Academic Staff

Professor Hau-chung Man graduated with a BSc (Eng) in Polymer Science and Engineering from Queen Mary College, University of London, an MSc in Plant Engineering in the Process Industries from the University of Technology, Loughborough, UK, and a PhD in Laser Materials Processing from Imperial College of Science, Engineering and Medicine, University of London. He then worked in the UK industry for a few years and his last job in the UK was Principal Research Engineer in The Welding Institute, UK (now TWI Technology). He joined The Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a Lecturer in 1990 and was gradually promoted to Professor in 2004, Chair Professor of Materials Engineering in 2012 in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He has been appointed as the Director of Studies of the Integrated Graduate Development Scheme Unit and manages the Joint MSc programmes with Warwick University, UK since 2006, Associate Dean of Faculty of Engineering in January 2008-July 2012 and Head of Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering July 2008-July 2012. He was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering since Aug 2012. He established the University Research Facility in 3D Printing in 2016 and has been the Director since then. He is also the Director of the Research Institute for Advanced Manufacturing.

HC’s research interests are mainly in the area of high-power laser welding, cutting and surface engineering, advanced manufacturing technologies, corrosion and materials technologies. With the funding from the then Industry and Technology Council of the HK government in 1995, he founded the Laser Materials Processing Centre in the PolyU which has played a key role in introducing laser processing technology to the manufacturing industry in HK and PRD. As a Principal Investigator, he has obtained about HK$16 million from GRF and ITF projects to support his research. He has published over 210 journal papers, 70 conference papers, three book chapters, and obtained 4 patents. His work is widely cited and he is listed in the top 1% most highly cited scientists (materials science) of the Essential Science Indicators of the ISI web of Knowledge. His current SCI H-index is 51. He is currently an Editor of Surface and Coatings Technology. In addition to his academic research, he is also active in carrying out high-level consultancy works for our local industries and has good relation with the industrial sectors. He has received the PolyU President’s Award for Excellence Performance/Achievement in Research and Scholarly Activities twice (1998 and 2006) and in Services (2019).

HC is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, UK, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, a member of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, a Fellow of the Laser Institute of America, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Laser Institute of America (2004-2009). He is active in serving the community, government committees and professional associations. He has served as a technical advisor, council or committee member for many local trade associations, Q-mark Council, Green Council, VTC Training Board etc. He is a visiting professor of Tianjin University and Shengyang University of Technology in China and an external examiner of other overseas universities.