PolyU continues to excel in its pursuit of scientific and technological advancement, as demonstrated by the significant funding awarded for its research projects. The University ranked third out of the eight UGC-funded universities in the total amount of research grants received in 2022/23 from the Research Grants Council (RGC), with the amount being just behind that of the second sister university and over 20% above that of the fourth sister university. Moving into the 2023/24 exercise, PolyU has received a total of HK$101.1 million from four important RGC funding schemes. They are as follows:
RGC funding schemes | No. of funded projects | Funding awarded in 2023/24 |
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Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) | 11 | HK$64.9 million |
Research Impact Fund (RIF) | 5 | HK$20.9 million |
National Science Foundation of China and the Research Grants Council (NSFC/RGC)’s Collaborative Research Scheme (CRS) | 3 | HK$10.5 million |
National Science Foundation of China and the Research Grants Council (NSFC/RGC)’s Joint Research Scheme (JRS) | 4 | HK$4.8 million |
11 PolyU-led projects awarded Collaborative Research Fund (CRF)
PolyU has secured HK$64.9 million in funding from the CRF in 2023/24 with its 11 projects, placing it second among all local institutions in terms of the total number of projects funded by the CRF. Among the 11 awarded projects, nine were funded by the Collaborative Research Project Grant and two by the Young Collaborative Research Grant.
The projects embrace several frontier areas, including edge artificial intelligence, artificial auditory systems, nanomaterials, cancer diagnosis, age-related metabolic disease, construction and environment, neural networking in psychology and behaviour, and 6G-based sensing technologies. Here are the awarded projects, the respective project coordinators, and the funding received:
2023/24 Collaborative Research Project Grant projects
Dr Kenneth Cheng King-yip
Associate Professor, Department of Health Technology and Informatics |
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Project:
White Adipose Tissue (Fat) Dysfunction in Ageing and Its Related Metabolic Diseases: New Insights and Therapeutic Potential
(in collaboration with CUHK and HKU)
Funded amount: approx. HK$8.2 million |
Professor Cao Jiannong
Dean of Graduate School
Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Professor in Data Science,
Chair Professor of Distributed and Mobile Computing of the Department of Computing |
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Project:
Heterogeneity-aware Collaborative Edge AI Acceleration (in collaboration with HKU and HKUST)
Funded amount: approx. HK$7.4 million |
Professor Chen Jianli
Professor, Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics |
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Project:
Multi-sensor Monitoring, Geophysical Interpretation and Prediction of Sea Level Rise in Hong Kong (in collaboration with CUHK and HKUST)
Funded amount: approx. HK$6.6 million |
Professor Tan Kay-chen
Chair Professor of Computational Intelligence,
Associate Head (Research & Development), Department of Computing |
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Project:
Towards Next-generation Artificial Auditory System with Brain-inspired Technologies (in collaboration with CUHK, HKU and HKUST)
Funded amount: approx. HK$6.4 million |
Professor Yang Mo
Associate Head (Research) and Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering |
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Project:
High-resolution Single-cell Multiomics: Joint Profiling of Multiple Types of Biomolecules in the Same Single Cell (in collaboration with CUHK and HKUST)
Funded amount: approx. HK$6.4 million |
Dr Tan Youhua
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering |
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Project:
The Roles of Mechanically Heterogeneous Local Niches within Primary Tumours in Metastatic Organotropism (in collaboration with CUHK and HKU)
Funded amount: approx. HK$6.0 million |
Professor Wang Yuhong
Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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Project:
Improving the Health and Stability of Roadside Trees in Compact Urban Development through Novel Road Systems and Tree Root “Training” (in collaboration with HKBU, HKU and HKUST)
Funded amount: approx. HK$5.4 million |
Professor Xia Yong
Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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Project:
Towards Future Climate-resilient Seacrossing Bridges via Intelligent Learning of Long-term Real Monitoring Data (in collaboration with CityU, HKU and HKUST)
Funded amount: approx. HK$5.1 million |
Dr Zhao Jiong
Associate Professor, Department of Applied Physics |
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Project:
Scalable Two-Dimensional Polymorphic Ferroelectrics towards In-Memory Processing (in collaboration with CityU)
Funded amount: approx. HK$4.1 million |
2023/24 Young Collaborative Research Grant projects
Dr Liu Liang
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
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Project:
Sensing in 6G Cellular Networks (in collaboration with HKU)
Funded amount: approx. HK$4.8 million |
Dr Bolton Chau
Associate Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences |
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Project:
The Role of the Human Frontopolar Cortex in Complex Decision Making: Neural Network Modelling, Aging, and Enhancement (in collaboration with CUHK and HKBU)
Funded amount: approx. HK$4.6 million |
PolyU has the most projects funded by the Research Impact Fund (RIF)
Five research projects led by PolyU scholars have been awarded a total of HK$20.9 million in funding from the RIF 2023/24 by the RGC, placing PolyU top among local universities in terms of the total number of funded projects.
The five funded projects cover a wide range of research areas, including microbiology, construction and environment, geoinformatics technology, and intelligent wearable textiles, demonstrating PolyU’s commitment to research excellence. The funding will facilitate PolyU researchers in translating scientific findings into real-world applications and making influential contributions to society.
2023/24 Research Impact Fund awarded projects
Professor Zhu Songye
Associate Head (Research) and Professor,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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Project: | Digital Twin-enabled Intelligent Assessment and Maintenance of Offshore Wind Turbine Structures in a Life-cycle Context (in collaboration with CityU and HKUST) | Description: | A novel mobile sensing and digital twin technology for monitoring the structural deterioration of offshore wind turbines | Budget to be funded by RGC*: | approx. HK$5.0 million |
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Dr Liu Xintao
Associate Professor,
Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics |
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Project: | An AI-enabled Geospatial Platform for Smart Facility Management and Smart Mobility of People with Disabilities (in collaboration with HKBU and HKUST) | Description: | Introduction of a dedicated smart mobility solution to enhance the travel experience for people with disabilities and the elderly | Budget to be funded by RGC*: | approx. HK$4.3 million |
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Professor Chen Sheng
Head and Chair Professor of Microbiology,
Department of Food Science and Nutrition |
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Project: | Development of Bacterial Pseudaminic Acid-based Vaccine to Combat Infections Caused by Multidrug Resistant Bacteria (in collaboration with HKU) | Description: | A new way to combat bacterial infections, which aims to slow down or halt the onset of the post-antibiotic era | Budget to be funded by RGC*: | approx. HK$4.2 million |
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Professor Leng Zhen
Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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Project: | Durable Low-carbon Asphalt Pavement Built with Recycled Waste Polyolefin Plastics through Reactive Extrusion (in collaboration with HKU) | Description: | A flexible, economical and value-added physico-chemical approach to recycling waste polyolefin plastics into low-carbon and durable asphalt pavement | Budget to be funded by RGC*: | approx. HK$4.1 million |
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Professor Joanne Yip Yiu-wan
Associate Dean (Industrial Partnership) and Professor of School of Fashion and Textiles |
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Project: | Developing a New Generation of Pressure-controlled Wearable Soft Braces to Improve the Efficiency and Compliance in Treating Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (in collaboration with CUHK and HKU) | Description: | Providing effective and comfortable pressure-controlled wearable soft braces for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients | Budget to be funded by RGC*: | approx. HK$3.4 million |
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* The RGC funds 70% of the project cost while university/ organisational partner(s) will match the remaining 30% of the project cost. |
RIF
The RIF encourages academics to harness the potential of their research to deliver benefits to the wider community, spurring impactful and translational research projects. It also promotes collaboration between academia and government departments, the business sector, industry and research institutes. In total, 14 projects were supported by the RIF in the 2023/24 exercise. |
Significant funding awarded for impactful multi-disciplinary research
With total funding of HK$10.5 million granted for three PolyU-led projects under the National Science Foundation of China and the Research Grants Council (NSFC/RGC)’s Collaborative Research Scheme (CRS), PolyU ranked top among higher education institutions in Hong Kong in terms of the number of funded projects and amount of funding granted. These projects cover the fields of information technology, management science, and marine and environmental science.
2023/24 NSFC/RGC CRS awarded projects
Information Technology | Hong Kong project coordinator: Professor Cao Jiannong |
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Project title: | Efficient Scheduling of Integrated Cloud-edge-end Computing Power for AI-enabled Applications | Mainland project coordinator: | Professor Kun Xie, Hunan University | Funded amount: | HK$3.6 million |
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Management Science | Hong Kong project coordinator: Professor Geoffrey Q.P. Shen
Chair Professor of Construction Management, Department of Building and Real Estate |
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Project title: | The Mechanism and Policy Optimisation of Multi-stakeholder Cross-regional Collaboration in the Construction Industry of the GBA | Mainland project coordinator: | Professor Dongping Fang, Tsinghua University | Funded amount: | HK$3.6 million |
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Marine & Environmental Science | Hong Kong project coordinator: Professor Zhu Songye |
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Project title: | Develop Next-generation Typhoonresistant Deep-sea Offshore Floating Hybrid Wind-wave Energy Converters: from Coupling Load Mechanism to Vibration Mitigation Technology | Mainland project coordinator: | Professor Shitang Ke, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics | Funded amount: | HK$3.3 million |
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The University’s commitment to innovation and impact is further highlighted by the HK$4.8 million in funding awarded to four PolyU-led projects under the NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme (JRS), covering topics in the fields of life science, new materials science, and sustainable city development.
Projects funded under NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme 2023/24
Others | Hong Kong principal investigator: Dr Zhou Chao
Tsui Tack Kong Young Scholar in Civil Engineering
Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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Project title: | Recycling Construction Waste in Highway Embankments towards Sustainable Development of City Clusters: Geotechnical Assessment Considering Multiphysics Coupling Effects | Mainland principal investigator: | Professor Jun-hui Zhang
Changsha University of Science and Technology | Funded amount: | approx. HK$1.2 million |
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Life Science | Hong Kong principal investigator: Professor Zhao Yanxiang
Associate Head and Professor, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology |
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Project title: | Novel SNARE Complexes for Autophagosomelysosome Fusion: Mechanistic Study and Strategy for Modulation | Mainland principal investigator: | Professor Rong Liu
China Agricultural University | Funded amount: | approx. HK$1.2 million |
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New Materials Science | Hong Kong principal investigator: Professor Cheng Li
Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Engineering
Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering |
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Project title: | A New Paradigm for Designing and Manufacturing of 4D Printed Reconfigurable Lattice Structures for Tunable Broadband Vibration Suppression | Mainland principal investigator: | Professor Han Meng
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics | Funded amount: | approx. HK$1.2 million |
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New Materials Science | Hong Kong principal investigator: Dr Zhang Biao
Associate Professor, Department of Applied Physics |
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Project title: | Mastering the Synergy between High-voltage Cathode and Electrolyte to Build Robust Interfaces for Advanced Potassium-ion Battery | Mainland principal investigator: | Dr Dengyun Zhai
Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University | Funded amount: | approx. HK$1.1 million |
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