2 academics of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) have received support for their research from the PROCORE-France/ Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme 2018/19. Following are the details:

PolyU won 4 (or 36.36%) out of 11 grants awarded by RGC in 2018/19 Exercise, the highest out of the local universities that applied for funding from the joint research scheme.

On 29 January 2019, a Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) Advisory Committee meeting cum workshop on photochemical air pollution was held for more than 20 scholars and scientists. Prof. You-lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), welcomed the participants before Prof. Tao Wang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) introduced his theme-based project on photochemical air pollution. This was followed by presentations from his project team, including Prof. Xin-ming Wang of the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Prof. Shun-cheng Lee and Prof. Hai Guo of CEE, Dr Chun-ho Liu of the University of Hong Kong, Prof. Alexis Lau of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Dr Peter Louie and Dr Kenneth Leung of the Environment Protection Department of the Hong Kong Government. Some of the project’s advisors, Prof. Yuan-hang Zhang, Prof. Gregory Carmichael, Prof. Alex Guenther and Prof. Allen Goldstein, attended the workshop and gave their advice on the project. Invited speakers, Prof. Min Shao, Prof. Allen Zheng, and Prof. Xuemei Wang, all from the Institute for Environmental and Climate Research at Jinan University, introduced three National Key Research Projects funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The meeting ended with a discussion on collaboration among projects in the Greater Bay Area.

Participants of the workshop

A workshop on applying for the Research Impact Fund (RIF) was held on 11 February 2019. 25 academic staff of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) attended the workshop, which began with an introduction from Prof. Xiangdong Li, Associate Dean (Research). Subsequently, Prof. William Lam, Prof. Jianhua Yin, and Dr Yuhong Wang from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) shared their successful experiences of applying for the RIF. In particular, Prof. Lam highlighted the objectives and requirements of the RIF, while Dr Wang shared the importance of identifying a topic and its potential impact. This was followed by proposal presentations from 5 academics applying for the RIF 2019/20, including Dr Fu Xiao and Prof. Jianlei Niu of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), Prof. Jianguo Dai of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Prof. Wu Chen and Prof. Bo Wu of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). The workshop ended with a Q&A session facilitated by Prof. Xiangdong Li. Looking ahead, the Faculty shall continue its efforts in providing a supportive environment to its academic staff in formulating and conducting high impact research.

At the workshop

A delegation of Tongji University (TU) visited PolyU on 13 February 2019 to explore opportunities for collaboration between the two universities. Two of the delegates, Prof. Yu-guang Chen, Director of the Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan Affairs Office of TU, and Mr Cheng Chen, Secretary of the Youth League of TU, met with Prof. You-lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), and Prof. John Shi, Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) to discuss the development of joint PhD programmes and appointment of Adjunct professors. Later, they met with Dr George Liu of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), colleagues from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) Dr Daniel Chan, Associate Head (Teaching), Prof. Meng Ni, Associate Head (Research) and Prof. Heng Li (Chair Professor). Among the issues discussed were the joint organization of research forums and academic conferences, joint application of research projects etc. Prof. Chen also invited PolyU to send research student teams to participate in a national competition on innovative designs for smart cities.

The visitors with Prof. Shi (middle) and Dr Liu (far right)

A student/staff consultative meeting cum briefing session on major selection was held for 2018/19 students studying the Broad Discipline of Construction and Environment (BDCE) on 12 February 2019. After an opening address by Prof. Geoffrey Shen, Associate Dean (Teaching), students met with the 4 BDCE academic advisors to discuss their concerns. On hand to answer their questions and provide guidance as academic advisors were Dr Daniel Chan of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Dr Wai-ling Lee of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), Prof. Kwok-fai Chung of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and Dr Lilian Pun of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). BDCE students had until the end of February to choose their respective majors.

BDCE students and their advisors at the student/staff consultative meeting

A presentation ceremony for the Long Service Awards was held on 22 February 2019. 18 staff of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) and its 4 departments were eligible for the awards. 1 was honoured for 15 years of service to PolyU, 5 for 20 years of service, 7 for 25 years, 3 for 30 years, 1 for 35 years and 1 for 40 years. The Long Service Award was established by the university to promote long service amongst its staff.

PolyU staff with 15 years of service		PolyU staff with 20 years of service		PolyU staff with 25 years of service

PolyU staff with 30 years of service		PolyU staff with 35 years of service		PolyU staff with 40 years of service

Prof. Hongxing Yang of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) has been re-appointed associate editor of the International Journal of Applied Energy by Elsevier for 3 years after serving the journal for more than 8 years. A top Science Citation Index (SCI) journal in the field of energy applications, the journal’s current Impact Factor is 7.9, ranking 1st in Energy by CiteScore and 4th among over 500 SCI journals in engineering released by ESI statistics recently. About 1,600 papers were published in the journal in 2017 out of about 10,000 submissions.

Prof. Yang received the Excellent Editor Award from the journal in 2016 and successfully organized the 10th International Conference on Applied Energy in 2018 at PolyU. The journal can be found at https://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-energy.

A presentation ceremony for the Outstanding Student Awards was held on 21 February 2019 at the Chiang Chen Studio Theatre. Prof. Philip Chan, PolyU’s Interim President, gave a welcome speech and presented Departmental and Faculty/ School Awards to the outstanding students. Receiving Departmental Awards were Yang Ye of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Haiwei Li of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), Kaixin Chen of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and Tsz Kin Chan of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). Kaixin Chen also won the Outstanding Student Award 2018 of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE).

The Outstanding Students Award Scheme recognizes the achievements of full-time final-year students who have excelled in their academic and non-academic endeavours. Outstanding students selected for Departmental Awards compete for a similar award at the Faculty/School level. The Most Outstanding PolyU Student of the Year is then selected from those who have received the Outstanding Student Award of their Faculty/ School.

Mr Chen (right) receiving the Outstanding Student Award of FCE		The outstanding students with senior representatives of PolyU