On 15 June 2017, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) visited PolyU and one of the sub-groups of its Engineering Panel visited the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) to familiarize the group members with the overall research activities, research strategies and major achievements of PolyU. After being welcomed by Prof. Timothy W. Tong, President of PolyU, the RGC party was given an overview of the university’s research by Prof. Alex Wai, Vice President (Research Development). This was followed by a visit of the sub-group to the Structural Engineering Research Laboratory and the University Research Facility in Chemical and Environmental Analysis (UCEA), with brief introductions by Prof. Kwok Fai Chung, Director of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Steel Construction (Hong Kong Branch) and Prof. Xiangdong Li, Associate Director of UCEA. Prof. Xiangdong Li then facilitated the presentation of research excellence in FCE and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering by Prof. Xu and Prof. Chi-Sun Poon respectively. A Collaborative Research Fund project was also highlighted by Prof. Tao Wang. In attendance were 19 FCE colleagues and the visiting RGC Engineering sub-group members, who were shown posters of various RGC-funded projects from the four departments of FCE afterwards. Panel members also had a chance to meet 20 research postgraduate students and 11 junior faculty members before wrapping up their visit in a plenary meeting with senior management of the university.

The visitors with some leading academics from FCE

Visit to the Structural Engineering Research Laboratory	The visitors were shown some posters

From 16 to 18 June 2017, a symposium on 3S technology development and a joint laboratory of PolyU and Hohai University was held at Hohai University in Nanjing China. Organized by Hohai University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as Jiangsu Society for Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography, the symposium attracted over 200 scientists and students from more than 30 universities.

Analyzing the current space-to-earth observation technologies from a multidisciplinary perspective, the symposium addresses major national strategic needs. Both Prof. Wenzhong Shi, Head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) at PolyU, and Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership) of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), were invited to deliver keynote speeches. The topics presented at the forum included satellite navigation and positioning, interferometric radar deformation monitoring, three-dimensional laser data processing, multi-source data fusion, satellite remote sensing in water resources monitoring, remote sensing image scene analysis etc. With five sessions and a total of 48 reports, the forum provided a platform for academic researchers in the field of 3S technology to promote the integration and development of related disciplines.

Published since 1930s, PE&RS is the flagship publication of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). It is one of the best journals in the field of imaging sciences, photogrammetry, and remote sensing. According to the Thomson and Reuters JCR database, PE&RS has an Impact Factor of 1.851.

Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing (PE&RS)	Dr Wu

The UGC Funding Scheme for Teaching and Learning was launched to encourage local universities to explore and further develop in strategic areas of sector-wide importance to Hong Kong higher education, such as innovation, language enhancement, and internationalization.

The Learning and Teaching Committee (LTC) of PolyU recently approved funding for the following teaching development and language enhancement projects for the 2016-19 triennium. Details are as follows:

Student learning in the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) is not confined to the lecture halls of PolyU. Each year, opportunities abound for students to go on study tours. Since the beginning of 2017, 170 BRE students have gone on one such tour to complement their studies. Following are the details.

From 4 to 8 January, 31 students went to Taipei to learn about different aspects of the real estate and construction industries, such as land use planning from Dr Liang-Zhi Chen of the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning at National Taiwan University, the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Taiwan from the professors in the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, green building in Taipei, innovative building technology and the retail culture etc. Students saw first-hand how green elements were incorporated into the Beitou Branch of the Taipei Public Library, an exemplary green building that they visited.

25 students headed up to Tokyo for a 5-day tour from 3 to 7 January to learn about its innovative building technology, sustainable development, and construction safety. Among the places they visited were the Science Museum and the Sewerage Museum, where students were shown the structure of an arch bridge, the operation of a hoist and tunnel-digging machine, how to prevent and mitigate earthquakes etc. in the former, and introduced to the underground sewerage system in Tokyo in the latter. They also stopped off at Kajima Corporation, a leading construction company in Japan, to hear about its strategies for achieving sustainability in buildings, such as smart energy solutions, zero energy technologies, and energy security technologies. In addition, students learnt about various methods for valuating property at the Japan Real Estate Institute as well as the wooden building technique and the use of BIM at Nisseki Surveying Co. Ltd. Before leaving town, they visited the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo to learn about some research that was being done there.

Another group of 25 students also visited Tokyo from 8 to 14 January. Together with their supervisors, Prof. Eddie Hui and Dr Milton Lau, they toured the 52-storey Toranomon Hills, where energy efficiency is maximized by environmentally-friendly technologies, and the intelligent building management system of the Akihabara UDX, which incorporated the concept of sustainability to satisfy the changing needs of clients and society. They were also received by an international construction and real estate company, CBRE, whose activity-based work environment led to better productivity and more efficient use of resources. A tour of Kajima Ki building, known for its zero energy approach, and a visit to a construction site in Nakano showed students the site management practices of Nishimatsu Construction with respect to safety, quality, and the environment.

Osaka was the destination for some 24 students from 21 to 24 May. They attended two seminars led by CBRE Japan and Japan Real Estate Institute (JREI) respectively. Topics covered by CBRE included overviews of the retail market, the office market, landlord representation, and property management, while JREI talked about its valuation methods and the property market of Osaka.

34 students visited Tokyo with Dr Milton Lau and Prof. Yat-Hung Chiang from 17 to 19 May. In addition to learning about valuation principles from JREI, they were introduced to Tokyo’s urban planning system at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Students also visited the facilities of the Building Research Institute and met with representatives of the Building Surveyors Institute of Japan.

Some 31 students went on a tour to London from 21 to 26 May. Their first stop was at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), where they learnt about urban town planning, development, and conservation from Tony Mulhall and Steven Thompson. Besides hearing about conservation in the UK from Prof. Henry Russell at the University of Reading, students attended a talk on the construction for the London 2012 Olympics at the University College London and visited Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

All the students agreed that a study tour was a unique learning experience that they would not soon forget. Not only was it an excellent opportunity to compare and contrast development and construction practices between Hong Kong and other parts of the world, it also lends credence to the saying that it is indeed better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books.

On 22 June 2017, Prof. Geoffrey Shen, Associate Dean (Teaching), met with 11 representatives of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) Students’ Association to discuss their plans and budget for the months ahead. More than 10 activities were planned for the 2017 to 2018 session, from orientation events to sports’ competitions to a singing contest. Participating in these activities facilitate networking amongst its members and with other students. The FCE Students’ Association is run by FCE students to nurture a sense of belonging and enhance students’ experience of university life.

At the FCE Students’ Association meeting

Wang Qingzi, an MSc graduate in Sustainable Urban Development, was impressed by the free and open exchange of ideas between teachers and students in class. She advises students to make good use of the library to enrich themselves. Her future plan is to get some work experience.

3 alumni of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) were recently rewarded for their undergraduate final year dissertations by the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS). Based on merits in research as well as the research output’s applicability to the surveying profession, the awards include a prize cheque of $1,500 for the Top Award and $1,000 for the Second Award. They were presented to the winners in a ceremony on 9 June 2017 at the Royal Plaza Hotel in Mongkok. Following are their details: