News

Turing Award Laureate Professor Joseph Sifakis delivers lecture on AI and autonomous systems

The PAIR Distinguished Lecture delivered by Turing Award Laureate Professor Joseph Sifakis, Emeritus Senior CNRS Researcher at Verimag Laboratory, was successfully held on 3 March 2023. The webinar attracted about 800 participants from more than 50 countries and regions, including Australia, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was also broadcasted live on multiple social media platforms, including Bilibili and Weibo, and viewed by over 12,000 online audience in total. The webinar was kick-started by Prof. CHEN Qingyan, Director of PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR) and Chair Professor of Building Thermal Science in the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering at PolyU, followed by a welcome speech by Prof. Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation) and Chair Professor of Thermal and Environmental Engineering at PolyU and a speaker introduction by Prof. CHEN Changwan, PAIR Management Committee Member and Chair Professor of Visual Computing at PolyU. Prof. Sifakis shared his major work on the formalisation of system design as a process leading from given requirements to trustworthy, optimised and correct-by-construction implementations. He first presented an analogy between human and machine intelligence, followed by a review of the transition from automation to autonomy in the development of trustworthy autonomous systems, and summarised the lecture by discussing the impacts of the artificial intelligent systems. A question-and-answer session moderated by Prof. Chen Qingyan and Prof. Chen Changwen followed. The audience was inspired to have a fruitful exchange with Prof. Sifakis. Online review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqxZ5Zu6-Co  

PAIR Newsletter ∙ Issue 5 ∙ March 2023 is now available online!

In this issue, we are delighted to share PAIR’s latest innovations and endeavours. A significant highlight of this issue includes a dialogue with Prof. David Cardwell, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Strategy and Planning), The University of Cambridge, about the future of global higher education. You can also read about feature stories with the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) and the Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality (RCRE) to learn their contributions to sustainability challenges, our latest #research findings, knowledge transfer, award recognitions, and scholarly events. If you find any articles or links in our newsletter that are especially enlightening and applicable, please share the relevant content with your friends and colleagues. Happy reading! 

PolyU and MCMIA co-organise university-industry collaboration forum to drive Chinese medicine innovation in the GBA

PolyU and The Modernized Chinese Medicine International Association (MCMIA) co-organised the “University-Industry Collaboration on Chinese Medicine Innovation Forum”, bringing together over a hundred academic and industry leaders from the GBA to share insights on how to promote the development of Chinese medicine (CM) under the latest national plan and policies. Further reading: https://polyu.hk/dSade

Two MHRC Associate Directors receive over HK$3.2 million funding from the Health Bureau of the HKSAR Government

Two projects led by two Associate Directors of the Mental Health Research Centre (MHRC), Prof. Hector TSANG, Chair Professor and Head of Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, and Prof. Sylvia CHEN, Associate Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, received funding totaling HK$3.2 million in Phase 2 of the Mental Health Initiatives Funding Scheme of the Health Bureau. Launched in 2021 and coordinated by the Advisory Committee on Mental Health, the Scheme aims to fund projects that could help provide better support to those in need in the community and to raise public awareness on mental health. The two awarded projects devise sustainable solutions to address the mental health issues of different people, including the implementation of short-term certificate programmes for caregivers of persons with disabilities, and the application of virtual reality technology to support adolescents with special educational needs (SEN). Prof. David SHUM, Dean of the Faulty of Health and Social Sciences, member of MHRC, said, “Mental health is an imperative issue that we cannot ignore. Under the impact of the pandemic in recent years, different groups in the community are faced with urgent needs for mental health support. The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences has been committed to mental health research over the years. The funding support combined with our strengths in scientific research and practice will bring impactful solutions for the benefit of various community groups.” Two projects awarded under Phase 2 of the Mental Health Initiatives Funding Scheme: Principal Investigator: Prof. Hector TSANG Associate Director of MHRC, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences Project Title: Enhancing the Mental Health of Carers of Persons with Disabilities with Support Services Delivered by Trained Carer Support Ambassadors Project Summary: The project aims to support carers of persons with disabilities. It will implement a short-term certificate programme for frontline workers such as occupational therapy assistants, rehabilitation assistants, patient care assistants and welfare workers to become Carer Support Ambassadors who will deliver mental health support to carers. This innovative approach is designed to address the shortage of manpower in mental health services and the growing support needs for carers. Funded Amount: HK$1.3 million   Principal Investigator: Prof. Sylvia CHEN Associate Director of MHRC, Associate Dean of Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences Project Title: Reducing Social Avoidance and Enhancing Prosocial Behaviour among Adolescents with Special Educational Needs Project Summary: The project aims to foster prosocial behaviour of adolescents with special educational needs (SEN) in transition with the use of virtual reality (VR) technology. It will implement social anxiety intervention based on a cognitive-behavioural approach with a virtual coach acting as the therapist and develop a gamified prosocial VR intervention for adolescents with SEN. This VR-assisted social avoidance and prosocial behaviour intervention would benefit individuals and society by cultivating psychological and socially healthy young people. Funded Amount: HK$1.9 million Co-PIs: Prof. Winnie Mak (Member of MHRC and Professor, Department of Psychology, CUHK) Dr Bryant Hui (Member of MHRC and Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, PolyU) Co-Is: Dr Jeffrey Ho (Assistant Professor, School of Design, PolyU) Dr Richard Li (Research Assistant Professor, Department of Computing, PolyU) Dr Rosetta Wong (Teaching Fellow, Department of Applied Social Sciences, PolyU)

RCSV and SO 45th Anniversary Joint Distinguished Lecture on 23 March

To celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the School of Optometry of PolyU, the School and the Research Centre for SHARP Vision (#RCSV) are co-organising a distinguished lecture "Insights from visual neuroscience on Developmental Dyslexia" delivered by Prof. Deborah Giaschi, Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences of The University of British Columbia, Canada, on 23 March (Thursday) from 9:00 to 10:30am via Zoom. More details and registration: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/rcsv/news-and-events/events/2023/03/20230323-distinguished-lecture/?sc_lang=en

RISports celebrates its official establishment at an inauguration ceremony

The Inauguration Ceremony of the Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology (RISports) was held successfully on 24 February 2023, attracting over 200 PolyU staff, students, alums, athletes, industry partners and friends. The Institute was jointly launched by officiating guests, including Mr WONG Kam-po (Ah Po), former Hong Kong Olympic racing cyclist, Prof. WONG Kwok-yin, Vice President (Education) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Prof. CHEN Qingyan, Director of the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR), Ir Prof. ZHANG Ming, Director of RISports, Prof. Lilly LI, Associate Director of PAIR, and Associate Directors of RISports including Prof. FAN Jin-tu, Prof. Amy FU and Ir Prof. WEN Chih-yung. A dialogue with the legendary cyclist followed the Inauguration Ceremony. Ah Po shared with the audience some of his memorable moments as an athlete as well as the joy of doing sports. Mr Wong also had a one-minute stationary bike race with an audience, demonstrating the importance of sports science, technologies and tactics. The Ceremony was rounded off with a live performance by Athlution, a band formed by former and current athletes of the Hong Kong Sports Institute.   Online review: https://youtu.be/sGxZ3LrQuX4

Three PAIR research projects are featured in the latest issue of PolyU’s magazine “Excel x Impact”

Three PAIR research projects are featured in the latest issue of PolyU’s magazine “Excel x Impact”. Check them out! Novel Intelligent Wearable System improves mobility for Parkinson's Disease patients – by Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-WEAR): https://polyu.hk/pwaAT Edible bird’s nest discovery lays the foundation for further studies in skin health – by Research Institute for Future Food (RiFood): https://polyu.hk/qzxqM Mothers should increase their fruit and vegetable intake to boost breast milk nutrients – by Research Institute for Future Food (RiFood): https://polyu.hk/gFhcc                                                   Read more from Excel x Impact – Issue 9: https://polyu.hk/WACtp

PolyU welcomes the initiatives of 2023-24 Budget that foster joint efforts in promoting research and innovation

Prof. Jin-Guang TENG, President of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), welcomes the initiatives on boosting the development of innovation and technology (I&T) and fostering collaboration among the Government, industry, academia and the research sector as announced in the Government's 2023-24 Budget. The relevant measures will help Hong Kong achieve high-quality development, support the city to develop into an international I&T hub, and contribute to the Nation’s technological advancement. Prof. Teng mentioned that through PolyU’s State Key Laboratories, Chinese National Engineering Research Centres (Hong Kong Branches), and interdisciplinary research institutes and centres under the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research (PAIR), the University will strengthen collaboration with industry to conduct impactful research and accelerate commercialisation in various domains including health technology, AI, advanced manufacturing and smart cities. These efforts will leverage Hong Kong’s unique advantages as a hub for international scientific research collaboration and make contributions to Hong Kong and the Nation. As the largest interdisciplinary research platform in the GBA, PAIR will continue to make unremitting efforts in promoting interdisciplinary research and innovation, including the areas of, but not limited to, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence of things, carbon neutrality, land and space supply, smart cities, sustainable urban development, traditional Chinese medicine innovations, etc., for the betterment of Hong Kong, the GBA and the world. Further reading: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/en/media/media-releases/2023/0222_polyu-welcomes-the-2023-24-budget/

RIAIoT member shares views on cyberecurity at a press conference

Dr LUO Xiapu, Member of the Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT) and Associate Professor in the Department of Computing, explained the cybersecurity risks of the Internet of Things and Web 3.0 at a press conference held by the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team (HKCERT) of the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) on 8 February 2023. Online coverage: Oriental Daily News - https://polyu.me/3RKOS9H (Chinese only) Hong Kong Economic Times - https://polyu.me/3x7F5kC (Chinese only) Wen Wei Po - https://polyu.me/3DWESED (Chinese only) Capital Magazine - https://polyu.me/3llqShp (Chinese only)

Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations featured in China Daily programme

Prof. WU Bo, Associate Director of the Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations (RCDSE), and his team members who have participated in the Nation’s Chang’e lunar missions and Tianwen-1 Mars mission, including Dr WANG Yiran, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), and Mr CHEN Long, Ms LI Zhaojin and Mr CHEN Zeyu, PhD candidates in the LSGI, talked about their journey participating in Nation’s aerospace industry development in China Daily’s programme “The Gold: City of Stars”. Online coverage: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202302/07/WS63e23853a31057c47ebad72b.html