News

RISUD Member Awarded Funding in RGC CRF 2021/22 Research Project Grant

The project of Prof. Wong, Professor of Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics and member of RISUD has been supported by the Research Grants Council (RGC), with the total funding amounting to near HK5 million.   Project Coordinator Proposal Title RGC Amount Awarded Prof. Charles Wong Study of Carbon Sequestration in Hong Kong’s Vegetation: from Present to Future Prediction under Climate Change  $4,949,639  

RISUD Member Awarded Funding in Second Round One-off CRF COVID-19 and NIR Research Exercises

In the second round one-off CRF COVID-19 and Novel Infectious Diseases (NIR) Research Exercises, the RGC received a total of 115 applications. Out of the 34 full proposals received, 20 were selected for interview.  Finally, 16 proposals were supported by the RGC with a total amount of $92.3 million (exclusive on-costs), including 3 proposals supported for one-year seed money and exploratory funding amounting to $6.7 million in total.   PolyU submitted 22 preliminary proposals, 7 full proposals and 5 full proposals were shortlisted for interview in early December 2021.  Finally, 3 proposals are supported by the RGC with a total funding of $14,120,540, of which one of the Project Coordinators is Prof. GUO Hai, member of RISUD and professor of CEE.  The details are as follows:   Ref. No. Name of PC Proposal Title RGC Amount Awarded C5024-21G Prof. GUO Hai Is the usual social distance sufficient to avoid airborne infection of expiratory droplets in indoor environments? $4,703,090  

Call for Applications for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme and the RISUD Research Postgraduate Studentship Places 2022/23

The Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) invites candidates who are interested in carrying out inter/multi-disciplinary research in areas related to sustainable urban development to apply for full-time PhD studies at PolyU. Each year, a significant number of PhD students with an inter/multi-disciplinary research topic are admitted via RISUD with financial support from either RISUD or the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme. Although students are admitted via RISUD, they will enroll in the affiliated department of their chief supervisor. Focus Areas of Study: While strong PhD candidates in other areas are also most welcome, we are particularly interested in receiving applications for PhD studies in the following focus areas of RISUD for inter/multi-disciplinary collaborative research: 1. 3D Digital Twin for Smart Mobility 2. Climate-Resilient Development 3. Disaster Emergency Response in Smart Cities 4. Environment and Climate Change Observation and Prediction 5. Industrialization of Building Construction 6. Nanotechnology, Environment, and Urbanization Nexus 7. Offshore Wind Power Generation 8. Robotics for Urban Infrastructure 9. Safety of Unmanned Airborne System 10. Seashore Zero-Energy Community and Ocean Energy Development 11. Smart Energy Efficient and Grid-Responsive Buildings 12. Smart Firefighting 13. Smart Utilities 14. Urban Air Pollution and Health 15. Urban Air Pollution Modelling 16. Urban Ecology 17. Urban Water Management 18. Urban Simulation 19. Very Large Floating Structures For enquiries, please contact RISUD General Office.

2nd Lecture of "Sustainable City Lecture Series: Can We Make our Planet Great Again?"

“POWER THE FUTURE: POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES, from Energy Storage to Green Building”, Co-organized by RISUD, ITDO and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau. Speaker: Representatives from RISUD and French Consulate Date: 2 Jun 2021 (Wed) Time: 3:45p.m. - 6:00p.m. Venue: Hybrid (online by Zoom and limited seats for on-site audience Medium: English Following with the success of the first lecture in 2020, RISUD, ITDO and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau organized the second lecture on 2 June 2021. It consisted university-industry mix of speakers to share their views, experiences and good practices towards energy sustainability. The event was a big success and drew more than 150 audiences.

RISUD Joined as a Signatory of the BEC Low Carbon Charter

Climate change is one of the most urgent global challenges of our time. Through the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the global community commits to limit the rise of global average temperature, and hence Hong Kong also has an obligation to develop a long-term decarbonization strategy. With the support of business leaders and the Environment Bureau, Business Environment Council (BEC) (商界環保協會) has established the BEC Low Carbon Charter in March 2019 to mobilise companies from all sectors to collectively contribute towards Hong Kong’s long-term decarbonization through their pledge to set and achieve carbon reduction goals. In 2021, we are grateful to announce that Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) becomes one of the signatories of the Charter. Prof. Xiangdong LI, the Director of RISUD, attended the signatory ceremony organized by BEC to receive a certificate of recognition on 16 April 2021. RISUD will continually commit to the target settings and put efforts in the low-carbon practices.

Prof. Meng Ni Co-authored A Research Article In Nature On Fuel Cells

In collaboration with Nanjing Tech University (China) and Colorado School of Mines (USA), Prof. Meng Ni co-authored a research article entitled “Thermal-expansion offset for high-performance fuel cell cathodes” in Nature. The first author, Dr. Yuan Zhang, worked in Prof. Meng Ni’s lab for 1 year where she conducted part of the experimental research reported in this Nature paper. The second author, Dr. Bin Chen (now an Assistant Professor at Shenzhen University, China), received his PhD in 2018 from BRE under supervision of Prof. Meng Ni. The corresponding authors are Prof. Zongping Shao and Prof. Wei Zhou, who are supervisors of Dr. Yuan Zhang and are both from Nanjing Tech University. High temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have the potential to replace conventional thermal power plants for energy conversion. One challenge for SOFC commercialization is thermo-mechanical instability due to mismatch in thermal expansion behaviour between different fuel cell components, which can cause cell performance degradation or even failure. In this research article, a novel electrode development strategy is proposed by compositing a cobalt-based perovskite with high electrochemical activity and large thermal expansion coefficient with a negative thermal expansion material. A new interface is formed between the two materials. A-site deficiencies in the perovskite are also observed. As a result, the composite electrode shows both high electrochemical activity and excellent thermos-mechanical stability. This research provides a new strategy for the development of high performance and durable solid oxide fuel cells for efficient and clean power generation. The details of this Nature article can be found at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03264-1

Call for Applications for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme and the RISUD Research Postgraduate Studentship Places 2021/22

The Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) invites candidates who are interested in carrying out inter/multi-disciplinary research in areas related to sustainable urban development to apply for full-time PhD studies at PolyU. Each year, a significant number of PhD students with an inter/multi-disciplinary research topic are admitted via RISUD with financial support from either RISUD or the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme. Although students are admitted via RISUD, they will enroll in the affiliated department of their chief supervisor. Focus Areas of Study: While strong PhD candidates in other areas are also most welcome, we are particularly interested in receiving applications for PhD studies in the following focus areas of RISUD for inter/multi-disciplinary collaborative research:     Environment and Climate Change Observation and Prediction     Industrialization of Building Construction     Nanotechnology, Environment, and Urbanization Nexus     Offshore Wind Power Generation     Robotics for Urban Infrastructure     Safety of Unmanned Airborne System     Seashore Zero-Energy Community and Ocean Energy Development     Smart Energy Efficient and Grid-Responsive Buildings     Smart Firefighting       Smart Utilities       Urban Air Pollution and Health       Urban Ecology       Urban Water Management       Urban Simulation       Very Large Floating Structures For more information and the application procedure, please click here to download the leaflet. Should you have any queries, please contact RISUD at risud.polyu.edu.hk

1st Lecture of "Sustainable City Lecture Series: Can We Make our Planet Great Again?"

Speaker: Representatives from RISUD and French Consulate Date: 4 Nov 2020 (Wed) Time: 3:00p.m. - 4:50p.m. Venue: Online via Zoom Medium: English

Sharing Session on Smart, Green, Resilient and Carbon Neutral Initiatives with RISUD and Sustainable Lantau Office (SLO) (可持續大嶼辦事處)

Sustainable Lantau Office (SLO) (可持續大嶼辦事處) under Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) (土木工程拓展署) of HKSAR was set up on 1.12.2017 to take forward the planning, assessment, design and implementation of development projects and initiatives in conservation, local improvement, leisure and recreation in Lantau, such as development projects in Tung Chung New Town Extension. As a way to enhance the services to the public, SLO would like to invite the scholars in RISUD to share the research results/views/comments relating to the "Smart, Green, Resilient (SGR) and Carbon Neutral Initiatives". There are four representatives from RISUD to deliver fruitful presentations relating to the subjects and followed with some constructive discussions. Date: 30 Sept 2020 (Wednesday) Time: 2:30p.m. to 4:30p.m. Venue: Laboratory for Smart City and Spatial Big Data Analytics, Room ZN607, 6/F, North Tower, Block Z, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Medium: English Speakers and Topics: Items Speakers Research Development in Smart Cities Prof. John SHI Chair Professor, LSGI Green Construction Materials for Civil Engineering Infrastructure Prof. Chi Sun POON Chair Professor, CEE How to make Megacities Resilient?: Prof. Asif USMANI Professor, BSE Green and Livable City – Urban Design for People Prof. Edwin CHAN Professor, BRE

Awardee of RGC Senior Research Fellow in 2020/21 Exercise

Government funding has been reserved for the RGC's RFS and SRFS on a regular yearly basis to provide sustained support to exceptionally outstanding academics in UGC-funded universities to facilitate their research efforts and promote research excellence. Professor Raymond WONG Wai-yeung, Chair Professor of Chemical Technology (ABCT) and Division Group Leader of RISUD, PolyU has received an award of RGC Senior Research Fellow in 2020/21 Exercise after a rigorous assessment process.