Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU Faculty of Humanities 2022

Congratulations to the following award recipients on receiving the first ever Faculty’s Outstanding Alumni Award (in alphabetical order of the last name): Outstanding Young Alumni Award in Entrepreneurial Achievement of PolyU Faculty of Humanities 2022 Mr Law Wai Hung, Freddy Co-founder and CEO, Storius Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Language Studies with Business 2007 Department of English and Communication Outstanding Young Alumni Award in Professional Achievement of PolyU Faculty of Humanities 2022 Dr Enrico Santus Director (AI and ML), Bayer Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies The Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU Faculty of Humanities (website) aims to recognise the graduates of the Faculty for their contribution to University and Faculty, and their diverse accomplishments in various areas, including professional achievement, scholarly achievement, and community service achievement. Read more about the awardees: Outstanding Young Alumni Award in Entrepreneurial Achievement of PolyU Faculty of Humanities 2022 Mr Law Wai Hung, Freddy Mr Freddy Law Wai-hung is the Group CEO at Storius, an outdoor short podcast app for cultural tourism. Storius is operating in Hong Kong, Taiwan, US, Spain and Indonesia in 2022. Before that, he was the Director of Education For Good Community Interest Company, an innovation consultancy. He was also the CEO at Inter Cultural Education, the first company he founded. Freddy is an honourable lecturer at the University of Hong Kong. He is a Non-Official Member of the Human Resource Planning Commission, chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong SAR Government. He is the Founder of Cross Innovation, an innovation consultancy training different sectors to create new solutions effectively. He is an Advisor at AIESEC, a global platform for young people to explore and develop leadership potential, in Hong Kong and Mainland China. He is the Director of La Violet Education, advocating creativity in education. Freddy graduated from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Language Studies with Business. After that, he pursues a Master of Theological Essentials at the Gateway Seminary in the United States. Outstanding Young Alumni Award in Professional Achievement of PolyU Faculty of Humanities 2022 Dr Enrico Santus Currently the Director (AI and ML) at Bayer, Dr Santus is being honoured for his professional achievement in the domains of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). He was granted the Hong Kong PhD fellowship to pursue a PhD in Computational Linguistics at PolyU, followed by three years of postdoctoral fellowships at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has been dedicated to the research and application of AI for various purposes including sentiment analysis, fintech, healthcare and fake news detection. In his current workplace, he has contributed to the exploration, design and implementation of numerous AI solutions for pharmaceutical and crop sciences. Being recognised as a young and innovative expert in the field, Dr Santus is indeed a successful interdisciplinary talent with a strong presence in both academia and the industry. He is an active NLP champion who published over 69 papers in top-tier conferences and journals and received numerous grants and awards. He advises several laboratories, foundations and start-ups and his projects have been featured in mainstream media around the world.

Elite Athletes Admitted into the Faculty's Undergraduate Programmes

Elite swimmer Ho Nam Wai Tinky and sprinter Leung Kwan Yi have been admitted into our BA(Hons) Scheme in English and Applied Linguistics and BA(Hons) Scheme in Linguistics and Translation respectively through the Student-Athlete Learning Support and Admission Scheme (SALSA Scheme). These student-athletes will start their studies in FH this September. From the academic year 2022/23 onwards, the University will support the SALSA Scheme to provide opportunities for student-athletes who are eligible to represent Hong Kong in significant international competitions with remarkable achievements in sports to pursue their undergraduate studies at PolyU.

Prof. Chan Shui Duen and Prof. Zhu Xinhua Honoured with President’s Awards 2021

Our Prof. Chan Shui Duen (Research Professor, CBS) and Prof. Zhu Xinhua (Professor, CBS) have been awarded the Team Award – Knowledge Transfer: Society under the President’s Awards 2021 for their outstanding achievement in knowledge transfer. Research and service projects led by the team have shaped the Chinese language curriculum and assessment in Hong Kong since 2000. The University recognises the distinguished accomplishments and contributions of staff members through the President’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement. Categorised into individual and team awards, the accolades are given in the areas of teaching, research and scholarly activities, and services.

Faculty Dean Prof. Li Ping Elected as AAAS Fellow 2021

Prof. Li Ping, Chair Professor of Neurolinguistics and Bilingual Studies and Dean of Faculty of Humanities, has been elected by the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as an AAAS Fellow. The Council elects members whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science, or its applications, are scientifically or socially distinguished” each year. Prof. Li is honoured for his distinguished contributions to the cognitive neuroscience and computational modeling of bilingualism and the bilingual brain. The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. Its mission is to “advance science and serve society.” AAAS Fellows are among the most distinct honours within the scientific community. The 2021 class of AAAS Fellows includes 564 scientists, engineers, and innovators from around the world spanning scientific disciplines.

FH Students Won in PolyU's 85th Anniversary Theme Song Lyric and Video Contests

Our students won multiple prizes in the University’s 85th Anniversary Theme Song Lyric Contest and PolyU-and-You Video Contest: Theme Song Lyric Contest – Winners Paul LEE, Alumni, Department of English and Communication CHEN Zhuoan, Student, Department of English and Communication PolyU-and-You Video Contest – Winner CHING Ka Yu, Student, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies Click here to view the winning entries: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/85anniversary/celebrations/celebration-events-and-highlights/celebrating-polyu-s-85th-anniversary-share-your-ideas/#videos

Prof. Chu Hung-lam Elected to Scholar's Workshop under the Chinese Academy of History

Prof. Chu Hung-lam, Chair Professor of Chinese Culture and Chang Jiang Scholars Chair Professor of Pre-modern Chinese History at our Faculty, was recently named one of the five members for the “Scholar’s Workshop” Scheme, a new initiative sponsored by the Chinese Academy of History. In line with this initiative, “Zhu Honglin (Chu Hung-lam) Studio/Workshop of the Chinese Academy of History” was established on 31 December 2021 and inaugurated on 3 January 2022. The studio/workshop consists of 13 members headed by the lead expert Zhu Honglin (Chu Hung-lam) and expert scholars from three Institutes in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one Institute in the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, and eight leading universities in China. The studio/workshop has launched its main research project, titled “The Theory and Practice of Local Governance in Chinese History and Its Contemporary Implications”.

Project on Multilingual and Cross-Cultural Communication Training for Future Leaders Funded by GEF

The project “Multilingual Communication Training and Cross-Cultural Communication Course for Future Leaders”, led by our Chair Professor Chu-Ren Huang(CBS), has received a support of HK$539,642 from the Gifted Education Fund (GEF). The project will run for 15 months and the beneficiary target is Secondary 1 to Secondary 5 students. With the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies being the host of this project, its partners include the Department of English and Communication, HK PolyU-PKU Research Centre on Chinese Linguistics, Centre for Translation Studies, Research Centre for Professional Communication in English, International Research Centre for the Advancement of Healthcare Communication, and the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.

FH Project Funded by the University’s Project of Strategic Importance Scheme 2021-22

Dr Si Chen(CBS) and her research team has been awarded HK$2M by the University’s Project of Strategic Importance Scheme. The funded project is entitled “Robot-assisted speech and musical training in improving speech prosody production and processing by Cantonese-speaking autistic children”. Twenty-six applications were submitted for this round of exercise and fourteen of them were funded.

Secretary for Food and Health Visits Speech Therapy Unit

Representatives of our Speech Therapy Unit, together with the Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Head of the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies met with the Secretary for Food and Health, Prof. Sophia Chan, during her visit to the University on 15 December 2021. The visit was organised by the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and our Speech Therapy Unit was invited to introduce to Prof. Chan its clinical facilities as well as the teaching and training of our speech therapy students. The Speech Therapy Unit also provides clinical service to the community to meet the societal demands for treating speech and communication disorders in children and adults.

FH Student Won PolyU Most Outstanding Student Award

Our student Miss Ho Hiu Man received the Most Outstanding PolyU Student Award this year. Hiu Man is a final-year BACBS student. She is a lover of Chinese language and literature and is dedicated to preserving and promoting Cantonese Opera. She has also been actively participating in community services. The Faculty would like to congratulate Hiu Man on her outstanding achievements. PolyU organises the Outstanding Students Award Scheme annually to award full-time final-year students who excel in both academic and non-academic pursuits during their studies.