and the SKL of Emerging Infectious Diseases
established in 2005 at the University, which were then the first
and only SKLs in their respective fields located outside of the
Mainland. HKU is also one of six collaborating local universities
for the SKL in Marine Pollution, established in 2009 and hosted
by City University of Hong Kong.
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.
An ASI on "Nearshore
Coastal Water Quality Research" took place on December 14–19,
2009. It was organised by Professor J.H.W. Lee with funding of
HK$602,000. A follow-up lecture entitled "Beach Water Quality
and Dense Jets" was held on May 10, 2010, also organised
by Professor Lee.
In May 2010, a grant
of HK$600,000 was awarded to the University for the ASI "Molecular
Genetics and Clinical Advances in the Study of Esophageal and
Gastric Cancers" by Professor S.Y.K. Law (Department of Surgery),
which is scheduled to be held in January 2011.
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, each with
sponsorship of HK$100,000, were organised by the University's
researchers during the report period:
(a) November 5–7,
2009, RNA Silencing 2009: Mechanisms and Applications, by Dr.
D.Y. Jin (Department of Biochemistry); and
(b) January 4–6, 2010,
2nd International Symposium on Surface and Interface of Biomaterials,
by Professor M. Wang (Department of Mechanical Engineering).
During the report
period the Croucher Foundation also approved two sponsorship grants
of HK$100,000 each for the following events:
(a) Alzheimer's Disease
Conference: From Public Health, Basic and Clinical Sciences to
Therapeutic Insights, by Dr. R.C.C. Chang (Department of Anatomy),
held in May 2010; and
(b) 10th Asia-Pacific
International Symposium on Microscale Separations and Analysis
(APCE 2010), by Dr. Y.S. Fung (Department of Chemistry), to be
held in Dec 2010.
CAS–Croucher Joint
Laboratories (CAS–Croucher Funding Scheme for Joint Laboratories)
After a competitive
exercise in 2009, the Croucher Foundation offered an ad-hoc grant
of HK$300,000 to Professor M. Sun for a one-year collaborative
project with the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (CAS) on
"Lithospheric Evolution of South China and Its Consequences
of Environmental Changes and Mineral Deposit Formation".
With a view to further develop this initial collaboration, this
award was granted with an objective of a follow-up application
to be submitted by Professor Sun under this funding scheme in
2011.
External Academic
Honours
The University of
Hong Kong has a proud record of academic recognition. The University
has also been awarded more Croucher Foundation Senior Research
Fellowships (35 out of a total of 82 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 L.C.
Tsui, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Hong
Kong, was elected as a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences in November 2009 in recognition of his scientific achievement
and important contributions to promoting the development of science
and technology in China. Professor Tsui was also conferred an
Honorary Doctor by King's College London on November 25, 2010
in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science.
(b) Professor P.K.H.
Tam, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research), received
the 2009 China Endoscopy Outstanding Leader award from the Ministry
of Science and Technology in recognition of his contributions
in training Mainland paediatricians to conduct endoscopic surgery
and introducing Western medical concepts on the Mainland.
(c) Dr J.C.S. Chim
from the Department of Medicine, together with nine scientists
from the Chinese mainland, was awarded a second-class award of
the 2009 State Scientific and Technological Progress Award for
a project entitled "Epigenetic study in acute leukaemia:
Basic research and clinical application."
(d) Professor T.W.K. Fung, Chair Professor of Statistics, received
a second-class State Natural Science Award of the Ministry of
Education for his outliers research in statistics. In addition,
two joint projects of HKU, partnering with Heilongjiang University
of Chinese Medicine and Sun Yat-sen University, won a first-class
award and a second class award respectively.
(e) Professor K.Y.
Chan and Professor H. Sun from the Department of Chemistry, and
Professor S. Shen from the Department of Physics, made up three
of the four recipients of the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship
Award this year.
Outstanding Researcher
Awards Scheme
The internal awards
for research excellence are in place at HKU to encourage and reward
distinguished research achievements by its staff. The awards are
conferred at a well-attended annual ceremony. This year's ceremony
was held on January 28, 2010, and 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. C.L.W. Chan (Department of Social Work and Social Administration)
Prof. T.W. Lam (Department of Computer Science)
Prof. V.O.K. Li (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering)
Dr M.H. Sham (Department of Biochemistry)
(ii) Outstanding
Young Researcher Awards
Dr G. Biancorosso (School of Humanities (Music))
Dr W.Y. Lui (School of Biological Sciences)
Dr N. Mamoulis (Department of Computer Science)
Dr G.J. Smith (Department of Microbiology)
Dr K.K.Y. Wong (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering)
Dr J.W.P. Yam (Department of Pathology)
Mr S.N.M. Young (Department of Law)
(iii) Outstanding
Researcher Awards
Prof. F. Dikötter (School of Humanities (History))
Prof. J.Wang (Department of Physics)
Prof. S.C. Wong (Department of Civil Engineering)
Prof. P.S.F. Yip (Department of Social Work and Social Administration)
The University's Research
Output Prize, included in the Outstanding Researcher Award Scheme
since 2005, aims to reward the authors of outstanding individual
publications such as refereed journal papers, books, or CD-ROMs.
Faculties select an output item each year for the prize, and they
can determine the research output form that best represents their
research achievement. Ten Research Output Prizes were awarded
at the ceremony in January 2010 for the following items of research
output:
– Faculty of Architecture:
Daniel Chi-Wing Ho*, Kwong-Wing Chau*, Alex King-Chung Cheung*,
Yung Yau*, Siu-Kei Wong*, Hing-Fung Leung*, Stephen Siu-Yu Lau*
and Wah-Sang Wong*, 'A Survey of the Health and Safety Conditions
of Apartment Buildings in Hong Kong', Building and Environment,
43 (2008), 764–775.
– Faculty of Arts:
Douglas Kerr*, Eastern Figures: Orient and Empire in British
Writing, Hong Kong University Press (2008), 258 pages.
– Faculty of Business
and Economics: Chi Kin (Bennett) Yim*, David K. Tse* and Kimmy
Wa Chan, 'Strengthening Customer Loyalty through Intimacy and
Passion: Roles of Customer-Firm Affection and Customer-Staff Relationships
in Services', Journal of Marketing Research, 45 (2008),
741–756.
– Faculty of Dentistry:
C. Jayampath Seneviratne*, Yu Wang*, Lijian Jin*, Yoshi Abiko,
and Lakshman P. Samaranayake*, 'Candida albicans Biofilm Formation
is Associated with Increased Anti-oxidative Capacities', Proteomics,
8 (2008), 2936–2947.
– Faculty of Education:
Robin R. Mellecker* and Alison M. McManus*, 'Energy Expenditure
and Cardiovascular Responses to Seated and Active Gaming in Children',
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 162(9)
(2008), 886–891.
– Faculty of Engineering:
B.P. Chan*, C.H. Li*, K.L. Au-Yeung*, K.Y. Sze* and A.H.W. Ngan*,
'A Microplate Compression Method for Elastic Modulus Measurement
of Soft and Viscoelastic Collagen Microspheres', Annals of
Biomedical Engineering, 36(7) (2008), 1254–1267.
– Faculty of Law:
James D. Fry*, 'Dionysian Disarmament: Security Council WMD Coercive
Disarmament Measures and Their Legal Implications', Michigan
Journal of International Law, 29(2) (2008), 197–291.
– Li Ka Shing Faculty
of Medicine: Marjolijn J.L. Ligtenberg, Roland P. Kuiper, Tsun
Leung Chan*, Monique Goossens, Konnie M. Hebeda, Marsha Voorendt,
Tracy Y.H. Lee*, Danielle Bodmer, Eveline Hoenselaar, Sandra J.B.
Hendriks-Cornelissen, Wai Yin Tsui*, Chi Kwan Kong*, Han G. Brunner,
Ad Geurts van Kessel, Siu Tsan Yuen*, J. Han J.M. van Krieken,
Suet Yi Leung* and Nicoline Hoogerbrugge, 'Heritable Somatic Methylation
and Inactivation of MSH2 in Families with Lynch Syndrome due to
Deletion of the 3' Exons of TACSTD1', Nature Genetics,
41(1) (2009 [published online 2008]), 112–117.
– Faculty of Science:
Wing Kam Fung* and Yue-Qing Hu*, Statistical DNA Forensics:
Theory, Methods and Computation John Wiley & Sons Ltd.,
England (2008), 262 pages.
– Faculty of Social Sciences: Terry Kit-fong Au*, Carol K.K. Chan*,
Tsz-kit Chan*, Mike W.L. Cheung, Johnson Y.S. Ho* and Grace W.M.
Ip 'Folkbiology Meets Microbiology: A Study of Conceptual and
Behavioral Change' Cognitive Psychology, 57 (2008), 1–19.
* HKU members
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) December 9, 2009—Around
150 local and international academics and educational professionals
attended the one-day international conference on "Managing
Human Capital in World Cities". More than 20 renowned educational
theoreticians and practitioners from Nylonkong—New York, London
and Hong Kong—and Asia shared their views. The HKSAR Financial
Secretary, the Honourable Mr John Tsang Chun-wah, delivered a
keynote speech on how Hong Kong can strengthen collaboration with
such cities to provide effective education tailored to the rapidly
changing times.
(b) January 4–7, 2010—International
scientists and practitioners looked to the future of digital forensics
at the Sixth Annual IFIP WG 11.9 International Conference on Digital
Forensics. Over 80 researchers and practitioners from North America,
Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia attended the four-day conference
at HKU on networking, learning and information exchange in the
emerging field of digital forensics.
(c) March 6–7, 2010—The
Fifth International Symposium on Healthy Aging – "Is Aging
a Disease?" was attended by nearly 400 participants. Plenary
lectures were delivered by 24 renowned local and overseas speakers
on stem cell therapies, cardiology, neurology, diabetes and metabolism,
and ophthalmology.
(d) April 26–28, 2010—HKU's
Journalism and Media Studies Centre hosted a major international
media conference, co-sponsored by the East–West Centre’s Asia
Pacific Centre for Journalists. The conference provided a unique
opportunity for more than 200 journalists and high profile individuals
from al over Asia, America and the Pacific to come together to
look at the shifting power dynamics in the world’s most dynamic
region—Asia Pacific—and how China's growth on the world stage
is changing economic landscapes.
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 2008–09 (see RGC Annual Report 2009) the University
had 5,912 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 234,187 citations of 19,590 HKU papers in journals
tracked by the ISI between January 2000 and June 2010. This was
the highest number of citations of any UGC-funded institution.
In 2009 the University had 2,994 publications in journals tracked
by the ISI, again more than any other UGC-funded institution.
The ISI also ranked 110 HKU professoriate staff among the world's
top 1% of scientists.
Patents
The University has
filed 958 patents in various parts of the world since 1998, mostly
in the United States (469), the European Union (160) and Greater
China (133 in China, including Hong Kong, and 17 in Taiwan). During
the same period 252 patents were granted, principally in the United
States (114). In the 2009–10 academic year, the University filed
75 patents. During the same period, 43 patents were granted and
22 patent applications were abandoned.
Agreements/Legal
Documents
During 2009–10, the
University has signed or reviewed 431 technology transfer related
agreements/legal documents—such as licensing, consultancy and
materials transfer agreements—with counter signing parties mostly
in Hong Kong (138), North America (99), the European Union (45)
and the People's Republic of China (106). The total of 431 represents
an increase of more than 16% on the figure for 2008–09.
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