Awards and Achievements (Research)

BRE Colleagues’ Successful PPR Grant Applications

Congratulations to Dr Esther YUNG and Dr Kelvin HEUNG on being awarded a grant from the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (2023-2024) of The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region!

Prof. Geoffrey SHEN Recognised amongst the World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers 2023 by Clarivate

The ‘2023 Highly Cited Researchers Awards Ceremony’, jointly officiated by Prof. Christopher CHAO, PolyU Vice President (Research and Innovation), and Mr Osher GILINSKY, Clarivate™ Vice President for Asia Pacific (Academia and Government), was held on 15 March 2024, honoring 15 PolyU academics. These academics have been named Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate earlierfor their substantial impacts and noteworthy contributions in their respective research fields. Among the esteemed scholars, Prof. Geoffrey SHEN, Associate Vice President (Global Partnerships) and Chair Professor of Construction Management, Department of Building and Real Estate, was honoured to receive the Highly Cited Researcher Certificate from Mr Gilinsky. This accomplishment certainly serves as a significant affirmation of Prof. Shen's unwavering commitment to research excellence. In 2023, a total of 6,849 researchers from 67 countries and regions, spanning diverse research field, were on the list of selected highly-cited researchers. These scholars have earned recognition for their influential contributions, demonstrated by their production of numerous papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for their respective fields and publication year, according to the Web of Science™, over the past 11 years. The inclusion of PolyU's academics in this prestigious group underscores the university's commitment to advancing research excellence and making positive societal changes through various channels. Congratulations to Prof. Geoffrey SHEN again!  More about Prof. Shen: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/prof-geoffrey-qp-shen/

BRE Colleagues’ Successful NSFC Applications

Congratulations to the following colleagues who have received the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s (NSFC) Young Scientists Fund, with their projects commenced in January 2024!

Prof. Geoffrey Shen Recognised as Highly-Cited Researcher

A round of applause to Prof. Geoffrey Shen, our Chair Professor of Construction Management! Prof. Shen has recently been honoured as one of this year’s Highly-Cited Researchers in the cross-field category by Clarivate. This recognition acknowledges his significant research impact, as evidenced by the frequent citations by fellow scholars. The cheering accomplishment certainly signifies a great encouragement for Prof. Shen’s dedication to achieving research excellence. This year, PolyU stands in the top three among institutions, with 15 of its academics (including two former PolyU scholars), in terms of the world’s most highly-cited researchers in Hong Kong. This year, a total of 6,849 researchers from 67 countries and regions, representing diverse research field, are on the list of selected highly-cited researchers. Clarivate is a leading global provider of reliable and transformative intelligence, offering enriched data, insights, analytics, and workflow solutions, based on extensive domain expertise across the spectrum of knowledge, research, and innovation. More about Prof. Geoffrey Shen: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/prof-geoffrey-qp-shen/

BRE Scholars Ranked Among Top 2% of Scientists in the World by Stanford University in 2023

Congratulations to our colleagues on achieving prestigious positions as the world’s top 2% of most-cited scientists by Stanford University in 2023! BRE scholars include (in alphabetical order): oProf. Albert Chan o Dr Daniel Chan o Prof. Edwin Chan o Dr Chiang Yat Hung o Dr Amos Darko o Dr Patrick Fong o Prof. Eddie Hui o Dr Patrick Lam o Prof. Li Heng o Prof. Ni Meng o Prof. Geoffrey Shen o Prof. Michael Yam o Dr Ann Yu o Prof. Zayed Tarek Stanford University made a publicly available database of top-cited scientists ready to offer standardized information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions and a composite indicator (c-score). Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification.  

Dr Esther Yung Receiving Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards

Join us in having a round of applause for Dr Esther Yung, Associate Professor of BRE! Dr Yung was successful in being awarded the Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards, HLCA(HK) for her project ‘A Cave Automatic Virtual Therapeutic Garden for Residential Care Homes for the Elderly,’ Given that older people living in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly (RCHEs) have limited opportunity to access to public open spacedue to the mobility impairments or chronic illness, the awarded project can provide older residents with a simulated experience of natural healing elements, with the aim of reducing stress and improving psychological and emotional well-being. Besides, due to limited land resources in Hong Kong, it is difficult to provide space for an outdoor garden within RCHEs. With her passion for extending the elderly’s healthspan, Dr Yung is eager to identify issues and innovatively apply the concept of a therapeutic garden by using Cave Automatic Virtual Environment to build a virtual therapeutic garden within RCHEs. Led by Dr Yung, the research team includes Dr. Wang Siqiang and Dr. Sun Yi of BRE, Prof. Angela Leung of School of Nursing at PolyU, and Dr. Wayne Chan of Department of Rehabilitation Science at PolyU. The project will kick off in end Oct 2023. The Research Grants Council (RGC) has collaborated with the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) of the United States for the HLCA (HK). The award aims to encourage bold and innovative ideas from any discipline that have the potential to extend the human healthspan. The RGC offers ten Catalyst Awards in the HLCA (HK) each year with a cash prize of US$50,000 at a maximum. Have a read of Dr Esther Yung’s profile:https://www.polyu.edu.hk/.../academic.../dr-esther-hk-yung/

Congratulations to Dr WENG Yiwei’s Team on Successful Application for Teaching Development Grants

With the grants totaling HK$584,000-, our Assistant Professor, Dr Weng Yiwei’s winning project entitled ‘Integrating Artificial Intelligence with BIM to facilitate Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Education’ has kicked off. It brings our students a new level of interactive learning experiences in the construction practices. Dr Weng highlights, “The digital transformation of the construction sector in Hong Kong is pressingly needed. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is considered one of the most important platforms to facilitate digital transformation. Traditional methods to equip students with BIM knowledge are limited by low efficiency and a steep learning curve, due to the compatibility and the complexity of the BIM platform. Recognizing these facts, this project proposes to develop a platform by combining Artifice Intelligence (AI) with BIM to promote interactive teaching and learning activities.” Apart from Dr Weng, the team members include the colleagues, Mr Kong Wai Kei (BRE), Dr Liu Xintao (LSGI), Dr Seo JoonOh (BRE), Dr Wei His-Hsien (BRE) and Dr Chi Hung-Lin (BRE). We wish Dr Weng and his teammates every success with the project! More about Dr Weng: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/dr-weng-yiwei/

Hearty Congratulations to Prof. Ni Meng on His Success in RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme in 2023/24

After a rigorous selection, Prof. Ni Meng, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) and Professor of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), was awarded the fellowship together with funding in the Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS) 2023/24 of the Research Grants Council (RGC). The achievement is a richly deserved recognition of Prof. Ni’s making remarkable strides to advance clean energy generation.  With a strong team, Prof. Ni is committed to researching fuel cells, hydrogen energy, rechargeable metal-air batteries, electrochemical water-splitting, and electrochemical systems for low grade waste heat utilization.  Also, Prof. Ni serves as an active reviewer for over 80 academic journals including Science, Nature Energy, Nature Communications, Joule, Advanced Materials etc.  He served as Associate Editor for Science Bulletin in 2015-2017.  Currently, he is a Co-Editor-in-Chief for Energy Reviews (Elsevier), a Senior Editor for Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments (Elsevier) and e-Prime (Elsevier) and an Associate Editor for International Journal of Green Energy (Taylor & Francis) and Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (Wiley). Hearty Congratulations to Prof. Ni Meng! More about Prof. Ni: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/bre/people/academic-staff/prof-meng-ni/

BRE Academic Staff Winning HKIPM Project Management Achievement Awards (2021) under Research Category

BRE Academic Staff Winning HKIPM Project Management Achievement Awards (2021) under Research Category   In the Project Management Achievement Awards (2021) organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Project Management (HKIPM), Dr Daniel W.M. Chan, Associate Professor and Associate Head (Teaching) of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), together with his PhD graduate student (Dr Timothy Olawumi), was the winning team from PolyU under the Research category. Dr Daniel Chan received an award certificate from the Chairman of the Judging Panel at the HKIPM Annual Dinner 2022 held on Tuesday, 13 December 2022 at the Royal Plaza Hotel, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong.   Project Title:Development of a BIM-Enabled and Cloud-Based Sustainability Assessment System for Buildings in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Nigeria Principal Investigator: Dr Timothy Olawumi Co-Principal Investigator: Dr Daniel 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 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 Kelvin Heung’s Team ‘Fleming Medlab’ Scooping Awards in Hong Kong Techathon 2023 and Inno Impact Award 2022​

We are rooting hard for Dr Kelvin Heung’s team ‘Fleming Medlab’! Dr Kelvin Heung, Research Assistant Professor of BRE and Co-founder/CTO of Fleming Medlab, and his team member, Mr Edwin Ty, Co-founder/CEO of Fleming Medlab, scooped the ‘Championship of Healthcare & GeronTech’ in Hong Kong Techathon 2023 and the ‘Elderly Health Care Award’ in Inno ImpactAward 2022. With neuroscientific principles and soft robotics, Dr Heung’s team focused on the development of innovative wearable exoskeleton characterized as lightweight, portable, medical-grade and safe for enhancing stroke patients’ neural pathways and mobility. The product will give patients a new level of well-being and confidence. Dr Heung shares, “We have already obtained patent protection and are currently preparing for human trials. We expect to launch the product to market in this year and benefit more people.” Scooping awards is never easy. Despite fierce competitions, the team’s acts of persistence, innovation and efforts deserve the wonderful achievements in Hong Kong Techathon 2023 and Inno Impact Award 2022. The success marked an important milestone of realizing their belief of making positive impacts on society. Jointly organised by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and nine universities, a week-long hackathon event ‘Hong Kong Techathon 2023’ aimed at gathering participants to bring in new and possible business solutions. This year’s keen competition came with over 180 projects by more than 900 participants. Organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, ‘Inno Impact Award 2022’ aimed to publicise innovation and entrepreneurship as well as encourage youth to suggest solutions for creating social impacts in Hong Kong. Amid roaring applause, the awardees received the honour and hearty congratulations in the award presentation ceremony on 28 February 2023. More about Dr Kelvin Heung: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/.../acade.../dr-heung-holam-kelvin/