December has arrived, and it is an excellent time for us to review progress, celebrate achievements, and set new goals. The year 2023 has been a period of optimism and growth. With the academic year proceeding almost normally and society returning to normal, we are excited to see many more R&D activities happening at PolyU, and particularly important developments at PAIR.
In October 2023, we were very pleased to announce the establishment of the Research Centre of Textiles for Future Fashion (RCTFF) as a constituent unit under PAIR. The Centre marks the Academy’s new effort to bring interdisciplinary innovation to the field of textile science and fashion technology. In the Feature Story section, you will learn more about the Centre, as well as the work of PAIR senior researchers to improve Hong Kong’s community mental health support services and combat the epidemic of myopia.
Over the past few months, we have witnessed a number of successes in translating PAIR research into actions and projects that benefit people’s health and daily lives. In the Knowledge Transfer section, you will learn about the development of novel nanoparticles which opens a new path for osteoporosis treatment; the launch of PolyU-led Liverscan in China for safer liver fibrosis assessment; and the application of radiative cooling coatings to building structures. In the Research Achievements section, you will also learn about other scientific findings and inventions at PAIR, which have huge implications for energy conservation, housing delivery, biomedical solutions, flood safety, ozone pollution management, carbon reduction, material science, and so on.
The People section highlights several PAIR members who have recently received prestigious awards and large research grants. We are very proud to share that 110 PAIR scholars were named in Stanford University’s 2023 list of the top 2% of scientists worldwide! This represents a larger number of named researchers than in the previous year!
Last but not least, the News & Events section contains a review of some signature and special events held at PAIR recently. You are most welcome to visit our website and online channels for a full review of these events. Thank you for staying tuned to our progress, and being a part of the PAIR community. I hope you enjoy reading Issue 8 of the PAIR newsletter!
Prof. CHEN Qingyan
Director of PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research
