Awards and Achievements (Research)

Dr Esther Yung Receiving Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards

Join us in having a round of applause for Dr Esther Yung, Associate Professor of BRE! Dr Yung was successful in being awarded the Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards, HLCA(HK) for her project ‘A Cave Automatic Virtual Therapeutic Garden for Residential Care Homes for the Elderly,’ Given that older people living in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (RCHEs) have limited opportunity to access to public open spacedue to the mobility impairments or chronic illness, the awarded project can provide older residents with a simulated experience of natural healing elements, with the aim of reducing stress and improving psychological and emotional well-being. Besides, due to limited land resources in Hong Kong, it is difficult to provide space for an outdoor garden within RCHEs. With her passion for extending the elderly’s healthspan, Dr Yung is eager to identify issues and innovatively apply the concept of a therapeutic garden by using Cave Automatic Virtual Environment to build a virtual therapeutic garden within RCHEs. Led by Dr Yung, the research team includes Dr. Wang Siqiang and Dr. Sun Yi of BRE, Prof. Angela Leung of School of Nursing at PolyU, and Dr. Wayne Chan of Department of Rehabilitation Science at PolyU. The project will kick off in end Oct 2023. The Research Grants Council (RGC) has collaborated with the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) of the United States for the HLCA (HK). The award aims to encourage bold and innovative ideas from any discipline that have the potential to extend the human healthspan. The RGC offers ten Catalyst Awards in the HLCA (HK) each year with a cash prize of US$50,000 at a maximum. Have a read of Dr Esther Yung’s profile:https://www.polyu.edu.hk/.../academic.../dr-esther-hk-yung/

Congratulations to Dr WENG Yiwei’s Team on Successful Application for Teaching Development Grants

With the grants totaling HK$584,000-, our Assistant Professor, Dr Weng Yiwei’s winning project entitled ‘Integrating Artificial Intelligence with BIM to facilitate Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Education’ has kicked off. It brings our students a new level of interactive learning experiences in the construction practices. Dr Weng highlights, “The digital transformation of the construction sector in Hong Kong is pressingly needed. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is considered one of the most important platforms to facilitate digital transformation. Traditional methods to equip students with BIM knowledge are limited by low efficiency and a steep learning curve, due to the compatibility and the complexity of the BIM platform. Recognizing these facts, this project proposes to develop a platform by combining Artifice Intelligence (AI) with BIM to promote interactive teaching and learning activities.” Apart from Dr Weng, the team members include the colleagues, Mr Kong Wai Kei (BRE), Dr Liu Xintao (LSGI), Dr Seo JoonOh (BRE), Dr Wei His-Hsien (BRE) and Dr Chi Hung-Lin (BRE). We wish Dr Weng and his teammates every success with the project! More about Dr Weng: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/dr-weng-yiwei/

Hearty Congratulations to Prof. Ni Meng on His Success in RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme in 2023/24

After a rigorous selection, Prof. Ni Meng, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) and Professor of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), was awarded the fellowship together with funding in the Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) 2023/24 of the Research Grants Council (RGC). The achievement is a richly deserved recognition of Prof. Ni’s making remarkable strides to advance clean energy generation.  With a strong team, Prof. Ni is committed to researching fuel cells, hydrogen energy, rechargeable metal-air batteries, electrochemical water-splitting, and electrochemical systems for low grade waste heat utilization.  Also, Prof. Ni serves as an active reviewer for over 80 academic journals including Science, Nature Energy, Nature Communications, Joule, Advanced Materials etc.  He served as Associate Editor for Science Bulletin in 2015-2017.  Currently, he is a Co-Editor-in-Chief for Energy Reviews (Elsevier), a Senior Editor for Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (Elsevier) and e-Prime (Elsevier) and an Associate Editor for International Journal of Green Energy (Taylor & Francis) and Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (Wiley). Hearty Congratulations to Prof. Ni Meng! More about Prof. Ni: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/prof-meng-ni/

BRE Academic Staff Winning HKIPM Project Management Achievement Awards (2021) under Research Category

BRE Academic Staff Winning HKIPM Project Management Achievement Awards (2021) under Research Category   In the Project Management Achievement Awards (2021) organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM), Dr Daniel W.M. Chan, Associate Professor and Associate Head (Teaching) of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), together with his PhD graduate student (Dr Timothy Olawumi), was the winning team from PolyU under the Research category. Dr Daniel Chan received an award certificate from the Chairman of the Judging Panel at the HKIPM Annual Dinner 2022 held on Tuesday, 13 December 2022 at the Royal Plaza Hotel, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong.   Project Title:Development of a BIM-Enabled and Cloud-Based Sustainability Assessment System for Buildings in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Nigeria Principal Investigator: Dr Timothy Olawumi Co-Principal Investigator: Dr Daniel Chan   The HKIPM Project Management Achievement Awards (HKIPM Awards) is held each year in Hong Kong, and the awards are aimed to provide an opportunity for organizations and project managers in different disciplines showing their project success amongst their counterparts.The HKIPM Awards (Category: Research) are based on the quality of application submission and the practical outcomes of research projects conducted by academics in Hong Kong, the contents of which should be focused on the pertinent aspects of project management.  

Dr Kelvin Heung’s Team ‘Fleming Medlab’ Scooping Awards in Hong Kong Techathon 2023 and Inno Impact Award 2022​

We are rooting hard for Dr Kelvin Heung’s team ‘Fleming Medlab’! Dr Kelvin Heung, Research Assistant Professor of BRE and Co-founder/CTO of Fleming Medlab, and his team member, Mr Edwin Ty, Co-founder/CEO of Fleming Medlab, scooped the ‘Championship of Healthcare & GeronTech’ in Hong Kong Techathon 2023 and the ‘Elderly Health Care Award’ in Inno ImpactAward 2022. With neuroscientific principles and soft robotics, Dr Heung’s team focused on the development of innovative wearable exoskeleton characterized as lightweight, portable, medical-grade and safe for enhancing stroke patients’ neural pathways and mobility. The product will give patients a new level of well-being and confidence. Dr Heung shares, “We have already obtained patent protection and are currently preparing for human trials. We expect to launch the product to market in this year and benefit more people.” Scooping awards is never easy. Despite fierce competitions, the team’s acts of persistence, innovation and efforts deserve the wonderful achievements in Hong Kong Techathon 2023 and Inno Impact Award 2022. The success marked an important milestone of realizing their belief of making positive impacts on society. Jointly organised by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and nine universities, a week-long hackathon event ‘Hong Kong Techathon 2023’ aimed at gathering participants to bring in new and possible business solutions. This year’s keen competition came with over 180 projects by more than 900 participants. Organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, ‘Inno Impact Award 2022’ aimed to publicise innovation and entrepreneurship as well as encourage youth to suggest solutions for creating social impacts in Hong Kong. Amid roaring applause, the awardees received the honour and hearty congratulations in the award presentation ceremony on 28 February 2023. More about Dr Kelvin Heung: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/.../acade.../dr-heung-holam-kelvin/

Prof. Meng Ni awarded the Innovation Award 2022 (First Prize) by China Energy Research Society

Prof. Meng Ni awarded the Innovation Award 2022 (First Prize) by China Energy Research Society Prof. Meng Ni was awarded the Innovation Award 2022 (First Prize) by China Energy Research Society in recognition of his contributions to the mathematical modeling of fuel cells and electrolyzers. Congratulations to Prof. Ni! Prof. Ni has been focusing his research on theoretical analysis and mathematical modeling of fuel cells for clean power generation and electrolyzers forhydrogen production for 18 years. In particular, he developed a series of multi-scale models for high temperature electrolyzers, from electrode microscale model to single cell model, and to stack model and system model. His research results offered insights into design optimization of electrode microstructure and stack macroscale configurations. Established in January 1981, the China Energy Research Society launched the Innovation Awards to recognize researchers for their significant contributions to energy science and technology. More about Prof. Ni:https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/prof-meng-ni/

Prof Heng Li, Chair Professor of Construction Informatics, Awarded in Smart Living Partnership Awards 2022

Prof. Heng Li’s steadfast pursuit of digital and smart solutions to construction problems was highly praised with the ETNet Award in Smart Living Partnership Awards 2022.  This honour further expands Prof. Li’s accolade list.  Congratulations to Prof. Li! Funded by Logistics and Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre (LSCM), Prof. Li’s winning project developed a computer vision-enabled digital twin for construction resource and progress management.   The construction industry has played a key role in Hong Kong and been an instrumental driver of economic growth and enabler of social development for many generations. Whilst the construction industry has a long and proud history, it has produced a large amount of construction wastes that are difficult to be monitored.  Digital Twin is a concept of having a real-time digital representation of a physical object, which allows up-to-date information to be fed back to the field so as to provides automatic resource allocation monitoring and waste tracking in construction management. This winning project transforms the construction management practice to be a population-based, intensive, and proactive process; it improves resource productivity, reduces resource waste and progress lagging, as well as improves project performance. Smart Living Partnership Awards 2022 aims to recognise and support outstanding companies or organisations which are committed to promoting Hong Kong as a Smart City.  Improving society’s competitiveness and increasing public awareness of digitalisation are at the heart of it. The Award Presentation Ceremony will be held on 27 February 2023.   We wish Prof Li every success in his future endeavors! More about Prof. Heng Li :https://polyu.hk/ZHFSI

Congratulations to Dr Ibrahim Yahaya Wuni, BRE PhD Graduate on his success in the 2023 WBG Africa Fellowship Program!

Dr Ibrahim Yahaya Wuni, a recent BRE PhD Graduate supervised by Prof. Geoffrey Shen, has been selected as a 2023 World Bank Group (WBG) Africa Fellow. In this regard, Dr. Wuni joined the World Bank Group as a Consultant under the WBG- Africa Fellowship Program (WBG-AFP). The WBG-AFP is an annual program by the World Bank Group targeting the brightest Ph.D. Candidates or Graduates with expertise in any of the Bank's business areas. It provides an excellent opportunity for Africans with an interest in international development to contribute to the missions of the Bank whilst acquiring relevant skills and hands-on experience for his/her career advancement. “It is extremely competitive, usually recruiting 15 - 25 Fellows from 2000 - 4000 Candidates. Usually, fellows are stationed in Washington DC, United States, but I chose to go back to Ghana CMU to support projects in my home country.” says Dr Wuni.  He would consult for the Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience, and Land Global Practice of the World Bank Group. Prior to the World Bank group, Dr Wuni worked as an Assistant Professor of Construction Engineering and Management at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. He has published over 53 peer-reviewed scholarly articles in reputable domain international journals, with over 1,000 citations in Google Scholar. More about the World Bank Group Africa Fellowship Program: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/brief/world-bank-group-africa-fellowship-program

Best Paper Award for Environmental Sustainability in the 22nd International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality

Congratulations to Dr Minhyun Lee! Paper by Dr. Minhyun Lee (Assistant Professor of BRE) and Mr. Vincent Gbouna Zakka (Former Research Assistant in BRE) titled “An Integrated Design of Energy and Indoor Environmental Quality Monitoring System for Effective Building Performance Management” has won the Best Paper Award for Environmental Sustainability Category in the 22nd International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR 2022). The event was organized by the Construction Technology Innovation Laboratory and Research Center for Digital Twin and AI Construction at Chung-Ang University and was hosted in conjunction with the Korean Institute of Construction Engineering and Management (KICEM) annual conference with the overarching theme “The Future of Construction in the Context of Digital Transformation and Decarbonization”.  In the conference, a total of five papers won the Best Paper Award. One Best Paper was selected for each of the conference tracks ((1) Extended Reality Technologies in Construction; (2) Advanced Project Management and Control; (3) AI, Data Science and Analytics; (4) Environmental Sustainability; and (5) Industry Issues and Case Studies).  

BRE Scholars Listed as World's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford

Congratulations to BRE scholars! Stanford University has recently published the list of the world’s top 2% most widely cited scientists in different disciplines. Being featured in the list of the world's 'Top 2% Scientists' represents global recognition to individual researchers. BRE 'Top 2% Scientists' are: Prof. Chan, Albert P.C. Prof. Li, Heng Prof. Hui, Eddie C.M. Prof. Ni, Meng Prof. Chan, Edwin H.W. Prof. Shen, Geoffrey Qiping Dr Chan, Daniel W.M. Dr Lam, Patrick T.I. Prof. Zayed, Tarek Dr Darko, Amos