In a special virtual edition of the 48^th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, the Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days were held from 10 to 14 March 2021. Gold Medals have been awarded to Prof. John Wenzhong Shi and Dr Charles Man-sing Wong of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) for their smart city platform and smart monitoring system for urban tree management respectively. They were among the six PolyU awardees honoured at the virtual event, winning two of the three gold medals received by PolyU scholars.

The smart city platform can be used to create digital city replicas for acquiring insights into urban situations, testing solutions and conducting technological research. Incorporating 3D city modelling, AI-based urban object cognition, web-based visualisation and analytics technologies, it enables seamless fusion of massive geometrical information, 3D LiDAR data, image data and spatial big data from various sources, including public and private agencies, to provide a realistic and accurate representation of a city. A 3D spatial data acquisition system has been specially developed to enhance both outdoor and indoor 3D environment of buildings. It can identify indoor objects and automatically reconstruct a digital model (Building Information Model) of the indoor environment from raw LiDAR data.

The smart monitoring system for urban tree management makes use of smart sensing technology and geographic information systems to monitor the stability of local trees. Tailor-made sensors are installed on the lower trunks of selected urban trees to monitor their tilting angles. The data collected has facilitated timely mitigation measures for sustaining longer tree lives.

The LSGI team behind the Smart Monitoring System for Urban Tree Management

The 26th Congregation and the 25th Congregation Make-up sessions were held for the Faculty of Construction and Environment online on 27 March 2021, celebrating the accomplishments of our graduates.

For 2019/20, FCE graduated about 1,500 students, including around 80 doctoral recipients, as well as 620 master’s degree, 6 postgraduate diploma, 615 bachelor’s degree and 170 sub-degree students.

Prof. Xiangdong Li, Dean of FCE, presided over the congregation and gave an encouraging address to the graduating classes. In the face of the pandemic, our graduates had to overcome various difficulties in pursuing their studies. Their determination and hard work have culminated in a degree/ diploma, which will set them apart for the rest of their lives. May they fully live up to the university’s motto of “to learn and to apply, for the benefit of mankind” and remain in touch with their alma mater for many years to come.

Miss Maggie Tsin-tung Ng, a surveying student in the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), has been selected as the Outstanding Student of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) 2020, among the 4 outstanding students of FCE departments. According to her, “PolyU not only equipped me with professional knowledge as a future surveyor, but also broadened my horizons and unleashed my potential.” She received the Outstanding Student Awards of both FCE and BRE in a ceremony on 12 March 2021.

Her success in obtaining the awards is attributable to her active participation in a series of extra-curricular activities such as the YMCA Volunteer Service, the Global Youth Leadership Summit, the PolyU Student Ambassador Scheme and many other well deserved recognitions during her studies. Her passion for volunteering was triggered by a service-learning trip to Kyrgyzstan, where she served as a volunteer teaching nutrition to school children. That experience has given her the impetus to serve others, shaping her into the mature and responsible person that she is today.

Each year, the Outstanding Students Award Scheme of PolyU recognizes the achievements of full-time final-year students who have excelled in their academic and non-academic endeavours, rewarding students at three different levels. Outstanding students selected for the award at the departmental level go on to 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.

Miss Maggie Ng with her award certificate

Miss Ng working with school children in Kyrgyzstan

In the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2021, the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) has one discipline in the top 20. The ranking for Architecture was in 18th place, while Civil and Structural Engineering was in 21st place. These two disciplines are covered by some of the construction-related programmes offered by FCE, which consists of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI). Together, they offer more than 30 degree programmes in various modes and levels related to construction and environment.

As a university, PolyU was ranked 75th, up from last year’s position of 91st. In Asia alone, PolyU was ranked 21st. A recognition of its efforts in teaching and research, the jump in rankings from the year before is highly encouraging.

Launched in 2011, the annual QS World University Rankings by Subject is a comprehensive guide to a range of subjects. The rankings list the world’s top universities based on their academic reputation, employer reputation, and research impact, which is reflected in the citations per paper and an H-index that measures both the productivity and impact of a scholar’s published work.

A new strategy for the development of high performance and durable solid oxide fuel cells for efficient and clean power generation has seen the light of day in a recent article in Nature, a weekly international journal publishing the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology. Entitled “Thermal-expansion offset for high-performance fuel cell cathodes,” the article was co-authored by Prof. Meng Ni of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Dr Yuan Zhang, Dr Bin Chen, in collaboration with corresponding authors Prof. Zongping Shao and Prof. Wei Zhou, both of Nanjing Tech University.

High temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have the potential to replace conventional thermal power plants for energy conversion. One challenge for SOFC commercialization is thermo-mechanical instability due to mismatch in thermal expansion behaviour between different fuel cell components, which can cause cell performance degradation or even failure. In this research article, a novel electrode development strategy is proposed by compositing a cobalt-based perovskite with high electrochemical activity and large thermal expansion coefficient with a negative thermal expansion material. A new interface is formed between the two materials. Deficiencies in the perovskite are also observed. As a result, the composite electrode shows both high electrochemical activity and excellent thermos-mechanical stability. More details can be found at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03264-1.

To promote research collaboration with university partners, a Joint Supervision Scheme with Chinese Mainland, Taiwan and Macao Universities was established several years ago. Selection for the scheme is based on the quality of the students’ proposals, whether their proposed research areas have been identified as the research focus of the Department/School concerned, the history of collaboration between the supervisors and their research track records, among other things. The main supervisors from the partner university and PolyU will act as the Chief Supervisor and the Co-supervisor of the student, who will spend no more than 12 months at PolyU as a Research Assistant (RA) and conduct the rest of his/her research at the home university.

Out of a quota of 25 places for 2020/21, 6 have been awarded to the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE). Following are the details:

2022 marks the 85^th Anniversary of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Alumni from PolyU and any of its predecessors, including the erstwhile Government Trade School, the Hong Kong Technical College, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic, are welcome to update their profile and contact information online. They could also get the newly introduced PolyU Alumni eCard for campus access and various privileges. Furthermore, they are invited to rediscover their alma mater and join in the celebration of PolyU’s 85th Anniversary next year. More details will be announced in due course.

A technician in the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) has recently retired. Mr Francis Lo worked for the university for more than 32 years, beginning with the then Hong Kong Polytechnic in September 1988. On his last day serving the PolyU in March 2021, he was presented with a souvenir by Prof. Xiangdong Li, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE).