News

Empowering persons with disabilities globally through arts-based engagement

Fashion can transcend trends and be a tool for empowerment. 25 PolyU students teamed up with 10 persons with disabilities (PWDs) from the Centre of Research and Community Inclusive Support (CORMIS) of Vietnam and 10 students from Danang Architecture University (DAU) in Da Nang, Vietnam to co-create 10 expressive textile artworks and fashion prototypes with heartfelt stories. These creative works were showcased at a fashion show on 12 January at DAU. This activity is the learning outcome of a service-learning subject of SFT called “Community engagement through expressive textile arts and fashion” and a collaborative effort of SFT, PolyU’s Service-Learning and Leadership Office (SLLO), CORMIS and DAU. The aim of the activity is to reduce the stigma of PWDs and increase their self-confidence, and allow  students of the two universities to show their support to underprivileged groups through expressive textile arts. Dr Jin Lam, Assistant Professor and Subject Leader said: “Clothing is a basic human need, and people living with disabilities should have access to fashion that excites and empowers them. This is the first cohort of the outbound service-learning programme, kick-started with students from different disciplines who attended fashion and textiles design lectures, participated in intensive hands-on sewing and crafting training, and took part in online training and meetings with DAU students. The students and participants concluded the trip with an amazing and emotional catwalk show. I was grateful to witness all the students and participants expressing their individuality and personality through the co-design process.” “It's supportive, it's collective, thanks to PolyU and DAU students. We're coming together to show that we're like everyone else. The programme shows the non-disabled community that PWDs are here and deserve to be in the same space. We're proud to contribute to our own future,” said Ms Phạm Thị Hà, a member of CORMIS. The programme and the show are featured in Vietnam Television (VTV), the state broadcaster. At PolyU, service-learning is an experiential learning pedagogy that integrates community service with academic study and reflection. This outreach programme is an incredible opportunity to showcase the innovative potential of co-creation and accessible fashion, and enhance public awareness of social inclusion in the global community.

PolyU Fashion Show 2024 prejudging of intimate apparel and activewear

The much-anticipated prejudging of the collections of students in the intimate apparel and activewear specialism under the BA (Hons) Scheme in Fashion and Textiles took place on 6 January at PolyU. Invited judges from the industry carefully selected ten finalists who will then proceed to the annual PolyU Fashion Show 2024 to be held in June. A total of 29 talented final year students showcased their innovative and creative designs in their major of intimate apparel and activewear at the session. The prejudging panel, which consisted of the following industry experts, had the enviable task of reviewing and judging the works of the students: Cerie International Limited - Ms Sarah Marland Hong Kong Intimate Apparel Industries’ Association - Ms Teresa Tse Hop Lun (Hong Kong) Limited - Mr Allen Wong and Ms Dewi Compost Legend Swimwear Factory Limited - Ms Irene Ng and Ms Kami Woo Nike, Inc. - Mr Henrik Siu and Ms Vivian Kwan Parawin Industries Limited - Ms Abbie But and Ms Kiki Yu Triumph International - Ms Choco Lai Yintak Intex - Ms Ale Lau After a thorough evaluation of each design based on creativity, innovation, and practicality, the judges selected ten finalists who will proceed to the next stage of the competition. The names of the finalists were announced at the end of the session, adding to the excitement and anticipation for the main event. In addition to the judging, the session also provided an opportunity for the judges to meet and converse with the finalists. This interaction allowed the students to gain valuable insights and feedback on their designs, which will undoubtedly benefit them in their future endeavors in the fashion industry. Professor Joanne Yip, Associate Dean, expresses her appreciation to the judges: “We would like to extend a special thanks to our esteemed judges who brought their expertise and knowledge to the session. Their contribution was invaluable in making this event a success.” Fashion enthusiasts and industry professionals alike are eagerly awaiting to attend PolyU Fashion Show 2024. With the conclusion of the prejudging session, the stage is now set for the grand event where the finalists will showcase their designs to a larger audience.

Prof. Joanne Yip secures Research Impact Fund for pioneering scoliosis treatment

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Joanne Yip, Associate Dean of SFT, has been awarded the Research Impact Fund (RIF) 2023/24 of HK$5 million, with HK$3.35 million coming from the esteemed Research Grant Council (RGC). This funding is for her project, "Developing a New Generation of Pressure-controlled Wearable Soft Braces to Improve the Efficiency and Compliance in Treating Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis". Prof. Yip's significant contributions in the fields of medical textiles and healthcare products have led to this outstanding achievement. Her funded project aims to develop effective and comfortable pressure-controlled wearable soft braces for patients suffering from adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. By integrating advanced technology with her expertise, Prof. Yip's research is set to improve treatment outcomes and enhance the quality of life for patients afflicted with this condition. The RIF is designed to encourage academics to utilise their research to deliver benefits to the broader community, fostering impactful and translational research projects. The Fund also promotes collaboration between academia, government departments, the business sector, industry, and research institutes. Successful projects can receive funding of up to HK$10 million per project for a period of three to five years. In total, the RIF supported 14 projects in the 2023/24 cycle.

Dr Shou Dahua Hosts and Chairs Young Scholar Symposium at 13th China Textile Academic Conference

In November 2023, Dr Shou Dahua, Limin Endowed Young Scholar in Advanced Textiles Technologies, hosted the Young Scholar Symposium at the 13th China Textile Academic Conference on behalf of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Suzhou, China. The China Textile Academic Conference is an authoritative platform organised by the China Textile Engineering Society for advanced academic exchanges, recognition of highly innovative talents, and publication of excellent scientific research achievements. The China Association for Science and Technology has featured the annual China Textile Academic Conference multiple times in the "Guide to Key Academic Conferences". Since its inception in 2011, the event has taken place on an annual basis, and is now in its thirteenth year. The conference comprises five components: sessions in the main venue, breakout sessions, special forums, awards ceremony, and exhibitions. The event focused on promoting exchange and transformation of cutting-edge technology in textiles used in the health and medical fields, smart textiles, and textiles for sports, and attracted nearly 200 young scholars, medical personnel, entrepreneurs, and industry representatives. Mr Fu Guangwei, Chairman of the China Textile Engineering Society, Director of the China National Textile and Apparel Council Testing Center, and Chairman of the National Textile Fabric Museum, delivered the opening speech, while Professor Erin Cho, Dean of School of Fashion and Textiles of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, gave a welcoming speech to the attendees. Mr Guan Haibo, Director of the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs Office of the China Science and Technology Exchange Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology, gave the keynote speech. Representatives from institutions such as Harvard University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Southeast University, Donghua University, Jiangnan University, Qingdao University, and Anhui University of Technology, and companies like ASICS (China), Shengze Junior Chamber of Commerce, Purcotton, 361 Degrees, Bananaunder, Xiangbu Textile Co., Ltd., etc., attended the event. They discussed opportunities for cooperation through joint R&D projects, research integration and transformation, and shared creation and utilization around "intelligent wearables, new healthcare materials, and green sustainability". The conference not only strengthened industry-university-research collaborations, but also opened a new chapter for interdisciplinary collaborative development. Dr Shou Dahua and Dr Ding Ye, founder of Yrobot and holder of a PhD from Harvard University, gave the keynote speeches. The speakers, including Associate Professor Liu Yulei from Peking University, Associate Professor Chen Peining from Fudan University, Chief Physician Huang Chenyu from Tsinghua University, Professor Zhao Dongliang from Southeast University, Dr Ding Ye of Yrobot, Professor You Zhengwei from Donghua University, Sun Yuting, Head of Apparel R&D at ASICS (China) Commerce Ltd., and Dr Shou Dahua gave their respective presentations. They gave introductions on the latest advancements and application transformations in areas such as intelligent wearables and advanced textile technologies, textiles used in clinical practices of sports medicine and textile engineering, fabric display devices and integrated systems, textiles for mechanotherapy, thermal and moisture management fabrics, smart wearable robots, bionic devices of elastomer fibres, and sports apparel with high-performance fibre. At the session, the participants and speakers engaged in several rounds of enthusiastic and in-depth interaction, sharing their professional knowledge and experiences.

Prof. Jintu Fan publishes in an impactful journal Advanced Science

A research team led by Prof. Jintu Fan reported the 3D cellular solar crystallizer for stable and ultra‐efficient high‐salinity wastewater treatment. This work has been published in Advanced Science. Development of interfacial solar brine crystallizers has great potential in waste water treatment due to their excellent energy efficiency and sustainability. We developed an artificial tree solar crystallizer (ATSC) with a multi-branched and interconnected open-cell cellular structure that can significantly increase evaporation surface, achieving an ultra-high evaporation rate (2.30 kg m−2 h−1 during two hours exposure) and high energy efficiency (128%) in concentrated real seawater. The unit cell design of ATSC promoted salt crystallization on the outer frame rather than the inner voids, ensuring that salt crystallization does not affect the continuous transport of brine through the pores inside the unit cell, thus ATSC can maintain a stable evaporation rate of 1.94 kg m-2 h-1 on average in concentrated seawater for 80 hours continuous exposure. The design concept of ATSC represents a major step forward toward Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) treatment of high-salinity brine in many industrial processes. The full article can be viewed from http://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202305313.

Dr Joonheui Bae wins Psychology & Marketing Award at 2023 Global Marketing Conference

Dr Joonheui Bae, Assistant Professor, received the Psychology & Marketing Award in acknowledgment of a paper at the Global Marketing Conference, which was held in Seoul, South Korea on 20 – 23 July 2023. The award-winning paper, “The fit between anthropomorphism of AI chatbot and communication situation on use behavior” discusses the suitability of AI conversational interactions with humans in terms of the extent of anthropomorphism on an experimental basis. A chatbot is an artificial intelligence (AI) system that interacts with consumers on behalf of a company. This study significantly contributes to understanding how a proficiently designed AI chatbot impacts the implementation of services in communication contexts. At the end of 2023, the Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science (Scopus, ECSI) honoured Dr Bae with Best Paper distinction. The title of her winning paper is “Influences of symbolic capital on destination brand equity”. Utilising partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), this study investigates the relationship between destination brand personality and brand equity in the travel industry. Consistent with the results of the study, a location characterised by unique attributes could increase its brand equity through the cultivation of a positive perception supported by substantial symbolic capital. The Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science selected the article as the 2023 Best Paper due to its insightful analysis of the development of tourist attractions in the tourism industry, which is experiencing a comeback in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SFT Outstanding Research Achievement Award 2023 (Research Postgraduate Students)

SFT faculty members in Stanford University top 2% scientists 2023

SFT is proud to announce that 13 faculty members have been listed on the World’s Top 2% most-cited scientists in a global report recently released by Stanford University. 11 of our faculty members are listed on the 'Career-Long Impact List' and 13 of them are listed on the 'Single-Year Impact List'. These rankings attest to our research excellence and outstanding academia. The colleagues who are listed among the Top 2% include Profs. Fan Jintu, Fei Bin, Hu Hong, Kinor Jiang, Kan Chi-wai, Tao Xiaoming, Wang Xungai, Christina Wong, Calvin Wong, John Xin, Xu Bingang, and Joanne Yip, and Dr Shou Dahua. Over 100,000 top scientists across 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields globally are identified in this round of acknowledgements. Career-long data are updated to the end of 2022 and single recent year data pertain to citations received during the calendar year of 2022.The scientists are identified by using indicators including information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations of papers in different authorship positions and a composite indicator (c-score). The two tables below list the rankings of the SFT scholars in terms of ‘Career-long data’ and ‘Single Year data’. Our heartiest congratulations to our colleagues on their excellent achievement!   Career-long Data Name and Position Subject Field  Prof. Fan Jintu Chair Professor in Textiles Technologies, Director of Research Centre of Textiles for Future Fashion, Associate Director of Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology Polymers Prof. Fei Bin Professor Polymers Prof. Hu Hong Professor Materials Prof. Kan Chi-wai Professor and Associate Dean Polymers Dr Shou Dahua Assistant Professor Materials Prof. Tao Xiaoming Chair Professor of Textile Technology, Vincent and Lily Woo Professor in Textile Technology, Director of Research Centre for Smart Wearable Technology, Director of Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems Materials Prof. Wang Xungai Chair Professor of Fiber Science and Technology (Global STEM Professorship Scheme) Materials Prof. Christina Wong Professor and Director of Research and Innovation Operations Research Prof. Calvin Wong Professor, Cheng Yik Hung Professor in Fashion, Director of AiDLab Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing Prof. John Xin Chair Professor and Lee Family Professor in Fashion and Textiles Polymers Prof. Xu Bingang Professor Materials   Single-year Data Position Subject Field  Prof. Fan Jintu Chair Professor in Textiles Technologies, Director of Research Centre of Textiles for Future Fashion, Associate Director of Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology  Polymers Prof. Fei Bin Professor  Polymers Prof. Hu Hong Professor  Materials Prof. Kinor Jiang Professor  Materials Prof. Kan Chi-wai Professor and Associate Dean  Polymers Dr Shou Dahua Assistant Professor  Materials Prof. Tao Xiaoming Chair Professor of Textile Technology, Vincent and Lily Woo Professor in Textile Technology, Director of Research Centre for Smart Wearable Technology, Director of Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems  Materials Prof. Wang Xungai Chair Professor of Fiber Science and Technology (Global STEM Professorship Scheme)  Materials Prof. Christina Wong Professor and Director of Research and Innovation  Operations Research Prof. Calvin Wong Professor, Cheng Yik Hung Professor in Fashion, Director of AiDLab  Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing Prof. John Xin Chair Professor and Lee Family Professor in Fashion and Textiles  Polymers Prof. Xu Bingang Professor  Materials Prof. Joanne Yip Professor and Associate Dean  Materials

29th School of Fashion and Textiles Congregation

The 29th Congregation was successfully concluded on 4 November, presided over by School Dean Professor Erin Cho. At the Congregation, held in the Jockey Club Auditorium on campus, Master of Philosophy, Master of Arts and Bachelor degrees were awarded to 426 graduates, where PhD graduates were awarded at the Main Session of the University on 25 November. Professor Cho extended her warmest congratulations to all graduates and wished them every success in their future careers or studies. The School conferred academic awards on a total of 444 students this year, including 18 Doctor of Philosophy degree graduates, 2 Master of Philosophy degree graduates, 146 taught master’s degree graduates, and 278 bachelor’s degree graduates

PolyU delegation visits Wuxi and Suzhou

Led by Dr Lam Tai-fai, Council Chairman and Prof. Wing-tak Wong, Deputy President and Provost, a delegation from SFT visited Wuxi and Suzhou on 1 – 4 Nov,  engaging in fruitful cooperation and exchanges with three local universities, including Jiangnan University, Nanjing University (Suzhou campus) and Soochow University. Participating staff members of SFT include Dean Prof. Erin Cho, Associate Dean Prof. Joanne Yip, Assistant Professors Dr Joohneui Bae, Dr Chen Shaoyu and Dr Fan Di, as well as PolyU's Mainland Development Office Director Prof. Lu Haitian. The purpose of this visit is to strengthen the academic and cultural exchange and explore collaboration with these top-tier fashion and textiles institutes.