Issue 52 - February 2015

Table of Contents

• New Head for BRE Department
• Funding for Project of Strategic Importance
• Donations to Support Research of CEE Academic
• New Publications
• HKIS Sponsors Book-writing by BRE Scholars
• BSE Academics Led Seminars on Green Building Design
• BRE PhD Graduate’s Research Wins Award
• BRE Researchers Honoured by APFPM
• Invitation for Programme Admission 2015/16
• Forthcoming Event

Prof. Albert Chan has been appointed Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) with effect from 1 March 2015. A Chartered Construction Manager, Engineer, Project Manager, and Surveyor by profession, Prof. Chan received his PhD from the University of South Australia and has served at BRE since 1996. An exemplary scholar with research interests in partnerships between public and private enterprises, construction health and safety, as well as procurement and contracting in the construction industry, Prof. Chan has received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding a record three times. He brings to his new appointment a wealth of management experience and expertise. Prior to this, he was Associate Dean (Partnership) of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (2011-13) and its Interim Dean (2013-14). He thanks the University sincerely for giving him this opportunity to lead the department for the next few years.

A multi-disciplinary project of strategic importance on the dynamic characterization of a smart city has recently been approved for funding support by the University. Led by Prof. Wenzhong Shi, Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, the 3-year project will cost more than 4 million HKD, and has 12 members in its research team, including Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Prof. Mei-Po Kwan, Prof. Wu Chen, Dr Lilian Pun, Dr Bo Wu, Dr George Liu, Dr Wallace Lai, Dr Charles Wong, as well as professors from other departments and local universities. As one of the initiatives of the Funding Scheme for Projects of Strategic Importance, the project is jointly funded by the University, the Faculty of Construction and Environment, the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, and the Department of Computing.

The project has the following objectives: 1) observe, monitor, and simulate dynamics for a smart city; 2) analyze urban dynamics spatio-temporally; 3) develop solutions for smart city applications. Research findings from this project will be of interest to government departments such as the Planning Department, the Environmental Protection Department, and the Lands Department, as well as inform proposals for other research funding.

Prof. Siu Lai Chan, Chair Professor of Computational Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has received two donations of HK$125,000 and HK$400,000 from Meinhardt (C&S) Limited and Hilti (HK) Ltd. respectively for his research on the stability of steel structures, particularly that of arches and curved structures.

The work of Prof. Hongxing Yang, Dr Lin Lu and their colleagues from the Renewable Energy Research Group of the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development and the Department of Building Services Engineering is featured in two recently published books. The books in Chinese present their research on hybrid solar-wind power generation for applications in remote areas. As the editor of a volume of The Handbook of Clean Energy Systems, Prof. Yang has consolidated a wealth of information from this interdisciplinary field in a single reference work. The Handbook provides a timely comprehensive overview of the latest developments and practical applications in clean energy research across six themed volumes.

The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS) has recently agreed to fund the publication of a textbook to be co-written by Prof. Albert Chan of the Department of Building and Real Estate and his former PhD student, Dr Wen Yi. It has donated HK$80,000 for the co-authors to engage student helpers to assist in the data collection and literature review for a book in Chinese entitled Protecting Workers from Heat Stress: A New Focus of Construction Health and Safety.

Prof. Cheuk-ming Mak and Dr Hiu-dan Cheung from the Department of Building Services Engineering as well as their PhD student, Mr Peng Xue, presented two seminars on 12 August 2014 and 7 January 2015 on the design of green features of buildings. Supported by the Environment and Conservation Fund, the seminars explored residents’ luminous comfort in residential buildings and provided a benchmark of when to use green features respectively. Attracting over a hundred students and professionals from the construction industry each time, the seminars promoted a deeper understanding of sustainable daylighting design in buildings.

A recent PhD graduate from the Department of Building and Real Estate, Dr Jodith Leung, has been chosen by the editorial team of Journal of Knowledge Management as the winner of the 2014 Emerald/EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) Outstanding Doctoral Research Award in the Knowledge Management category, for her project entitled The Use of Storytelling as Transfer of Knowledge. The award includes a cash prize, a certificate, and the prospect of publishing the research work in the Journal of Knowledge Management. Dr Leung did her PhD under the supervision of Dr Patrick Fong, Associate Professor and Associate Head of BRE.

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