Academic Staff

MUI Kwok Wai, Horace is the Associate Head and Professor of Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering (BEEE) (former Building Services Engineering (BSE)) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). He received his BEng degree in Building Services Engineering (First Class) from PolyU in 1996. He was awarded the student award of HKIE and CIBSE in 1994 & 1995 and obtained his Ph.D. degree in Building Services Engineering from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2002.

 

Prof. Mui has been managing numerous research projects and has supervised PhD and Master students who are now serving the energy and environmental engineering communities, among them four are working in major research universities in Hong Kong and Singapore. He studies building and environmental engineering covering the areas of indoor environmental quality, indoor air quality, built environment, and energy efficient building technology. His work covers bioaerosol transportation in indoor environments, thermal comfort, building ventilation and drainage system, etc. He has an excellent track record in securing external research grants from both the Government and the Industry. Prof. Mui has published more than 140 journal and archival papers and about 150 conference papers and technical reports. Prof. Mui is a recipient of 2011 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence and his papers were recognized amongst the most cited articles published in Elsevier's Building and Environment between 2005 & 2008, and the best paper of the year of Journal of Indoor Built and Environment in 2011. He obtained over 40 grants including CRF (as PC), GRF, ECF, PPR and competitive funds, and the total funding sought was over HK$20 million (exclude PolyU studentship and large equipment fund).

 

Prof. Mui has developed / taught courses in built environment, air-conditioning & ventilation, architectural and buildings, pipe and gas services, indoor air quality engineering, and building services design project, etc. He had been serving as the program leader of UGC Building Services Engineering program until 2020. Prof. Mui has various leadership experiences and served as the Chairman of Departmental Programme Committee (DPC) from 2016 to 2020 and has been the Department Learning and Teaching Committee (DLTC) since 2020. He has been the Associate Head of the Building Services Engineering at PolyU since 2020. He has served as a member of Departmental Management Committee (DMC) since 2016, a member of Departmental Staffing Committee (DSC) since 2021, a member of Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE) since 2020, Faculty Board member from 2018 to 2021, Faculty Learning and Teaching Committee (FLTC) member from 2017 to 2021, Departmental Partnership Committee member from 2017 to 2020, Continuing Education Review Committee (CERC) member since 2021, Advisory Committee member of Squina International Centre for Infection Control (CIC) and Affiliate Faculty Member, School of Nursing from 2016 to 2020.

 

Currently, Prof. Mui is a Fellow of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (FHKIE), a member of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (USA), a member of Hong Kong Society for Microbiology and Infection (HKSMI), a member of The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and in which he has been the Committee Member & Technical Activities Coordinator (since 2021) and was a Co-opted member (2020 to 2021). He is also member of The International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ) in which he has been an elected member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer (2020-2022) and was the Treasurer-elect (2018 to 2020). Prof. Mui is a Registered Professional Engineer (RPE) in the Building Services Discipline in Hong Kong and a UK Chartered Engineer (CEng). He has been a Professional Assessment Assessor and accreditation team member of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HK) (since 2019), Honorary Technical Advisor of The Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) – HK Branch (since 2021), Vice-President (since 2020) & Honorary Presidents (2015 to 2020) of Fire Safety Ambassador Honorary Presidents’ Association, Panel of Advisors of Building Management Dispute, Director of Home Affairs of the HKSAR Government (since 2020), Member of Appeal Tribunal Panel Section 45 of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123), HKSAR, Member of Advisory Committee for the Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance and the Fire Safety (Commercial Premises) Ordinance (since 2019), Committee member, Office of the Communications Authority, HKSAR (Since 2022), Member of Districts Fire Safety Committee (Yau Tsim Mong District) (2020 to 2021), Member of LSCM’s Expert Review Panel (ERP) (LSCM supports applied R&D projects conducted by local research institutes via Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) of the HKSAR Government) (since 2017), member of Working group ISO/TC159/SC5/WG6 “Measurements of air quality indoors by human subjects” (2009 to 2011), Co-Chairman of ASHRAE Hong Kong Chapter Technical Working Group (TWG) (since 2009), Honourable advisor of Hong Kong Indoor Air Quality Society (HKIAQS) (since 2007).

 

On behalf of the University, he has performed presentations in local secondary schools and shared his research findings in public media, newspapers, journals, conferences, forums and invited workshops all over the world. He has also offered community services to organizations serving the underprivileged. One example is that he generously provided professional opinions about improving the environmental conditions of the elderly homes operated by The Hong Kong Society for the Aged (SAGE) and Tung Wah Hospital group. Prof.  Mui has also been serving in various community  panels, such as Vice President of The Central and Mid-Levels Area Committee (中環及半山分區委員會) of the HKSAR Government (since 2020), Advisor of World Green Organization (世界綠色組織) (2017 to 2020), Board of Director of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) (無國界工程師) (2017 to 2021), Chairman of EWB-HK Humanitarian Engineering Training Committee (2017 to 2019), Chairman of The Environmental Improvement and Working Team, The Central and Mid-Levels Area Committee of the HKSAR Government (2018 to 2020), and member of Central and Western District Road Safety Campaign Committee (since 2014), Senior Chief Supervisor of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol (since 2018).

 

Prof. Mui’s research experiences have led him to a number of high-level consultancy projects in relation to IAQ investigation and assessment, air-conditioning system and deodorizer systems performance evaluation, review of IAQ standards in Hong Kong, drainage designs for housing estates and energy benchmarking in Hong Kong, etc. He has also been serving actively as expert in a number of consultancy and court cases related to indoor air quality. With his extensive research and community experiences, these skills have helped him to run a hall as Hall Warden and to communicate with different parties involved in hall daily operation and management (e.g. hall management, residential educational team, hall tutor team, Dean of Students Office, etc.). In 2021, he and the hall team established a College of Undergraduate Researchers and Innovators (CURI) Residential College with a theme of “Achieving Academic and Research Excellence through Inquiry-based Learning”. Prof. Mui was appointed as the Master of this new CURI RC which was commenced in the Academic Year 2021-22 and will gradually become a full-scale Residential College in subsequent years.