Reaching Out to the Community
Part of PolyU’s commitment to fulfilling our social responsibilities involves promoting social engagement and socially-responsible citizenship on campus and beyond. During the year, we rolled out an array of outreach activities aimed at maintaining a close and harmonious relationship with the community by involving families, alumni, and teams of our volunteers. Our hopes were that these activities would increase the impact of our sustainability awareness education and knowledge sharing.
Promoting Sustainability Awareness
To enhance public understanding of our latest campus initiatives and to promote community awareness of our sustainability efforts, we actively reach out to different stakeholders across society in the hopes of stimulating positive social change through various publicity activities.
Welcoming Our Alumni Home to Our Green Campus
The Alumni Affairs and Development Office organized a Green Campus Tour for our alumni and their families, who came together for a reunion on 19 August 2017. The participants were introduced to some of the University’s major sustainability-related achievements, such as our home-grown UniRe® recycling bins, environmentally-friendly paving blocks called “Eco-Blocks”, the photovoltaic modules installed on the rooftop of the podium, and solar light poles in the lawn area. They also got a first-hand look at the vertical green columns on the Core P podium, and visited the farm on the 6/F of Block Y. The tour was a great success, sharing with the alumni and their family members the University’s constantly-evolving sustainability concepts and recent sustainability developments.
Showcasing “Explore Nature@PolyU”
During the PolyU 80th Anniversary Open Day on 2 and 3 December 2017, we offered the general public the chance to learn more about the campus, our world-leading facilities and the many courses and services that we offer to the community. One of the major showcases, “Explore Nature@PolyU”, introduced our visitors to the University’s biodiversity, trees, green facilities, and sustainability achievements using interactive web-based platforms like Fauna@PolyU, TreeMap@PolyU, and GreenMap@PolyU.
The visitors were greatly impressed by the platforms’ interactive features, which allowed them to fully immerse themselves in the green campus experience. They were impressed with the ease at which they could locate and identify the flora, fauna, and the green facilities on campus with just a few clicks. They also gained a deeper understanding on various sustainable living concepts through sharing sessions, guided campus tours, and workshops on novel items like a DIY upcycled tree branch shaker and recycled seed paper.
PolyU Volunteers
PolyU Volunteers is a dedicated team of warm-hearted students, staff, alumni, former staff and the family members and friends of all these groups. Together, this team offers a wide variety of services to the community. They work closely with faculties and departments, and seek collaborative opportunities with local NGOs and other community partners to coordinate University-wide social responsibility initiatives.
Gathering for Love and Music @ PolyU
To create deeper connections with our neighborhood and maintain a harmonious relationship with the wider community, during the year under review, PolyU Volunteers partnered with the Sarjan Charity Foundation and Yau Tsim Mong District Council members to organize an activity called “Gathering for Love and Music”. Community members, including the elderly and ethnic minority groups, were invited to our campus to celebrate love and friendship.
Beach Cleanup in Starfish Bay
PolyU Volunteers embarked on a coastal cleanup by removing trash in Starfish Bay near Tai Po in the New Territories. The volunteers worked hard to clean up the coastline and protect marine life. More than just a physical cleanup, the activity also helped the volunteers gain a deeper understanding of the seriousness of the marine plastic pollution problem and its many potential impacts on the environment.
Driving Social Innovation Towards Sustainability
The Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation (J.C.D.I.S.I.) is our University’s unique establishment that strives to steer social innovation research and social innovation practice. It takes lead in various research practice projects to enable multi-faceted community engagement and multi-disciplinary collaboration, in the hope to bring positive and sustainable results to benefit the community. It currently takes charge of a number of impactful thematic projects such as the ‘Hawker Reload’ and Co-creation programme which involve members of the public and contribute to sustainable and social changes. More plans will be realized in the near future to bring about sustainability accomplishments and consolidate sustainability concepts.