News

RCRE Director and Members won Awards at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva

Congratulations to RCRE Director and 3 members for winning a total of 4 accolades at the 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva in Switzerland. The 4 accolades include 3 Gold Medals with Congratulations of the Jury and 1 Gold Medal. The award-winning projects are listed below.  Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury – “CO2-driven Superhydrophobic Carbon-sink Concrete” by Ir Prof. Chi-sun POON Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury – “Smart Fire Extinguisher for Spacecraft” by Prof. Xinyan HUANG Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury – “SweatMD: Health-monitoring Wearable Sweat Sensor” by Prof. Dahua SHOU Gold Medal – “Multi-mode Optical Characterisation Interferometer (MOCI)” by Prof. Benny Chi-fai CHEUNG  

PolyU RCRE Webinar Series: Day-and-Night Energy Solution: A Device for Continuous Power Generation

Ir Prof. Vivien Lu (BEEE) delivered a webinar with the topic of “Day-and-Night Energy Solution: A Device for Continuous Power Generation” on 7 April 2025. The webinar was co-organized with CEE of PolyU. Over 80 participants joined the webinar.

RCRE Director introduces Eco-blocks in Short Film “Carbon Revolution in China”

Ir Prof. Poon Chi-sun, Director of RCRE, was featured in the short film “Carbon Revolution in China” produced by the Hong Kong Coalition to introduce the Eco-blocks developed by his team. Eco-block is a type of green construction material produced from construction and other waste materials.   Online coverage: Ta Kung Pao - https://polyu.me/4hMF1vN (3:01 - 4:50) HK01 - https://polyu.me/4hIeY99 (3:01 - 4:50) Bastille Post - https://polyu.me/42G9IP6 (3:01 - 4:50) Bauhinia - https://polyu.me/40Q6uWR (3:01 - 4:50)    

RCRE Member has been elected as Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering 2024

Congratulations to Ir Prof. Xiao Lin Zhao, Chair Professor of Civil Infrastructure of CEE and Member of RCRE, for being elected as Fellow of the Hong Kong Academic of Engineering (HKAE) in recognition of his exceptional expertise and remarkable contributions to the field of engineering.   

RCRE Members awarded RGC Collaborative Research Fund

Congratulations to Prof. DONG You and Prof. ZHANG Xuming, whose projects have been awarded the RGC Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) 2024/25. The two awarded projects are: Project Title: Advancing Compound Hazard Resilience and Adaptation for Urban Building Community in a Changing Climate Project Coordinator: Prof. DONG You (Member of RCRE) Funding Awarded: HK$4,430,285 Project Title: Seeing like Dragonflies: Optical-Fiber-based Artificial Compound Eyes for 3D Vision Project Coordinator: Prof. ZHANG Xuming (Member of RCRE) Funding Awarded: HK$4,068,410  

RCRE Director and Management Committee Member awarded a total of HK$7.8 million from RGC Research Impact Fund

Congratulations to Ir Prof. POON Chi Sun and Dr LEU Shao-yuan, Ben, whose projects have been awarded  a total grant of HK$7.8 million in the RGC Research Impact Fund (RIF) 2024/25. The two awarded projects are:   Project Title: Development of modular integrated 3D-printed concrete construction (MI3DC) Project Coordinator: Ir Prof. POON Chi Sun (Director of RCRE) Funding Awarded: HK$2,100,000   Project Title: WASTES to WINGS – Constructing a high-throughput sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) research platform to facilitate zero carbon air travel in Hong Kong Project Coordinator: Dr LEU Shao-yuan, Ben (Management Committee Member of RCRE) Funding Awarded: HK$5,700,000

ReACT2024 successfully held

The 1st International Conference on Research and Application of Carbonation Technology for Wastes and Concrete (ReACT2024) was successfully held from 11 to 14 December 2024 on PolyU campus. The Conference was jointly organized by the Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality (RCRE) and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) of PolyU together with the Solid Waste and Eco-material Subcommittee of the Chinese Ceramic Society. The Conference attracted more than 270 academics, researchers, industrial professionals, government officials and postgraduate students from all over the world, including Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mainland China, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States.  The Conference commenced with an opening address from Prof. Christopher Chao (VP(RI)) and a welcome address from Prof. Chi-sun Poon (Chair of ReACT2024 Organising Committee, Director of RCRE and Head of CEE). We were honoured to have Prof. Jos Brouwers from Eindhoven University of Technology, Prof. Thomas Matschei from RWTH Aachen University, Prof. Changwen Miao from Southeast University, Prof. Liwu Mo from Nanjing Tech University, Prof. Takafumi Noguchi from The University of Tokyo, Prof. Chi-sun Poon from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Prof. Fazhou Wang from Wuhan University of Technology, and Dr Maciej Zajac from Heidelberg Materials AG as our keynote speakers to share their valuable insights and inspirations with us in the Plenary Sessions. In addition, more than 160 papers were presented at the Conference and they covered a spectrum of topics related to advanced carbonation technologies. The Conference served as an effective platform for exchanging knowledge and exploring the challenges and opportunities associated with the research and application of advanced mineral carbonation technology for construction materials, particularly in the context of waste and concrete. On the last day of the Conference, a cultural experience tour was organized to hike at Dragon’s Back, Shek O. It was grateful to see the participants enjoying this hiking tour. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all speakers, Organizing Committee members and participants who made this conference a resounding success. Your passion and dedication are very much appreciated. Our sincere gratitude also goes to our financial sponsor, Beijing NELD Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. for the generous support.

RCRE showcased at the Gammon Sustainability Conference and the HKAEE Experience Sharing Seminar Day

RCRE involved in the exhibitions at the Gammon Sustainability Conference at Nina Hotel on 28 November 2024 and at the 2024 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence (HKAEE) Experience Sharing Seminar Day at Hong Kong Productivity Council on 11 December 2024, respectively, to showcase the innovative technologies on sustainable low-carbon construction materials.  

RCRE Member won a Gold Medal at the 4th Asia Exhibition of Innovations and Inventions Hong Kong

Congratulations to Ir Prof. Vivien Lin Lu, Professor of Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering and RCRE Member, for winning a Gold Medal at the 4th Asia Exhibition of Innovations and Inventions Hong Kong (AEII) that was held in Hong Kong on 5-6 December 2024. The award-winning project, led by Ir Prof. Lu, is titled “Synergistic integration of terrestrial radiative cooling and bifacial solar photovoltaics for low-carbon buildings”. The project developed an environmentally friendly solar-driven adaptive radiative cooling coating that can adjust cooling capacity based on solar irradiance, thus cooling building roofs and walls without consuming any energy.   AEII is a prestigious annual exhibition and competition dedicated to innovations and inventions in Asia. It brings together scholars, experts, and inventors from around the world to showcase a diverse range of groundbreaking inventions and solutions.

Two RCRE Members were listed as the World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers

Congratulations to two RCRE members, Prof. Haitao Huang and Dr Xiao Zhang, for being recognised in the list of “Highly Cited Researchers 2024” by Clarivate Analytics. This annual list recognises researchers for significant impact in their respective research fields. Each researcher selected has authored multiple highly-cited papers that have ranked in the top 1% by citations for their fields and publication year in the Web of Science over the past 11 years.