Awards and Achievements (Research)

Prof. LI Heng Ranked Nation’s Top Scientist in Engineering and Technology by Research.com

Research.com   Congratulations! Prof. LI Heng, Chair Professor of Construction Informatics and Associate Director of the Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT), has been ranked 1st in China and 21st worldwide in Engineering and Technology in the 2025 Best Scientists Rankings by Research.com.   This international recognition, based on the D-index (Discipline H-index) metric that measures scholarly impact through discipline-specific publications and citations, highlights Prof. Li's outstanding contributions to engineering and technology, alongside the significant societal impact of his research.   Prof. Li has led numerous funded research projects on the innovative application and transfer of construction information technologies. His research interests span digital construction, smart construction, ergonomics, and robotics. With a research career of over twenty years, Prof. Li has guided the development of a wide array of products, including computer-aided drawing systems, construction planning and management tools, and advanced intelligent safety systems. In recent years, his work has increasingly focused on cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. More about Prof Li: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/.../academic-staff/prof-heng-li/ Wen Wei Po coverage: https://polyu.me/4mVG3ct

BRE Research Team Honoured with Best Paper Award at CIB World Building Congress 2025

Well done to Mr Sulemana Fatoama ABDULAI, Mr Abdul-Mugis YUSSIF, Dr Ridwan TAIWO, Mr Mohamed ELRIFAEE and Dr Muhammad MUDDASSIR for receiving the Best Paper Award at the CIB World Building Congress 2025! Under the supervision of Prof. Tarek ZAYED, Professor of BRE, the team’s award-winning paper, ‘Automated Detection for Alignment of Modular Integrated Construction Modules Using YOLOv9’ was honoured in the ‘Offsite Construction’ category at the Congress in May. This accolade is a fitting recognition of the team’s efforts and dedication to advancing innovation in the construction field. Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) enhances efficiency through off-site manufacturing, but precise module alignment remains challenging. This study develops an automated detection system using a modified YOLOv9 architecture to improve alignment precision and efficiency. Through a three-stage methodology involving literature analysis, acquisition of 5,000 laboratory images, and model development on a GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, the study achieved exceptional results: a mean Average Precision (mAP50) score of 0.995 and real-time processing capabilities of 3.1 ms per frame. The findings demonstrate the technology's potential to enhance installation precision and reduce human error in MiC practices, contributing significantly to construction automation advancement.

Ms Lichini Nikesha Kumari WEERASINGHE, Dr Amos DARKO and Prof. Albert CHAN Received Best Paper Award at CIB World Building Congress 2025

Congratulations to Ms Lichini Nikesha Kumari WEERASINGHE, a BRE PhD Student, Dr Amos DARKO, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, and Prof. Albert CHAN, MH, BRE Distinguished Research Professor! They were recognised with the Best Paper Award in the category ‘Net Zero Carbon Building Design and Construction Practices’ at the CIB World Building Congress in May. The award-winning paper is entitled ‘Renewable Energy or Energy Efficiency? Building Occupant Preferences toward Net Zero Carbon Retrofit Measures’. Net zero carbon retrofitting offers a timely solution to reduce carbon emissions from existing buildings, addressing climate change. This study examines the preferences of Hong Kong building occupants regarding NZC retrofits for residential buildings. Data was gathered via a questionnaire survey, analyzed using mean score ranking. Findings reveal that most occupants favor renewable energy upgrades over building envelope and energy system (energy efficiency) improvements. This preference is unexpected, as global NZC standards typically prioritize energy efficiency. The study also delves into occupant preferences for specific retrofit measures within renewable energy and building envelope changes. These insights can aid in developing a zero-carbon built environment, aligning retrofit strategies with occupant preferences.

BRE PhD Graduate, Dr Nimesha Sahani JAYASENA, Appointed as Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University

  Anglia Ruskin University Dr Nimesha Sahani JAYASENA, a BRE PhD Graduate, was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Construction Project Management of the School of Engineering and the Built Environment at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom in April 2025. Dr Jayasena completed her PhD in December 2022 with a thesis on best practice public-private partnership (PPP) models for smart infrastructure, supervised by Prof. Daniel CHAN, Associate Professor of BRE and Prof. Mohan M. KUMARASWAMY, Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong and Honorary Professor at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. She then worked as a Research Associate at BRE. Dr Jayasena’s research focuses on PPP, smart infrastructure, smart cities and village development, New Engineering Contract, retrofitting, and stakeholder management. She has published 11 top-tier journal articles, 10 international conference papers and a book chapter, and has received three outstanding research paper awards

BRE Research Team Won Silver Medal at International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva

Congratulations to Dr Roy WANG Dong and the other team members, Dr LI Rongyan, Ms ZOU Zhe, and Mr LI Fangzheng, our research colleagues and students! The passion of Roy, Ronyan, Zhe and Fangzheng for intelligent construction has been recognised with a silver medal at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, a prestigious annual event to innovation, held in April. Under the guidance of Prof. ZAYED Tarek, Prof. CHI Hung Lin, and Prof. Geoffrey SHEN, the winning project titled ‘Intelligent Construction Site Layout Design Platform’ is the world's first Generative AI-powered tool for optimizing crane and site layouts. This innovative platform streamlines decision-making, offering engineers customizable design options through local software, online platforms, and CAD plugins. By visualizing AI-generated solutions in real-time, it revolutionizes traditional site layout practices, enhancing safety, productivity, and sustainability in the construction industry.

Prof. Jeff SHEN’s Success in Securing CEPU PPR Grants

Good things come in pairs! Congratulations to Prof. Jeff SHEN, Assistant Professor of BRE, on being awarded grants from the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (2024/25) by the Chief Executive’s Policy Unit for his two outstanding projects! Prof. Shen’s two granted projects are entitled ‘Climate Policy Risk and Green Infrastructure Financing in the Belt and Road Initiative: Policy Implications for Infrastructure LoanSecuritisation’ and ‘Developing a MiC Data Platform for Reusable Modules in the Transitional Housing Projects: Towards a Circular Economy’. The Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (PPRFS) is dedicated to fostering public policy discussions, enhancing policy formulation to address societal needs, and nurturing the talents essential for future advancements. Congratulations once again to Prof. Shen on his remarkable achievements and contributions to impactful research! More about Prof. Jeff SHEN:https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/dr-jeff-jianfu-shen/

Prof. Geoffrey SHEN Recognised amongst the World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers 2024 by Clarivate

Prof. Geoffrey SHEN, Associate Vice President (Global Partnerships), Director of Global Engagement and Chair Professor of Construction Management, has been honoured as one of this year’s Highly-Cited Researchers in the cross-field category by Clarivate Analytics. This recognition highlights his significant research impact, as demonstrated by the frequent citations of his work byfellow scholars. Notably, this marked the second consecutive year that Prof. Shen has received this recognition, serving as strong encouragement for his continued dedication to research excellence. Sixteen scholars from PolyU are included on the list, highlighting the University's commitment to advancing research excellence and driving positive societal changes through various channels. In 2024, a total of 6,636 researchers from 59 countries and regions, spanning diverse research fields, were named as highly-cited researchers. These scholars have earned recognition for their influential contributions, demonstrated by their production of numerous papers that rank in the top 1% by citations in their respective fields and publication year, according to the Web of Science™, over the past 11 years. More about Prof. Geoffrey SHEN:https://www.polyu.edu.hk/.../acade.../prof-geoffrey-qp-shen/

BRE Scholars Ranked Among Top 2% of Scientists in the World

Congratulations to 11 BRE colleagues of being ranked among the world’s top 2% most-cited scientists, by Stanford University in 2024! The rankings reflect the significant influence and research excellence of BRE scholars, who are committed to furthering their knowledge for the benefit of the world. BRE scholars include (in alphabetical order): Dr ANWER Shahnawaz Prof. Albert CHAN Dr Daniel CHAN Prof. Edwin CHAN Dr CHIANG Yat Hung* Dr Patrick LAM* Prof. LI Heng Prof. NI Meng Prof. Geoffrey SHEN Prof. Michael YAM and Prof. Tarek ZAYED *retired from BRE Stanford University has made publicly available, a database of top-cited scientists, offering standardized information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions and a composite indicator (c-score). Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification.

BRE Colleagues Received the Dean’s Award for Highly Cited Researchers and Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding

We are pleased to announce that the above colleagues have received the Dean’s Awards.

BRE Colleagues’ Successful RGC GRF Applications

Congratulations to the following colleagues on their successful applications to the Research Grants Council’s (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) for 2024-2025!