News

PolyU develops seamless urban navigation system

Professor Chen Wu, PolyU’s Associate Director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things and Head of Department of Land Surveying and Geo- Informatics, led a research team to develop a Seamless Urban Navigation System. Applying this novel system, the positioning accuracy is within 10 metres for smartphones. To achieve high precision positioning, researchers integrated measurements provided by multiple GNSSs - China’s BeiDou, the US’s GPS, Europe’s Galileo and Russia’s GLONASS.  The system also won a Silver Medal in the Special Edition 2021 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days - Virtual Event and a Hong Kong Smart City Award (Smart Mobility Category) in 2018. Please click here to view more detail about the report.  

Prof. Jiannong Cao, Director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT), named the Fellow of China Computer Federation

Prof. Jiannong Cao, Director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT), Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Professor in Data Science and Chair Professor of Distributed and Mobile Computing, has recently been named the Fellow of China Computer Federation (CCF). Professor Cao’s research interests cover parallel and distributed computing, big data and machine learning, wireless networking and mobile computing, and cloud and edge computing. On top of five co-authored and nine co-edited books, he has published over 500 papers in major international journals and conferences. His outstanding researches have made him one of the most decorated scholars in his field, and the honour from CCF further reflects Prof. Cao’s outstanding accomplishments in the field of computer science for the advancement of public benefit. Congratulations to Prof. Cao on attaining this honour!  

PAIR Members Recognised as Top Two Percent Scientists Worldwide

Stanford University has recently released an update of the list that represents the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists in various disciplines. The report was prepared by a team of experts led by Prof. John Ioannidis, the eminent Professor at the Stanford University. PAIR is very proud to announce that the 95 PAIR members in various research institutes and centres are on the list. Please click here to check the list of PAIR members recognised as top two percent scientists worldwide in 2021. The list issued by Standford University can be downloaded from here: https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/3 Congratulations to our top scientists!

Four PAIR academics recognised amongst the world′s most highly cited researchers in 2021

Four academics from PAIR have been acknowledged in the "2021 Highly Cited Researchers" list by Clarivate Analytics. The list identifies the most influential scholars around the world for their exceptional research performance, determined by the publication of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations in each respective field. Approximately 6,600 researchers across the globe were named Highly Cited Researchers in 2021.   The inclusion of our academics in the list is a testament to PolyU and PAIR’s pursuit of research excellence and our impact on society.   The four PAIR researchers featured in the list, and the fields in which they have been recognised, are as follows:   Name Field recognized Department Research Institute/Centre Involved Prof. Daniel TSANG Engineering & Environment and Ecology   Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research Institute for Future Food Research Institute for Land and Space Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development Prof. GUO Song Computer Science Department of Computing Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development Prof. LI Gang Cross-Field   Department of Electronic and Information Engineering Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems Photonics Research Institute Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Research Institute for Smart Energy Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development Prof. YAN Feng   Department of Applied Physics Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems Photonics Research Institute Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Research Institute for Smart Energy Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development   Congratulations to Prof. Tsang, Prof. Guo, Prof. Li and Prof. Yan!  

SCRI director conferred as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

Prof. Shi Wenzhong, director of the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute and Chair Professor of Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing conferred as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) for his contribution to social science. The Academy’s Fellowship is made up of distinguished individuals from academic, public, private and third sectors, across the full breadth of the social sciences. Through leadership, scholarship, applied research, policymaking, and practice, they have helped to deepen the understanding of, and address, some of the toughest challenges facing our society and the world. New Fellows are named due to the excellence and impact of their work, which addresses matters of vital importance and contributes to the social sciences for the public good. Through leadership, scholarship, applied research, policymaking and practice, they have helped to deepen the understanding of some of the toughest challenges facing our society and the world. Congratulations to Prof Shi!

Research team in SCRI received special recognition in the 2021 RICS Awards Hong Kong

The Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI) - 3D Mobile Mapping System Research Team has been highly commended by the judging panel in the Research Team of the Year category in the 2021 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards Hong Kong ! The RICS Award showcase the most inspirational initiatives and developments in land, real estate, construction and infrastructure. They recognise outstanding achievement, teamwork and companies. This year’s entrants have been responsible for some of the biggest projects Hong Kong has seen to date – including delivering for clients during COVID, fostering better workplaces for occupants, creating diverse workplaces, boosting the sustainability of projects through the use of technology and working to fight against the impacts of climate change. Apart from the 13 winners, the research team in SCRI was one of the highly commended teams who judges felt deserved special recognition. They developed a lightweight and reliable 3D mobile mapping system (mobile mapping backpack), which can easily measure cities and obtain 3D maps with centimeter-level accuracy. It can be used to build spatial data infrastructure and can thus support smart city applications in many fields. The system adopts advanced technologies such as Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM), which is not restricted by the signal receiving area of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). It can carry out continuous data collection in different complex indoor and outdoor environments and is particularly suitable for high-density and complex urban environments, such as those in Hong Kong. Congratulations to SCRI and the team!

Two scholars at PAIR received the Global STEM Professorship

Professors Qingyan Chen and Qihao Weng, two members of the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR), were recently awarded the prestigious “Global STEM Professorship” by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Professor Chen joined the PolyU in August 2021 as the Director of PAIR and Chair Professor of Building Thermal Science in the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering. He is a fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the International Society of Indoor Air Quality (ISIAQ), and the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM). Prior he joined PolyU, he was Professor, Vincent P. Reilly Professor, and James G. Dwyer Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, USA from 2002 to 2021. He is an Editor-in-Chief of journal “Building and Environment.” Prof. Weng joined the PolyU in July 2021 as Chair Professor of Geomatics and Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics. He is a Foreign Member of the Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea), and a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), and (Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association) AAIA. He worked as the Director of the Center for Urban and Environmental Change and a Professor at Indiana State University, USA before joining PolyU. He is an Editor-in-Chief of ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. The objective of the “Global STEM Professorship” scheme is to strengthen support to Hong Kong universities to attract world-renowned innovation and technology scholars to work in Hong Kong. This would aid the universities to scale new heights in teaching and research activities and to expand the innovation and technology talent pool of Hong Kong. In the long run, the scheme is expected to build up the universities’ capacities in commercialising and applying their research discoveries, to encourage technology and knowledge transfer to serve the community and spearhead innovation and technology development in Hong Kong.   Congratulations to Prof. Chen and Prof. Weng!