News

Simran Gulati recognized as Millennium Fellow and Campus Director

Simran Gulati, a Year 3 retail and marketing student in the BA programme, was recognized by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) and the United Nations Academic Impact as a Millennium fellow and a Campus Director at PolyU in the summer of 2020. Launched in 2018,  the fellowship is a semester long leadership development programme that convenes, challenges and celebrates student leadership for the United Nations goals. Simran dreams of making the fashion industry more sustainable and ethical. She believes that each consumer today has the power to make a change and therefore proposed “Rethinking Fashion”, a project that advances Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11,12 and 13 (sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, and climate action) with the support and guidance of Dr Nuruzzaman Noor, ITC Research Assistant Professor. Simran explains the inspiration behind her project: “Being a fashion enthusiast, it’s so heart-breaking to see hordes of garments being dumped into the landfills which have hardly been worn. I want to create an awareness about how dumped clothing has a negative impact on our environment. To overcome this, I want to bring out humanity, a human connection to the garment which is missing today and how we can reuse our old clothing and give it one more round of life.” Along with another fellow, Muskan Shah, a Year 2 student who is majoring in retail and marketing in the BA programme, Simran has launched an Instagram page (@rethinking.fashion), which aims to inspire consumers to make conscious decisions on what to wear by providing them with easy to follow guidelines and tips, and featuring inspirational talks with industry specialists. Followers can also join the programme by becoming an ambassador to help rebuild fashion for the good of the community. Simran is very optimistic about their efforts: “We are already impacting more than 500 lives and recently goodonyou_app followed us, a renowned organization which rates fashion brands on the basis of a sustainability index to help consumers choose better”. Also, in her role as Campus Director, Simran facilitates training sessions for 12 fellows at PolyU where they learn and discuss about global frameworks and share how they can resolve the global issues. Simran also received the opportunity to learn and connect with several global leaders who are working towards sustainable development and Millennium Fellows across the world. Some of the leaders include Mr Sam Vaghar (Founder of MCN), Ms Sophia Kianni (youth advisor on climate change), Mr Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond (Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations) and many more. Another fruitful summer experience was interning at a luxury occasion wear label, Anushkaa Bajaj, in India. As a designer and merchandiser, Simran was able to explore her interests in a variety of assigned roles, like designing a collection for Spring/Summer 2020 and textile prints, analysing the current market trends, handling the store orders and alterations with senior merchandisers and assisting with fabric selection. This internship has further strengthened her interest, confidence, and determination and equipped her with practical knowledge and skills which will be really helpful for her future career. Simran said, “I am looking forward to more such opportunities which will be a valuable learning experience for me and hope to become a sustainable fashion entrepreneur to help rebuild fashion for good.”  

HK$10M funding for ITC researchers from Innovation and Technology Fund and General Research Fund

ITC researchers are well known for their projects that are diverse in scope and focus and their strong research capability.  As testimony to this fact, ten ITC led projects have been recently funded a total of HK$10M from external competitive funding schemes, including the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITC) from the Innovation and Technology Commission, and the General Research Fund (GRF). In fact, the projects also show the commitment of ITC staff members to the well-being of the community. The projects include investigating antiviral and antibacterial clothing and facemask, biofeedback system for adolescents with early scoliosis, skin-like water repellent fabric, fiber-based thermoelectric generators, and many more.  The funded research projects are listed below. Project Title Project-in-charge ITF Developing Healthcare Clothing with Antiviral and Antibacterial Function Prof. Chi-wai Kan Trial: Development of a Low-cost Textile-Skin Stickiness Tester (TSST) Simulating Dry, Moist and Wet Skin Contact Prof. Chi-wai Kan Anti-viral and Anti-microbial Durable Disinfectant Coatings for Facemask Prof. Xiaoming Tao Trial: Evaluation of An Innovative Body-Mapping Tank Top Equipped with Biofeedback System for Adolescents with Early Scoliosis Dr Joanne Yip   GRF Skin-like Stimuli Responsive Directional Flow and Water Repellent Fabric Prof. Jintu Fan Pressure behavior and mechanism of elastic pressure exerting and sensing fabrics for monitoring pressure of compression textiles Dr Tao Hua Creation of Weaving Technology, System and Apparatus for Fabricating Four-warp Leno Dr Li Li Design, Modeling, Fabrication and Evaluation of Fiber-based Thermoelectric Generators Prof. Xiaoming Tao A sustainable biocidal strategy for interior textiles based on N-halamine incorporated metal-organic framework Prof. John Xin Design, Modeling and Characterization of Multifunctional Fiber-based Materials with Customized Functionalities as a Functional and Structural Integrity Prof. Bingang Xu

“Add Meaning to Your Graduation” for Class of 2020

Online experience sharing session: Applications for RGC General Research Fund

The General Research Fund (GRF) is an important funding source which supplements the research support that universities provide to researchers who have achieved or have the potential to achieve excellent work. The GRF covers two areas of research work that focuses on enhancing either general knowledge or for specific purposes. These are: 1) basic research: to advance the frontiers of knowledge regardless of whether the work would provide immediate benefits to humankind; and 2) applied research: efforts that meet certain functional requirements which involve the application of theories to specific areas or for a specific purpose, and/or benefit humankind in the short to medium term. On 4 September, ITC organised the “Online experience sharing session on applications for RGC General Research Fund (GRF)” for our staff members. The session was chaired by Prof Hu Hong, Professor of ITC. ITC also invited Prof Tao Xiaoming, Chair Professor of Textile Technology; Prof Xu Bingang, Professor; and Dr L Li, Associate Professor, to share their success stories with other ITC members.

Profs. Jintu Fan and Jason Choi host online research seminars

 ITC organised two online research seminars in July 2020 so that interested individuals would have the opportunity to be better acquainted with the ongoing research of different professors and discuss their work with them.

EcoMat webinar on triboelectric nanogenerators

Prof. Prof Zijian Zheng, Professor of ITC, is the editor-in chief of EcoMat, a journal co-published by PolyU and Wiley. The aim of EcoMat is to publish on a wide variety of topics from different disciplines that share a focus on cutting-edge advanced materials for green energy and the environment. On 22 July, EcoMat organized a webinar on triboelectric nanogenerators which featured the following speakers and topics: Prof. Zhong-Lin Wang, Director of the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems: “Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Self-powered Systems and Large-scale Blue Energy” Dr Jun Chen, Assistant Professor of the Department of Bioengineering, University of California: “Textile Electronics for Personalized Health Care” Prof. Sang-Woo Kim, SKKU Distinguished Professor of Sungkyunkwan University: “Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Powering Wearable and Body-implantable Devices The webinar was well attended with over 4000 participants.

ITC staff recipients of FAST Faculty Awards 2019 / 20

ITC is proud to announce that seven ITC staff members are the recipient of the FAST Faculty Awards 2019/20 which testifies to their outstanding research performance and service. Individual Award Category: Research and Scholarly Activities Awardee: Dr Li Li, Associate Professor, ITC Team Award Category: Research and Scholarly Activities Awardees: Prof. Chi-wai Kan, Professor, ITC (Team Leader) Dr Chris Lo, Associate Professor, ITC Dr Joanne Yip, Associate Professor, ITC Dr Joseph Yung, Associate Professor, Applied Biology and Chemical Technology (ABCT) Dr Amber Chiou, Assistant Professor, ABCT Prof. Hai Guo, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Dr Simon Ching Lam, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing (SN) Category: Services Awardees: Dr Desmond Chau, Instructor, ITC (Team Leader) Ms Cherry Chan, Executive Officer, ITC Mr Eric Wong, Technical Officer, ITC Congratulations to all of the awardees for their achievement.

Award Winning Teaching and Learning Platform for Entrepreneurship Education

ITC STORE won the first place in The 6th Innovation & Entrepreneurship Teaching Excellence Awards.  It is a recognition of ITC STORE serving as a platform for entrepreneurship education and adopting new ideas and new approaches for teaching innovation entrepreneurship in higher education institutions. After two rounds of shortlisting, 9 finalists from around the world, including Finland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK, and Hong Kong presented their teaching pedagogies, initiatives, and learning outcomes to a panel of entrepreneurship scholars on 16 September 2020. Led by Prof. Christina Wong and Dr Magnum Lam, ITC STORE is a teaching and learning platform that aims to cultivate entrepreneurship. It has a real-life omni-channel retail shop setting for students to gain entrepreneurship experiences as well as to conduct participatory action research.

Dr Di Fan in Vogue Business

The globalization progress has been seriously challenged in recent years, which has severe impacts on the global supply chain. Recently, the US government accused the Xinjiang cotton industry of using  forced labour and subsequently issued a withhold release order (WRO) on cotton products from Xinjiang, China. Dr Di Fan, Assistant Professor of ITC, was interviewed by Vogue Business on the impacts of this new customs measure on the global fashion supply chain. Dr Fan stated that, “We have not seen a significant impact so far, and we do not see significant changes in future cotton prices in Xinjiang and internationally. “This is probably because the ban on all Xinjiang cotton is very difficult to execute. At best, US Customs can cut-off the direct connection between the US fashion companies and their Xinjiang suppliers. However, it’s very difficult, for both the US government and companies, to track whether textile products, such as curtains and garments, contain cotton materials from Xinjiang.” Despite the absence of immediate impacts on cotton price, Dr Fan states that the measures will affect the global sourcing strategy of multinational fashion companies. “The ban can be viewed as a non-tariff trade barrier of Chinese products to the US market. It adds the risk of supply chain disruptions to the US companies who are sourcing from China.” “To mitigate the risk, the companies might shift their cotton purchasing from China to domestic suppliers, or suppliers in Vietnam and Pakistan.” Dr Fan indicated that the fashion companies nowadays are facing increased political risks in their global operations. Thus, the companies need to rethink widely used business practices in an era of deglobalization. “The fashion companies should rethink the “just-in-time” and change their mind-set about minimal inventory. Safety stock is increasingly important nowadays to buffer for supply chain disruptions. Diversifying supply bases are effective to keep firms running when supply glitches occur in the suppliers located in a particular region”. “The fashion companies should also increase their supply chain visibility by conducting audit and monitoring programs on their suppliers. Such programs are essential for maintaining an ethical fashion supply chain. The evidence collected is also useful for the companies to demonstrate their commitment to establish a sustainable supply for both the public and regulators.” For the full story, please visit https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/us-ban-cotton-xinjiang

ITC welcomes new Research Assistant Professors

ITC is pleased to welcome the following new Research Assistant Professors to the academic team. Fashion & Textile Technology – Chemistry Dr Qiyao Huang earned both her BA and PhD degrees in Textile Technology from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her interest centres on developing flexible and wearable electronics based on textile materials by combining conventional textile techniques with advanced materials and nanotechnology. Her research topics include metallic textiles and textile-based electrochemical energy storage and sensing devices.Fashion & Textile Technology – Textiles Dr Ying Ji obtained her PhD degree in fiber science from Cornell University in the US. She received her BSc and MSc in polymer science and engineering from Zhejiang University in China. Prior to joining the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology at the University of California in Los Angeles, US. Her research focus includes developing biodegradable polymeric materials and studying the biodegradation of post-consumer plastic products. Her research interests also involve functional materials for drug delivery and biomedical applications. Fashion & Textile Design Dr Tsai-chun Huang was Visiting Lecturer at several different design schools prior to joining ITC, including the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), PARSONS, and New York University (NYU), all of which are based in New York, as well as the Royal College of Art (RCA) and Instituto Marangoni, both of which are in London, to demonstrate an innovative pleating method and provide workshops. Recently, he worked in European art festivals, such as the Hull UK City of Culture 2017, and the Prague Quadrennial 2019. Dr Huang’s research focuses on the history of pleats, innovations in pleating technology, and the relationship between materials and the body. Designing costumes for theatre performances which demands a wide range of movement and different levels of durability has honed his observations around daily wear. He has discovered that the expansion and contraction of pleats offer potential new ways of wearing. Cutting-edge technology is also part of Dr Huang’s focus as smart textiles greatly alter the look and function of garments. However, at the same time, he would like to return to the fundamental principles of body based design in fashion and textile research, without blindly chasing technology. Considering people’s life style and habits, how do smart textiles interact with the human body? Why do we need these smart textiles? Have these smart textiles simply become a trend? These critical questions have helped him to reflect on his research work. Dr Haze Ng is an active practitioner in both the design and academic circles, participating in international fashion and textile conferences, museum exhibitions and shows. Dr Ng’s research interests cover narrative and interactive fashion and textile designs; contemporary design philosophies, methodologies and practices; and cross-disciplinary design processes and models.  With a strong interest in sociocultural and artistic design creations, Dr Ng also investigates traditional attire and textile craftsmanship, including authentic men’s cheongsam tailoring and connotative surface embellishments.  Dr Magnum Lam earned his PhD in Fashion Business at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He also holds an MA in Anthropology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before joining ITC, Dr Lam was Visiting Scholar at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan (UBCO) and Visiting Fellow at the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI).  His research interests lie in corporate philanthropy, social innovation, fashion consumer behaviors, and symbolic meanings of consumption.