Awards and Achievements (Research)

Ranked 21st in the subject ‘Engineering - Civil & Structural’ by QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021

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Dr Kingsford Owusu Awarded ‘Thesis Awards for Postgraduate Students of The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors’

Prof. Meng Ni winning RGC CRF project

Huge congratulations to Prof. Meng Ni,Professor and Associate Head (Research) of BRE! Prof.Ni will  receive  a  grant  of  HK$4.2  Million  from Research  Grant Council(RGC) Collaborative  Research  Fund(CRF)  for  his project “Durable  and  high-performance zinc-air  flow  batteries  for  energy  storage”.This  is  the first  RGC  large-scale  research grant received by BRE staff as a project coordinator.    Renewable solar and wind power are intermittent and site specific.  Development of high performance and durable rechargeable batteries are essential for successful application of renewable power.  Compared with other types of batteries, zin-air batteries have high energy density,  cheap  and  safe.    To  solve  problems  of  Zn  dendrite  formation  and  Znelectrode passivation, Zn-air flow batteries will be developed.  To reduce the energy loss at the air electrode, novel perovskite catalyst will be explored.This project will develop high  performance  and  durable  Zn-air  flow  batteries  for  grid  scale  energy  storage  to facilitate the application of renewable solar and wind power.    Prof.Ni will conduct this project in collaboration  with Prof. Dennis Leung from The University  of  Hong  Kong  (HKU)  andProf.  Tian shou Zhao from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Prof.K.Y. Chan from HKU and Prof. Peng Tan from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) will serve as collaborator of this project.   Prof. Meng Ni is currently a Professor and Associate Head (Research) of Department of Building and Real Estate.He is a Humboldt Fellow (Germany). His research focuses on high  temperature  fuel  cells,  rechargeable  metal-air  batteries,  flow  batteries,  novelelectro chemical cells for low-grade heat harvesting, and energy materials.   He is serving as a Senior Edito rfor Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/sustainable-energy-technologies-and-assessments(Elsevier) and a former Associate Editor for Science Bulletin (Elsevier).  Recently, he was invited to be an Associate Editor for International   Journal   of   Green   Energy: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ljge20/current(Taylor & Francis) and International Journal of Energy Research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1099114x(Wiley). He is also one of the founding editors of Energy and     AI: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-and-ai/(Elsevier).    

BRE Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding 2019/20

BRE Award for Outstanding Research Performance 2019/20

Government’s Central Policy Unit’s Support for Dr Sun Yi

Good News! Dr Sun Yi, Assistant Professor of BRE, was successful in being awarded PICO Public Policy Research Funding of about HK$500,000 for his project ‘Effects of Environment-related Experiences on the Older Person’s Well-being in Hong Kong’s Double Ageing Context: A Person environment Perspective’.   ‘Double Ageing’ in terms of an increasing elderly population living in aged districts is a big headache for Hong Kong. With his passion for urban planning and age-friendly cities and communities, through this winning project, Dr Sun is eager to identify those socio-spatial and psychological experiences perceived to be important by Hong Kong’s elderly, to assess the effects of socio-spatial and psychological experiences on well-being, and to examine the mediating effects of psychological experiences on the relationship between socio-spatial experience and well-being, and ultimately, to identify key planning strategies and improved environmental features. Well Done to Dr Sun!   Have a read of Dr Sun Yi's profile : Dr Yi SUN    

Prof. Eddie Hui’s Honorably Appointed as Committee Chairman of EEA

Prof. Eddie Hui, Associate Head (Partnership) of BRE, says, “In addition to my earlier appointments as a member of the Government’s housing committees, it gave me great pleasure to accept the appointment as the Chairman of the Practice and Examination Committee of the Estate Agents Authority. I am happy to take up this important role in serving society.”   Established in November 1997 under the Estate Agents Ordinance, the Estate Agents Authority (EEA) regulates the practice of estate agency in Hong Kong, promotes integrity and competence within the industry, and facilitates the training of estate agency practitioners to enhance their standards and status for the benefit of the community.   With wide research and consultancy experience in housing estates and real estate investment and finance, Prof. Hui has served on a number of public organizations in Hong Kong; for instance, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, the Property Management Services Authority, the Town Planning Board, the Urban Renewal Authority and others. His selfless devotion to the community has always been evident.   Have a read of Prof. Eddie Hui's Profile : Prof Eddie CM HUI MH    

Prof. Meng Ni Awarded Research Grant from National Natural Science Foundation/Research Grant Council (NSFC/RGC) Joint Research Scheme

Huge congratulations to Prof. Ni Meng on receiving a grant of  around HK$1.2 Million from the National Natural Science Foundation/Research   Grant   Council   (NSFC/RGC)   Joint   Research Scheme!   Prof. Ni's winning project is “Coupling hydrogen production by high temperature electrolysis with iron-and-steel works to recover industrial waste-heat for low-carbon metallurgy”.   The   iron-and-steel   industry   is   an   extremely   important,   energy-demanding,  and  polluting  industry  due  to  the  use  of  huge  amount  of coke  for  reduction  in  the  blast  furnace.    In  this  project,  a  new integrated  system  combining  the  reversible  solid  oxide  cell  (RSOC)with the iron-and-steel works and the renewable power is proposed.The RSOC will use the waste heat from the iron-and-steel works and the  excess  renewable  power  for  hydrogen  production, which will be used for direct reduction in the iron-and-steel works.     Prof.  Meng  Niis  currently  a  Professor  and  Associate  Head  (Research)  of  Department  of Building and Real Estate of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.He is a Humboldt Fellow(Germany).His  research  focuses  on  high  temperature  fuel  cells,  rechargeable  metal-air batteries, flow batteries, novel electrochemical cells for low-grade heat harvesting, and energy materials.He  is  serving  as  a Senior Editor for Sustainable Energy  Technologies  and Assessments: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/sustainable-energy-technologies-and-assessments(Elsevier) and a former Associate Editor for Science Bulletin (Elsevier).  Recently,he  was  invited  to  be  an Associate  Editor for International  Journal  of  Green  Energy: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ljge20/current(Taylor & Francis) and International Journal of  Energy Research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1099114x(Wiley).He is also one of the founding editor of Energy and AI: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-and-ai/(Elsevier).   For more details about Prof. Ni, please visit: Prof Meng NI

Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM) Project Management Achievement Awards (2019) under Research Category - Winner (Dr Daniel Chan)

In the Project Management Achievement Awards (2019)organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM), two academic staff of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) of PolyU were rewarded for their research project announced on 18 June 2020.Under the Research category, Dr Daniel W.M. Chan (陳煒明博士), Associate Professor and Ir Prof. Albert P.C. Chan, Chair Professor and Head of BRE, were the winning team from PolyU.    Their research study aimed to review the current status of building deterioration in Hong Kong,and  to  determine  and  analyze  the  perceived  benefits, potential difficulties and effective recommendations or good practices for executing the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme(MBIS) towards existing dilapidated private buildings. They received an award certificate issued by the Judging Panel of the Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM)via emailon 9 November 2020.   Project Title: An Exploratory Study of the Implementation of the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS強制驗樓計劃) in Hong Kong Research Team Leader: Dr Daniel Chan Research Team Member: Ir Prof. Albert Chan   The HKIPM Project Management Achievement Awards (HKIPM Awards) is held each year in Hong  Kong,  and  the  awards  are  aimed  to  provide  an  opportunity for  organizations  and project  managers  in  different  disciplines  showing  their  project  success  amongst  their counterparts.  The  winners  under  each  category  of  HKIPM  Awards  will  be  endorsed  by HKIPM to submit to the international judging panel of the Asia Pacific Federation of Project Management  Achievement  Awards  (apfpm  Awards)  which was  conferred  to  the  same research team announced on 24 October 2019. The HKIPM Awards (Category: Research)are based on the quality of application submission and the practical outcomes of research projects conducted by academics in Hong Kong, the contents of which should be focused on the pertinent aspects of project management.    

Dr Daniel Chan’s Research Team Winning in APFPM and HKIPM Project Management Achievement Awards

Congratulations! The research team of Dr Daniel Chan, Associate Professor and Prof. Albert Chan, Chair Professor and Head of BRE was included among the Project Management Achievement Awards (2019) of the Asia Pacific Federation of Project Management (APFPM) and the Project Management Achievement Awards (2019) of the Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM). Amid the pandemic, they received the award certificates in July and November 2020, respectively. The winning study, ‘An Exploratory Study of the Implementation of the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS 強制驗樓計劃) in Hong Kong’ reviewed the current status of building deterioration in Hong Kong, and determined and analyzed the perceived benefits, potential difficulties, effective recommendations and the good practices involved in executing the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS), aimed at existing dilapidated private buildings.   Have a read of Dr Daniel Chan's Profile: Cr Dr Daniel WM CHAN