Chinese New Year Greetings from the Dean of Faculty

Dear Colleagues, Students, and Friends of FCE

As we gallop into 2026, I extend my heartfelt wishes for a joyful, healthy, and prosperous Chinese New Year to you and your families! May this year bring you the energy, courage, and determination of the horse, inspiring you to seize new growth opportunities and embrace changes with confidence and optimism.

The past year has seen our Faculty continue to strengthen our education and research capabilities. We launched the new Bachelor’s Degree Scheme in Construction and Environment, offering more flexible educational pathways, and introduced the new Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Architectural Studies, advancing architectural education and innovation. We also spearheaded the establishment of new research platforms, harnessing cross-disciplinary expertise to address climate resilience. To further unite the FCE community, we rolled out a new Tiered Recognition Programme for contributions to the FCE Fund and established the FCE Smart and Resilient Visionaries Network.

The Year of the Horse is a time for bold actions and forward momentum. I am confident that we will continue to thrive by embracing new opportunities. I wish you a dynamic and successful Year of the Horse!

Prof. Xiang-dong LI
Dean, Faculty of Construction and Environment

Research funding fuels diverse endeavours by FCE members for a healthier, safer, and more sustainable future

The Faculty is pleased to share several research funding recently awarded to FCE members, reflecting their great research potential and the breadth of research activities at FCE. With the robust funding support, FCE members are well-positioned to further enhance their research capabilities and deliver tangible benefits to society.

We congratulate all awardees on their achievements and look forward to the impactful outcomes of these projects.

Ministry of Education Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award bestowed for contributions to pavement research

Prof. Yuhong WANG, Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and researchers from Tongji University, have been honoured with the First-class Award in the 2025 Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Awards (Natural Sciences and Engineering Technology) by the Ministry of Education. This prestigious honour highlights national recognition of the Faculty’s strength in research innovation. FCE remains committed to advancing talent cultivation, scientific discovery, and knowledge transfer for the benefit of Hong Kong, the Nation, and the wider world.

The awarded research, entitled “Pavement Forward and Backward Analysis Theory and Life-cycle Evolution Modeling”, makes pioneering contributions to pavement engineering. The research establishes analytical methods to calculate fundamental pavement behaviours and performance under traffic loads, while also enabling back-calculation of pavement material and structural states from responses induced by artificial loads. In addition, the study explores the lifecycle evolution of pavement materials and structures, providing critical insights for the development of durable, long-life pavements.

Established by the Ministry of Education, the Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards honour educators, researchers, and academic units that have achieved exceptional results in natural science and engineering technology innovation, while also contributing to the cultivation of innovative talent.

FCE strengthens research culture with workshop and salon

Committed to fostering a supportive and dynamic research culture, FCE organised the Workshop on Strategies for NSFC Grant Applications in December 2025 to equip FCE members for the forthcoming 2026 application cycle for schemes funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

The workshop aimed to enhance the success rate of applications for schemes funded by NSFC. Prof. Meng NI, Associate Dean (Research) of Faculty, presented the updates on the NSFC schemes and analysed FCE’s application performance in the last few years. Young FCE members, along with academics from the Faculty of Science (FS), shared their strategies for developing effective research proposals. Additionally, Prof. Xiao-li DING, Chair Professor of Geomatics of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), contributed his valuable insights from a reviewer’s perspective. The workshop attracted over 90 FCE academics.

FCE staff who are interested may download the following materials shared by the speakers here.

 
An FCE Research Salon themed “Frontiers in Energy and Environment” was also held in December 2025 to foster a vibrant research culture. Prof. Liming JIANG, Associate Professor, and Dr Zhipeng ZHOU, Postdoctoral Fellow, both from the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering (BEEE), shared their research experiences in additive manufacturing of solid oxide cells and fire safety in modern buildings.

LSGI research team unveils impact of Arctic wildfires on snow formation and snow cover duration, sheds light on climate change chain effect

Snow cover in the Arctic plays a key role in the global climate system as it reflects solar radiation to keep the earth surface cool, and its meltwater provides an important source of freshwater. Unusual events, such as delayed snow formation or earlier melting, can disrupt global ecosystems and threaten biodiversity.

Prof. Shuo WANG, Associate Professor of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), and Dr Yamin QING, Postdoctoral Fellow of LSGI and PhD graduate supervised by Prof. Wang, collaborated with international researchers in a study that aimed to advance the understanding of land-atmosphere interactions under climate change.

By quantifying the links among wildfires, snow formation and snow cover duration, they discovered that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise quickly, the annual burned area of the Arctic could expand by 2.6 times by the year 2100, while snow duration may shrink to about 130 days, approximately 18 days less than the historical average. The study also revealed that major wildfires significantly delay the formation of snow cover, the larger the burned area, the longer the delay. The research team identified the underlying physical mechanism as the deposition and persistence of black carbon on the ground after fires, which reduces surface albedo and enhances the absorption of solar radiation.

The findings provided solid evidence for predicting the future hydrological cycle and climate dynamics of the Arctic, offering scientific guidance for assessing ecosystem resilience and formulating effective climate adaptation strategies to help mitigate the chain effect of climate change.

The research was published in Nature Climate Change under the title “Delayed formation of Arctic snow cover in response to wildland fires in a warming climate”.