The 2013/14 application results for the RGC General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ECS) were announced on 28 June 2013. Due to their similar nature, the application results for these two schemes have been combined in the following analysis, which does not include the Public Policy Research (PPR) Scheme, since it is no longer managed by RGC.

Comparisons of departmental performance over the past 10 years using 2 indicators, namely the average funding amount per academic staff member (only eligible staff members are counted) and number of grants per year are shown in Figures 1 and 2 respectively. In terms of the number of grants per year, the rankings of our four departments are CEE, BSE, LSGI and BRE. In terms of average funding amount per academic staff member, the rankings of our four departments are: BSE, CEE, LSGI and BRE but the differences between the first three departments are small. In general, the performances of the four departments in recent years have varied in their ups and downs, but both the average funding amount and the total number of grants awarded to our Faculty have shown a gradual and steady increase over the past three rounds (i.e. since 2011/12).

Figure 1: Comparison of Amount of RGC Competitive Funding per Eligible Staff Member between Departments

Figure 2: Comparison of Number of Grants per Year between Departments

Within the broad field of construction and environment, we still lead all other local universities by a big margin in the GRF/ECS exercises.  In the Civil Engineering, Surveying, Building and Construction (CESBC) disciplines of the Engineering Panel, PolyU has ranked number 1 since 1994/95 in terms of both the number of GRF/ECS projects supported and the total grant value won, receiving constantly around or over 40% of all GRF/ECS grants allocated in these disciplines.  The distribution of the amount of GRF/ECS funding in the 2013/14 round among local universities is shown in Figure 3. We received 45.85% of the total amount of available funding in the CESBC disciplines, which is the highest percentage we have achieved since 2000/01.

Figure 3: Distribution of GRF/ECS Funding in the CESBC Disciplines among Institutions in the 2013/14 Round

Of the 30 GRF/ECS grants awarded to the Faculty this year, 2 were awarded outside the CESBC disciplines. As a result, the Faculty won 28 grants (or 41%) totalling HK$18,469K out of the 68 GRF/ECS grants awarded by RGC in the CESBC disciplines in the present (i.e. 2013/2014) round; by contrast, the Faculty won 25 grants (or 37%) totalling HK$15,674K out of the 67 GRF/ECS grants awarded in the CESBC disciplines in the 2012/13 round.  

In a bumper year for reaping what has been sown, 10 academics from the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) have qualified for the Dean's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding, which is a formal recognition of their success in securing competitive research grants (either 4 grants in the past five years, or 3 grants in the past three years). Below are their names, projects funded, and funding sources.

Achievements in outstanding publication were also rewarded. For their high quality publications in a single research area in the last decade (up to 5 publications), Prof. Yang Hongxing of the Department of Building Services Engineering and Dr Guo Hai of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering received the Dean's Award for Outstanding Publication Achievement.

The Dean's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Academic Program Development went to the team responsible for the MSc programme in International Real Estate (IRE), which is offered by the Department of Building and Real Estate at the PolyU outpost at Zhejiang University in China. Currently in its 11th year, the programme has produced hundreds of graduates with an international perspective who are making their mark in the mainland real estate industry. Led by Dr Stanley Yeung, the team included Prof. Y. H. Chiang, Prof. Eddie Hui, Prof. Francis Wong, Dr Lennon Choy, Dr Patrick Lam, Dr Milton Lau, Dr Steven Tsang, and Ms Hebe How. The administrative support provided by the department and the China Mainland Affairs Office also contributed to the success of the programme, which has established a strong partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) over the years. IRE alumni regularly become members of RICS, a testimony of their professional competence. The excellent reputation of the programme has attracted students from all over China, which has led to its phenomenal growth.

Congratulations to all the winners, who will be honoured at the Faculty Congregation and Prize Presentation Ceremony in November 2013 with cash prizes of $15,000 per person/ team. In addition, awardees for the Awards for achievements in Research Funding will also get a research grant of $200,000.

Earlier this month, Dr Xiao Fu was promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Building Services Engineering. She is an active scholar in building energy with a focus on building life-cycle commissioning and diagnosis as well as novel energy-efficient air conditioning and refrigeration technologies. Since joining the department in 2006, Dr Xiao has published over 50 SCI journals and secured 4 external competitive research grants, 3 from the Research Grants Council and 1 from the Environment and Conservation Fund. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Creation Prize at the 2010 China International Industry Fair as the second inventor, the Technological/Industrial Excellence Merit Award at the 2012 PolyU Distinguished Knowledge Transfer Excellence Awards, and the Dean's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding in 2013. Congratulations to Dr Xiao.

From 4-5 June 2013, Prof. Ni Yiqing of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering delivered two talks at the Lanzhou University of Technology in Gansu Province. At the invitation of the Civil Engineering Research Group for the Prevention and Reduction of Disasters of that university, Prof. Ni introduced some scientific problems related to the research of structural health monitoring. The topic of his first talk was "Bridges, Pipelines, Wind Turbines, and the health monitoring of High Speed Rail," while that of his second was "Monitoring the responses of the 600m-tall Canton Tower to typhoons and earthquakes." More than 100 research students, scholars, and senior engineering experts attended his talks, at the end of which Prof. Ni received an appointment letter inviting him to be a scholarly member of the First Fund for New Skills and New Talents of the Western Division for Civil Engineering Disaster Prevention and Reduction. Congratulations to Prof. Ni for this well deserved honor, which will hopefully deepen the collaborative ties between him and the Lanzhou University of Technology.

On the afternoon of 18 July 2013, about a dozen academics from the School of Civil Engineering at Chongqing Jiaotong University paid a visit to the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE). They were welcomed by its Acting Dean, Prof. Albert Chan, and a representative from each of our four departments: Prof. Chiang Yat-hung, Associate Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate; Prof. K.T. Chan, Associate Head of the Department of Building Services Engineering; Dr Zhu Song-ye, Assistant Prof. in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Prof. Wu Chen, Associate Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics. After a meeting discussing various issues of mutual interest, including the development of academic subjects, building a team for scholarly scientific research, the management and organization of teaching and learning, research directions in civil engineering, overseas exchange and serving society, the visitors were given a tour of the Survey Store Laboratory, the Light Structures & Dynamic Laboratory, as well as the laboratories of the BSE dept. It was a fruitful visit for all concerned.

To keep up with the latest technologies, the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) partnered with two leading companies in the hydrographic surveying industry, U.S.-based Hypack Inc. and China ORES Ltd., to deliver a two-day training course from 20-21 May 2013. Hosted by Dr George Zhizhao Liu, Assistant Professor of LSGI, and Mr Nelson Chan, an Instructor in LSGI, the training included lectures by Mr Pat Sanders, President of Hypack Inc., and Mr Zhengyu Qi, Chief Engineer of China ORES Ltd. About 40 participants from LSGI, local industries, various government departments of Hong Kong and Macau attended the training, which was very well received. Plans are under way for more collaborative training in the future.

At the 6th Innovation Competition in Construction Engineering and Management in Beijing earlier this month, PolyU’s CIB student chapter team of five submitted a proposal titled “A Carbon Neutral SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell)-Based Multi-generation System for Building Application” to win the championship for this event. Organized by Tsinghua University and sponsored by the Gammon Construction Company Limited, the competition attracted 32 teams from mainland China and Hong Kong. Representing the PolyU student chapter are team members (from left to right): LEE Pan, Cindy CHEN Tingting, Julia CHEN Mengpei, Chris HONG Jing-ke (Team Leader), and David JIANG Chen, who shared a cash award of 10,000 RMB. Congratulations to them and to their Honorary Adviser, Prof. Francis Wong of the Department of Building and Real Estate.

12th International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies (SET2013)
Date: 26-29 August 2013
Venue: Chiang Chen Studio Theatre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Website: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/risud/set2013/