The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has recently approved a total grant of HKD 50.75m to support eight Research Centres, including five new and three existing centres, to develop new research niche areas and further enhance some focused research areas. Each centre will have one-off funding support of HKD 7.5 million, including matching funds from their departments, schools or faculties for a period of 3 years. The establishment of these new research centres will strengthen the University’s research capacity as well as enhance our research visibility.
Prof Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Chairman of the Research Committee, said, “Each of these funded centres has a solid and complementary base of expertise and is committed to conducting impactful research. The newly established centres specialising in different fields will generate innovative solutions that synthesise and address the development needs of the new era. PolyU will continue to spare no effort in supporting interdisciplinary research and expanding our talent pool.”
The five newly set up Research Centres (in alphabetical order):
- Colour, Imaging, and Metaverse Research Centre, led by Dr Minchen Tommy WEI, Associate Professor of the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering
It aims to carry out high-impact fundamental research about human vision, colour and imaging science, develop algorithms and solutions for systems, and be a pioneer in exploiting the potential to use metaverse for treatment, rehabilitation, education, and design.
- Research Centre for Blockchain Technology, led by Dr Xiapu Daniel LUO, Associate Professor of the Department of Computing
It is dedicated to tackling fundamental problems at different layers of blockchain systems and cross-layer research issues. It will explore strategic application areas, like blockchain-empowered smart cities, blockchain for finance, and blockchain-enabled digital government.
- Research Centre for Carbon-Strategic Catalysis, led by Dr Bolong HUANG, Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology
It aims to offer a comprehensive platform to achieve more impactful outputs on the advanced catalyst design and synthesis for sustainable energy development strategies, with a long-term vision of significantly contributing to achieving carbon neutrality.
- Research Centre for Future (Caring) Mobility, led by Prof. Stephen Jia WANG, School of Design
It represents a vision of cutting-edge “STEAM” (STEM + Art & Design) and an innovative design approach emphasising on living, caring, and wellbeing under various mobility scenarios. It is determined to tackle real-world challenges such as future caring in transportation, automobile cybersecurity, smart city fluidity, and more.
- Research Centre for Quantitative Finance, led by Prof. Min DAI, Chair Professor in Applied Statistics and Financial Mathematics, Department of Applied Mathematics
It will focus on cutting-edge research in three topical areas of quantitative finance, including pricing and hedging of financial derivatives, portfolio management, and financial technology, which are of strategic importance to Hong Kong as an international financial hub.
The three existing Research Centres (in alphabetical order):
- Peking University – The Hong Kong Polytechnic University China Social Work Research Centre, led by Dr Hok Bun Ben KU, Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences
It focuses on social work, social development, and social policy in the Chinese context. Peking University has awarded it twice as one of the best research centres in social sciences. Four significant policy areas will be examined: Rural Revitalization, Rural-Urban Integration, Made in China 2025, and Belt and Road.
- Research Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, led by Prof. Qing LI, Chair Professor (Data Science) and the Head of the Department of Computing and Prof. Lei ZHANG, Chair Professor of Computer Vision and Image Analysis, the Department of Computing
It aims to develop high-impact and innovative theories and algorithms in fundamental data science and AI technologies, computer vision, natural language processing and data analytics. It will also create three specific strategies applications: event discovery, smart transportation, and the metaverse.
- Research Centre for Gerontology and Family Studies, led by Dr Xue BAI, Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences
For the betterment of the ageing society, it focuses on older adults’ social participation, lifelong learning, family functioning, health and quality of later life, etc., aiming to generate effective models and evidence-based practices that can be shared with service providers and policymakers to enhance the relevant services and policies.
