2 academics from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) have been awarded Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding for their projects. Prof. Eddie Hui was awarded HK$422,740 for his project entitled “An Investigation of the Price and Rental Effects of ’Green‘ Buildings in Hong Kong’s Housing Market and its Implications for Policy,” while his colleague Dr Ann Yu received HK$605,015 for her project entitled “Strategies and Measures for Construction and Demolition Waste Management of Refurbishing/Renovating Existing Buildings in Hong Kong.” Both projects will last for one year.

Dr Daniel Tsang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) has received funding approval from the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) in support of the 3rd International Conference on Bioresources, Energy, Environment, and Materials Technology 2019. The approved budget is HK$498,000 or 70% of the total actual expenditure, whichever would be less.

The PolyU Areas of Excellence Committee (AoEC) has agreed to support Dr George Liu’s equipment proposal for the purchase of two Water Vapor Sensing System (WVSS-II) Sensors and two Microwave Radiometer (MWR) Sensors. Following are the details:

Ir Prof. Cheuk-ming Mak of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) has been appointed by the well-known publisher Elsevier to be an associate editor of Building and Environment for a term of three years from 1 January 2019. A top SCI journal in the field of building environment with an impact factor of 4.539 in 2018, Building and Environment is an international journal that publishes original research papers and review articles related to building science, urban physics, and human interaction with the indoor and outdoor built environment. Its editor-in-chief is Prof. Qingyan Chen of Purdue University in the US.

Dr Joseph Lai of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), received the IFMA Educator Award in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the US on 5 October 2018. Conferred by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the award recognizes excellence in developing curriculum and instructing students in subjects related to facility management at a college, university or institute. According to the IFMA, recipients of the award have gained prominence in their fields through activities such as writing and publishing papers, making presentations to professional organizations, mentoring, IFMA student chapter involvement and overall teaching quality. Dr Lai is the leader of PolyU’s postgraduate programme in Facility Management.

Founded in 1980, IFMA is the world's largest and most widely recognized international association for facility management professionals, supporting 24,000 members in more than 100 countries.

4 PhD students from the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE) were honoured with Outstanding Paper Awards at the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Hong Kong 45th Anniversary Dinner on 21 September 2018. They each received an award certificate and a prize cheque from the guest of honour, Mr Michael Wong, JP and Secretary for Development of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Following are the details:

Some winning students with Prof. Albert Chan (far left) and Dr Daniel Chan (far right)

On 4 October 2018, about 300 people attended a public lecture by the laureate of the Lui Che Woo Prize for World Civilisation, Prof. Petteri Taalas, who is the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the organization that won the 2018 Welfare Betterment Prize. Jointly organized by the Communications and Public Affairs Office as well as the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), the lecture was held at the Jockey Club Innovation Tower of PolyU. Prof. Taalas was warmly welcomed by PolyU President Prof. Timothy W. Tong before the lecture. Entitled “Towards a Weather and Climate Resilient World,” the lecture was attended by Prof. Lawrence J. Lau, Chairman of the Prize Recommendation Committee, some of its members, senior management, staff and students of PolyU and around 100 secondary school students from Pui Ching Middle School, Carmel Divine Grace Foundation Secondary School and the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Wong Fut Nam College, among other students and guests.

Widely reported in the local media, the lecture gave the audience some insights into the work of the WMO and the impact of climate change in different parts of the world.

The LUI Che Woo Prize is awarded in recognition of extraordinary efforts to overcome the most significant issues facing the world. There are three Prizes every year for the three objectives of the LUI Che Woo Prize (each a “Prize Category”) respectively, namely sustainable development of the world, betterment of the welfare of mankind and promotion of positive life attitude and enhancement of positive energy.

To promote its programmes to the public, the PolyU Education Info Day was held on 6 October 2018. The senior management of PolyU was out in force for the opening ceremony, including Prof. Philip Chan, Deputy President, and the Deans of the various faculties. Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), was joined by Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership), Prof. Michael Yam, Acting Associate Dean (Teaching), and the Heads of the 4 FCE departments, namely, Prof. Albert Chan of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Prof. Asif Usmani of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), Prof. William Lam of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and Prof. John Shi of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI).

In addition to exhibitions and info seminars introducing the various programmes of the departments, there were guided visits and consultation sessions for prospective students. Over 1,400 visitors attended the FCE info seminars. It was a memorable day for all concerned.

Some staff and colleagues of FCE with Prof. Phillip Chan, DP and Provost at the Info Day

About 20 academics and 40 PhD students from around the world gathered at PolyU for the 7th International Transportation PhD Student Symposium on 25 and 26 October 2018. They were warmly welcomed by Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), and Prof. Yiqiu Tan, Dean of the School of Transportation Science and Engineering at the Harbin Institute of Technology, who respectively introduced their faculty and school also. Subsequently, the students took turns presenting their research in pavement and transportation engineering to their peers from PolyU, Virginia Tech, Rutgers University, National University of Singapore, and Tsinghua University, among others. Organized by Dr Zhen Leng and Dr Yuhong Wang of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), the symposium provided a unique opportunity for PhD student participants to share their latest research in 4 presentation sessions and 2 poster sessions. Best Research Presentation Awards were given to Mr Guoyang Lu of RWTH Aachen University, Mr Seunggu Kang of the University of Illinois, Mr Chao Xing of the Harbin Institute of Technology, and Ms Ruijun Cao of PolyU. Closing remarks were delivered by Prof. Imad Al-Qadi of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Prof. Markus Oeser of RWTH Aachen University in Germany, where the symposium will be held in September next year.

Participants of the symposium

A delegation of 4 teachers from Tsun Jin High School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, visited the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) on 5 October 2018 to learn more about its undergraduate programmes. They included Ms Choy Yuen Leng, Vice Head of the Teacher Education Department, Ms Wong Han Ni, Assistant Head of the Development Department, Ms Pan Pei Chien, Assistant Head of the Academic Department, and Ms Wong Yoke Leng, Assistant Head of the Counseling Department. After a detailed introduction of the Faculty and its various programmes for international students by Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership), and Dr Wallace Lai of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), the delegation toured the Fire Lab of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) with Dr Xinyan Huang and the Smart City Lab of LSGI with Dr George Liu, Dr Wallace Lai, and Dr Matthew Pang. The visit is expected to build a strong partnership between the high school and FCE.

(from left) Dr Lai, Prof Ding, and the 4 visitors		Visit to the Smart City Lab		Visit to the Fire Lab

2 representatives of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) met with the Acting Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Prof. Eddie Hui, as well as 9 programme leaders of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) and 1 from the School of Professional Education and Executive Development (SPEED) on 26 October 2018 to learn about its new accreditation standard. Mr Ian Jeal, Global Director of RICS’s Education and Qualification Standards, and Ms Suet Tam, Professional Qualification & Membership Development Officer, shared their plans for re-accrediting their accredited programmes at partner universities such as PolyU. In attendance were 5 colleagues from BRE: Prof. Patrick Lam, Prof. Tarek Zayed, Dr Patrick Fong, Dr Stanley Yeung, Dr M. J. Wadu; 3 colleagues from the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE): Prof. Hong-xing Yang, Dr Chi-kwan Chau, Dr Joseph Lai; Dr Wallace Lai of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) and Dr Sandy Tang of SPEED. The meeting provided an opportunity for the programme leaders to get acquainted with the proposed changes for RICS accreditation.

Participants of the meeting

From 13 to 17 October 2018, 7 students and 10 staff from the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) participated in the Remote Sensing Week at Wuhan University, where two major conferences on the monitoring of national geographical conditions and its applications as well as on advanced remote sensing were being held.

Prof. John Shi, Head of LSGI, and Prof. Mei-po Kwan, Distinguished Chair Professor of LSGI, were invited to deliver keynote speeches on the first day. Besides, LSGI colleagues gave four presentations to share the latest development in remote sensing. About 200 people were in attendance. Meetings were also conducted between LSGI academics and representatives from the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering as well as the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing to explore future collaborations.

It was a rewarding trip for all concerned.

Participants of the study tour from LSGI

A new Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Degree Programme in Sustainable Structural and Fire Engineering will be launched by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) in the 2019/20 academic year. Graduates of the programme will be eligible for further training provided by The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, and will be qualified as a Registered Structural Engineer and a Registered Fire Engineer after about four years of related work experience. It will be the only undergraduate engineering programme offered by local universities for the construction industry to educate engineers who are able to design, maintain and retrofit both new and existing buildings with technical knowledge of structural engineering as well as both active and passive fire protection technologies. The programme will start in 2019/20.

Jointly offered by CEE and the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE), the new programme covers topics such as structural mechanics, structural analysis, design of steel and concrete structures, fire science, fire protection systems analysis, laws, regulations and standards for fire safety etc., which will be integrated with practical training. It has an admission intake of 30 places, with a benchmark score at 23-24 for the best five subjects in the Diploma of Secondary Education exams.

Mr Alex Lui graduated from the Hong Kong Technical College, a predecessor of PolyU, in 1964 with a Higher Certificate in Building before continuing his studies in architecture at the University of Hong Kong and city planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He worked in the US for 12 years before engaging in private practice in Hong Kong. Involved in many development projects, he was a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1998 to 2002. A member of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners and the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, he has long been active in public and community services. He was awarded the title of University Fellow by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2017.

Mr Augustine Wong graduated from the then Hong Kong Polytechnic with a Diploma in Building Studies in 1980, a Higher Diploma in Surveying in 1982, and an Advanced Higher Diploma in General Practice Surveying in 1983. He has acquired a wealth of experience in land administration, town planning, valuation and marketing. A member of various advisory boards, he was appointed to serve as Justice of Peace in 2008.

Ir Dr Lo is currently Acting Director of Corporate Customer Experience of CLP Power. He is actively involved in formulating digital transformation business strategies, exploring new and innovative technology to develop value-added services for customers, and promoting energy conservation and renewable energy to combat climate change.

Mr Leung has served in various government departments, including the Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Highways Department, and the Lands Department. He has been the Assistant Director of the Survey and Mapping Office in the Lands Department since December 2015. He has also served on the Land Surveyors Registration Committee since 2015 and was appointed Justice of the Peace in 2017.

The Faculty Congregation and Prize Presentation Ceremony will honour all of them in November.

A 2007 PhD graduate of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Prof. Tao Yu, was recently honoured with a Golden Wattle Award in a ceremony at the University of Sydney in Australia. Prof. Yu is a professor of civil engineering and head of postgraduate studies of the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wollongong. He was one of ten winners of the biennial award, which is supported by the Australia-China Youth Business Council. Named after Australia’s national flower, the award celebrates outstanding achievements and contributions to the community by Australian citizens or permanent residents under 40 years old with Chinese heritage. Its recipients come from diverse fields, from public services, arts and sports, to academia and business.

A congratulatory message from the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lauded the many Chinese-Australian contributions to the country and the development of bilateral relations between the two countries. The passion, courage and leadership of those recognized by the awards help fuel Australia's economic growth and competitiveness in a fast-changing world, he said.