The ITC Outstanding Alumni Award aims to give public recognition to outstanding graduates for their professional achievements and significant contributions to the community and their alma mater.
Awards are conducted at three levels (Department level, Faculty level and University level) under four categories (Professional Achievement, Entrepreneurial Achievement, Scholarly Achievement and Community Service Achievement). Selection of Outstanding Alumni is based on the nominee’s accomplishments in his/her personal achievements in the field, contributions to the community, and support and contributions to PolyU.
We are pleased to announce that our Dr Di Fan (PhD, 2016), Assistant Professor has been selected as the 2022 ITC Outstanding Alumni in recognition of his scholarly achievement; whereas Mr Kwok Chi-hung Stanley (MA, 2013), co-founder of KnitWarm Limited has been selected as the 2022 ITC Outstanding Alumni in recognition of his entrepreneurial achievement.
Dr Di Fan obtained his Bachelor, Master and PhD degrees from ITC. Prior to joining ITC, he was a Senior Lecturer at The Australian National University and an Assistant Professor at Macau University of Science and Technology. Dr Fan is a researcher in sustainable operations. His research aims at providing implications to build a greener, safer, and more socially responsible global fashion supply chain. His research has been published in top-tier peer review journals in the field, such as Journal of Operations Management and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. His academic achievement has been recognized by various international research awards, such as Jack Meredith Best Paper Award from Journal of Operations Management, and Presidential Responsible Research Award from International Association of Chinese Management Research. His research findings have been widely reported by major international media such as The Guardian, South China Morning Post and Sydney Morning Herald.
Mr Stanley Kwok applied the patented heat-conductive knitting technology in a variety of wearable items and created a new lifestyle brand named KnitWarm with the vision of helping the wearer to look smart and enfold the fear of being labelled as infirmity. In the last 3 years, KnitWarm Limited has launched and commercialized more than 10 innovative gadgets including Wrap, Smart KneeSleeve, HarnessWarmer, and WarmerBand. The patented invention successfully addresses technological challenges and removes the bulkiness, discomfort, and unaesthetic appearance, unlocking the possibility of new applications to satisfy the unmet needs of customers. These functional wearables are well-recognized in the market and have received numerous international innovation awards, including Red Dot Award, Asia Pacific Information and Communications Technology Alliance Awards 2020-21, Hong Kong ICT Awards - Grand Award, and DHL / SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards 2021 - the Startup Award.
Let’s congratulate Dr Fan and Mr Kwok on winning the award!
"Dr Fan has significant contributions to ITC and PolyU. First, he is dedicated to increase the international exposure of PolyU in both academic communities and mass media …… such as Vogue Business, South China Morning Post and Sourcing Journal with the name of PolyU. Second, he has secured external funding for PolyU…… from Research Grant Council. Third, Dr Fan has provided excellent study experience to the ITC students, which was demonstrated by his high teaching evaluation score of the courses he delivered…... Last, Dr Fan is also dedicated to promoting ITC in Mainland China. He is currently developing social media accounts for ITC on various platforms, including WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu. He is generating interesting media contents to build awareness and reputation for ITC in the Mainland market, which shall benefit student admission and research promotion of the department.Mr Kwok promote and transfer ITC’s innovation research output to textile and fashion industry. His efforts are recognized by different local and world industrial awards."
Quoted comments from review panel.
