Thanks to Supporters

Wofoo Foundation supports students’ holistic education and research on youth and elderly

On 15 November, PolyU held an appreciation luncheon to express its gratitude to Wofoo Foundation for the generous donation to support university development, nurturance of students’ leadership training and Service-Learning, and applied research projects on the well-being of young people and elderly initiated by the Department of Applied Social Sciences and the Institute of Active Ageing. Professor Jin-Guang Teng, President of PolyU, extended his heartfelt appreciation to Dr Joseph Lee, GBS, OStJ, JP, Founder and Chairman of Wofoo Foundation, for his staunch support to the University over the years. The donation has not only enabled PolyU to nurture students to become responsible global citizens and tomorrow’s leaders, but also to make a positive impact on youth and elderly well-being.

Appreciation Meeting for Scholarship and Bursary Donors 2020/21

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) arranged appreciation meetings via Zoom web-conferencing to thank donors who have set up scholarships and/ or bursaries for students in the academic year 2020/21. In 2020/21, PolyU received over HK$14.2 million from around 603 donors, in the forms of scholarships and bursaries, benefiting over 1,186 students. Scholarship and bursary student recipients extended their heartfelt gratitude to donors during the meetings. This precious gift encourages them to strive for excellence and provide opportunities to fully develop their own abilities. Certificates of appreciation were presented to donors who have supported the University’s scholarship/bursary scheme for over 15 years. 7 student awardees of the “Dr Ng Tat-lun Memorial Scholarship” joined the Zoom meeting with Ms Irene Ng, daughter of the late Ir Dr Ng Tat-lun, to express their appreciation. Ms Ng thanked PolyU for its enthusiasm for education and has been cultivating many outstanding talents for different industries. She also congratulated the awardees and encouraged them to face the current challenges with gratitude and hope.

PolyU receives staunch support from the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation for the establishment of the Smart Cities Research Institute and the Research Institute for Smart Energy

Thanks to a generous donation from the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation (the Foundation), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has established two research institutes in support of the University’s research endeavours in the areas of smart cities and sustainable energy. The two research institutes are named the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI) and the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE) in appreciation of the Foundation’s significant contributions. Officiated by Dr David Chung, Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology of the HKSAR Government, the naming ceremony was held earlier this month. It was attended by Ir Dr Otto Poon Lok-to, Founder of the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation, Dr Lam Tai-fai, PolyU’s Council Chairman, Professor Jin-Guang Teng, PolyU’s President and others. In his welcoming remarks, PolyU’s Council Chairman Dr Lam Tai-fai extended his heartfelt gratitude to Ir Dr Otto Poon Lok-to for his long-standing support to PolyU, “Dr Poon is a strong advocate of using innovation and technology to solve societal problems. Smart cities and energy challenges are two topics of great importance to society today. We are excited to join hands with Dr Poon to set up two research institutes focusing on these strategic areas in order to contribute to the further development of Hong Kong, the Nation and the wider international community.” The Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Dr David Chung, said that the Government had been collaborating with the two Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Research Institutes in conducting trials and pilots in a number of smart city projects, ranging from the application of urban informatics to smart and sustainable energy, in order to improve the quality of life of our citizens. “The Innovation and Technology Bureau will continue to develop Hong Kong into a smart city and to make space for our local talents to help contribute to the betterment of Hong Kong as well as our country. I urge all of you to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the National 14th Five-year Plan and development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. There is much to gain from collaboration with our neighbour cities and we have much to learn from each other, especially on the new frontier of smart city development. PolyU, with its outstanding research institutes and academics, will have a big role to play in building Hong Kong into an international I&T hub,” Dr Chung added. Founder of the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Ir Dr Otto Poon Lok-to remarked that “the notion of smart cities embraces a wide array of topics. The establishment of SCRI will serve as a catalyst to blend the various elements of smart cities together in order to contribute to the success of Hong Kong’s Smart City Blue Print 2.0.” Ir Dr Poon also raised concerns regarding climate change, and noted that renewable energy and energy storage were two essential research topics. He appreciated PolyU researchers' dedicated commitment to advancing the frontiers of technology and knowledge to cope with energy challenges. Professor Jin-Guang Teng, President of PolyU, thanked Ir Dr Poon for his unwavering support to PolyU over the years and said “Interdisciplinary collaboration can provide solutions to address societal challenges. Against this backdrop, the University has established the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR), a hub to promote research and innovation across disciplines. To date, ten research institutes and five research centres have been established to offer impactful solutions in areas including land and space creation, smart ageing, advanced manufacturing, smart cities, smart energy and more.” Established in 2020, SCRI and RISE will bring together PolyU experts from diversified fields to develop impactful interdisciplinary research. SCRI aims at being a global centre of excellence in urban informatics and a living smart cities laboratory for Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in order to promote smart cities development in Hong Kong and in the country. Its research focus areas include Smart Mobility, Smart Living, Smart Environment, Smart People, Smart Government, and Smart Economy. SCRI is collaborating with some of the world’s top universities including the University of Cambridge and University College London, as well as major industrial players to develop innovative solutions. SCRI’s innovations have received worldwide recognition and won two Gold Medals at 2021 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days and two prizes in the 2021 Smart 50 Awards. RISE strives to pursue translational research on innovative solutions for energy-related problems. Its five research focus areas include District Energy Systems and Smart Grid, Smart Buildings and Smart Energy Systems, Advanced Energy Storage Technologies, Advanced and Renewable Energy Conversion Technologies, and Advanced Energy Materials. RISE’s world-class research has been recognised in various global research rankings. According to a recent report by Stanford University, 16 RISE members have been listed among the top 2% of scientists in relevant research fields globally, with three members ranking in the top 25 places. In addition, three RISE scholars have been acknowledged in the Highly Cited Researchers 2020 list by Clarivate Analytics. To see some happy moments at the ceremony, please click here. For more details about the research institutes, please visit the respective websites: Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI) https://www.polyu.edu.hk/scri/ Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE) https://www.polyu.edu.hk/rise/

PolyU received donation from Yakult for supporting impactful interdisciplinary research in human health

PolyU received a generous donation from Hong Kong Yakult Co. Ltd. (Yakult) to establish the “PolyU-Yakult Joint Research Laboratory for Probiotics and Prebiotics in Human Health”. A signing ceremony was held on 17 September 2021. During the ceremony, Mr Susumu Tsukamoto, Managing Director of Hong Kong Yakult Co. Ltd stated that, “The Yakult Group's corporate philosophy is to contribute to the health and happiness of people around the world through pursuit of excellence in life science in general and our research and experience in microorganisms in particular. As Yakult and PolyU share the same philosophy, we truly believe our collaboration will be a great success.” The Joint Research Laboratory is under the PolyU Research Institute for Future Food (RiFood). Dr Wong Ka Hing, Director of RiFood, indicated that the RiFood, newly established in May this year, is committed to facilitate impactful interdisciplinary research in food science and human health. Dr William Tai, Executive Director of the Joint Lab, said that, “The Joint Research Laboratory aims to pursue impactful and cutting-edge research in probiotics and prebiotics for the prevention and treatment of gut and brain diseases and eczema. Evidence-based research will form a basis to increase awareness and understanding amongst the public of probiotics and prebiotics and their intake for personal health, altogether contributing to Hong Kong, the nation and the world.”

Two endowed young scholars contribute to society by means of knowledge transfer

Two early-career and brilliant scholars, Dr Hsu Li-ta, Associate Professor from Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering and Dr Gilman Siu, Associate Professor from Department of Health Technology and Informatics, have recently been appointed Limin Endowed Young Scholars. Both of them have demonstrated strong passion and have proven records in driving innovations that bring positive and long-term changes to society. The Young Scholar titles were conferred upon them in July 2021 in recognition of their contribution in creating benefit to society through knowledge transfer. Dr Hsu has involved in research relating to aerospace navigation since his undergraduate study. He has undertaken numerous collaborative R&D projects on three-dimensional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning for smartphones and intelligent vehicles, which are crucial to highly urbanised cities such as Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. Dr Hsu has keen research interests in everything related to GNSS positioning and signal processing, including GNSS real-time kinematic positioning and ways to improve GNSS performance under challenging reception conditions. His contributions to the localisation and navigation of unmanned autonomous systems for drones and unmanned vehicles in smart cities while integrating multiple sensors are also eminent. Dr Gilman Siu, on the other hand, is not a stranger to Hong Kong people in his efforts of battling COVID-19. Dr Siu and the team’s use of their rapid sequencing technique has played a pivotal role in identifying and stopping virus transmission chains of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, providing scientific support for the government to formulate anti-pandemic measures. Dr Siu has been actively engaged in researches related to microbial genomics, encompassing domains such as advanced molecular testing for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases; genetic mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and virulence in highly infectious bacteria and viruses (for example, mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV); and molecular epidemiology of newly emerging infectious agents (like the COVID-19 virus). Dr Hsu is appointed as the Limin Young Scholar in Aerospace Navigation and Dr Siu is appointed as the Limin Young Scholar in Medical Laboratory Science.  “I am deeply honoured by this appointment. I will continue to strive for research excellence, creating impactful and translational benefits for the betterment of society, the Nation and the world.” Dr Hsu Li-ta, Associate Professor, Limin Young Scholar in Aerospace Navigation “The accolade of Endowed Young Scholar is the greatest honor to me ever. I regarded my work on COVID-19 as the duty of a healthcare professional and an academic during the pandemic. I am glad that my research is helpful in establishing health policies and infection control measures.” Dr Gilman Siu, Associate Professor, Limin Young Scholar in Medical Laboratory Science  Limin Endowed Young Scholar positions were established with the donation made by PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited (PTeC), the strategic professional service arm of PolyU. The Chinese words for “Limin”, literally “to benefit the people”, was taken from PolyU’s motto “To learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind”. The naming serves to reflect the aims of PTeC, and the University’s mission to benefit society by means of knowledge transfer. The donation, together with a contribution from the University, will be put into an endowed fund. Through the Limin Endowed Young Scholars, Dr Hsu and Dr Siu will receive an annual funding generated from the endowed fund to support their research activities. It can also be used as seed funding for the pursuit of ideas with high potential, and the furtherance of their impact to society. PolyU hopes like-minded philanthropies will witness the powerful impact of the Endowed Young Scholars Scheme in the appointment of Limin Endowed Young Scholars. Please contact AADO or browse the Scheme website for more information.

Celebration of the First Established Endowed Young Scholar - Tsui Tack Kong Endowed Young Scholar in Civil Engineering

In light of the success of the Endowed Professorship Scheme, PolyU launched the Endowed Young Scholars Scheme to partner with our donors in supporting and nurturing promising early-career academics in the capacity of an Associate or Assistant Professor. By making donation, donor and the scholar will join hands to drive new discoveries and breakthroughs in the research discipline that they mutually value, leading to collaboration between academics and the industries for positive societal impacts. Our first Endowed Young Scholar position was donated and set up by our respected mentor and alumnus – Ir Tsui Tack-kong (Picture 1, middle). Ir Tsui has over 60 years of experience in the construction field. He was the first Joint Chairman of Hong Kong Branch of The Institution of Structural Engineers (UK)/Structural Division of The Hong Kong Institute of Engineers in 1979 and was a Council Member of The Hong Kong Institute of Engineers in the early 1980s. Ir Tsui is a keen supporter of his alma mater and has made contribution on multiple fronts. He is a Founding Member of the PolyU Development Foundation and he is now Senior Advisor to the President on various campus development projects, as well as a member of the Governing Committee of PolyU Foundation. Dr Zhou Chao (Picture 1, right), Assistant Professor of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been appointed as Tsui Tack Kong Young Scholar in Civil Engineering after a rigorous selection process undertaken by PolyU’s Academic Selection Committee and Advisory Committee. Dr Zhou’s research interests include fundamental thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of saturated and unsaturated soils, theoretical constitutive modelling of soils, energy foundation engineering and pavement engineering. Having published more than 50 SCI (Science Citation Index) papers in leading international journals, he was awarded the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau) by the Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Bright Spark Lecture Award by the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. An appreciation lunch was held on 29 July 2021 to express our gratitude to Ir Tsui’s generous support and to celebrate the appointment of Dr Zhou. The lunch was hosted by Professor Jin-Guang Teng (Picture 1, left), President of PolyU. Prof. Teng extended his heartfelt appreciation to Ir Tsui for his vote of confidence in the University and hoped the donation would set an example and have positive influence on fellow alumni to give back to their alma mater. Dr Zhou mentioned during his presentation “The Endowed Young Scholars Scheme enables me and my team to engage in more ground-breaking research in the discipline of civil engineering. Such outputs contribute to the improved safety and performance of infrastructures, which are vital to the smooth operation of any modern city.” Ir Tsui was impressed and he said, “I support PolyU in its pursuit to be a leading university which offers world-class research and education, and that implies the importance of nurturing outstanding young scholars like Dr Zhou. Giving them sustainable support and our trust will be the key to success. I hope my contribution can make a remarkable difference to the University and the industry.” We thank Ir Tsui again for his generous support and we look forward to more exciting achievements from Dr Zhou that will be made possible by the Endowed Young Scholars Scheme. Please browse the Scheme website for more information of how this Scheme can bring a powerful impact to the University and society.

PolyU partners with Lee Hysan Foundation to promote teachers’ wellness

PolyU will launch a two-year “Teachers Wellness MED Program” funded through a generous donation from Lee Hysan Foundation, a strategic partner and sponsor of the University, with the provision of a comprehensive wellness programme for 600 secondary school teachers. Heavy teaching and administrative workloads, education reforms, preparation for peer observation or external school reviews, pursuit of further education, and more, have imposed a great burden on teachers that could adversely affect their physical and mental health, and consequently their work performance. On the other hand, appropriate support and help from schools and the government is limited. There is an urgent need to develop a holistic health programme to help improve teachers’ physical and mental wellbeing. As a matter of fact, the challenges and stress that teachers face at different stages of life and career development are varied, resulting in various levels of physical and mental health problems.  A multi-disciplinary team led by Prof. Hector Tsang, Head of PolyU’s Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Chair Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences and Cally Kwong Mei Wan Professor in Psychosocial Health, aims to use a life-span approach to provide holistic and sustainable care to teachers. The Teachers Wellness MED Program (with “MED” standing for “mental health, exercise and diet”) will be tailor-made to meet teachers’ various needs at different life and career development stages. The programme is “holistic” in the sense that it embraces three aspects, namely psychosocial wellness, nutrition, and physical health.  Through a series of lectures and interactive workshops, and individual consultations, teachers will acquire knowledge and self-administered techniques on these three aspects. 

Prestigious recognitions to outstanding academia of Civil Engineering, Now and Then

The Endowed Professorship Scheme of PolyU is a town and gown partnership between generous donor and academia. Ir Prof. Poon Chi-sun, Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Chair Professor of Sustainable Construction Materials, was recently appointed as Michael Anson Professor in Civil Engineering under this scheme. Supported by a generous donation from Able Engineering Company Limited (Able Engineering), the Endowed Professorship was named after Prof. Michael Anson, the founding dean of the predecessor of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), as a tribute to his enormous contributions to the Faculty. Guiding the Faculty’s research development in its early days, Prof. Anson had fostered the research culture and encouraged faculty members to pursue research excellence since the 1980s, while developing research proposals and journal papers by academic was not yet a norm at the then Hong Kong Polytechnic. Prof. Anson continues his devotion to research education even after his retirement in 2003 and is currently the Emeritus Professor of FCE. Through this Endowed Professorship, Able Engineering not only hopes Prof. Anson’s inspirational and pioneering spirit can continue to influence every generation of academia, but also that they can continue to build and excel on the strong foundations laid down by Prof. Anson. Ir Prof. Poon Chi-sun, the appointed Endowed Professor, is an expertise and pioneer in the research on valorizing different types of wastes as construction materials. His teaching and research focus on eco-friendly construction materials, concrete technology and waste management. He is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and has been serving actively in various professional and government committees. This is the second Endowed Professorship supported by Able Engineering. Specialising in construction, repair and maintenance works of local public and private building projects, Able Engineering is a firm believer of close collaboration between academia and industry to push forward academic researches with societal impact. PolyU is deeply grateful for the donor’s support and will continue to pursue “partnership for impact”.

PolyU Foundation holds appreciation receptions for its members

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Foundation (PolyU Foundation) held two appreciation receptions on 27 May and 10 June 2021 to express its gratitude to its new and upgraded members in the categories of Honorary Life Chairman, Honorary Life President and Honorary Life Vice President.  The tremendous contributions from members enabled the University to forge ahead with the commitment to pursuing education and research excellence.  Dr Katherine Ngan, Chairman of the PolyU Foundation, expressed her heartfelt thanks to the members for their long-standing support under the pandemic.  She also introduced members the newly launched Endowed Young Scholars Scheme and encouraged for their continued support.  The Scheme supports and nurtures distinguished young scholars at Associate Professor or Assistant Professor level, and is a partnership for excellence between the donor and the University in driving innovations that bring positive and long-term changes to the world. Prof. Jin-Guang Teng, PolyU President, gave members an update on PolyU’s latest developments in education and research.  He was delighted to share the encouraging results of Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2020, in which PolyU received high ratings in various research areas.  He also shared with members one of the main themes of the 85th anniversary celebrations will be “Alumni Homecoming” and encouraged them to actively participate in the celebratory activities. As a token of gratitude, a Certificate of Appreciation and a specially designed souvenir were presented to members by Prof. Teng and Dr Ngan. 

PolyU E-Formula Racing Team holds appreciation event for sponsors

The PolyU E-Formula Racing Team, established in 2015, is the first formula racing team formed by Hong Kong university students. With the generous support from the community, the team was able to enhance innovative technology and represented Hong Kong to compete in the Formula Student Electric China (FSEC) since 2017. An appreciation event was held on 7 May to recognise sponsors for their contribution to this meaningful project. The event was attended by Ms Titania Ho, representative of Dr Laurence Hou, Ir Lee Kam-hung Arthur, Chairman & CEO of Kolinker Industrial Equipments Limited, and Mr Howard Chao, Vice-Chairman of Young Executives’ Committee, The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. The Team was also grateful to receiving the generous support from Principal Sponsor - HKI China Land Limited, as well as other sponsors, such as Ngai Hing Hong Plastics Materials (Hong Kong) Limited, Yuzhou Group and Kwoon Chung Bus Holdings Company Limited. 2021 Season team captain Kevin Lam shared their experience in 2019 Formula Student Electric China (FSEC) competition and showcased the new race car which was assembled in January 2021. Ir Prof. H.C. Man, Dean of PolyU Faculty of Engineering, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the sponsors for their ardent support to student development and their mentorship by providing valuable advice on driving techniques to the Team. The sponsors encouraged the Team to further demonstrate creativity and apply professional knowledge to realise their dreams, bringing positive changes to the society. In 2019, the Team attended 2019 FSEC competition from 18 to 23 Nov 2019 at the Zhuhai Airshow Center, China. The Team ranked 31 out of the 54 participating teams in terms of overall results, which was a step ahead compared to 2018 season and the best percentage among the three straight seasons. They have achieved passing all scrutineering checks, finished competing 2 dynamic events and ranked 7th in the Business Presentation Event.