News

1st Prize of the CIC Construction Innovation Award 2019 by Construction Health and Safety Research Group of RISUD

A licensed technology of an early heat-stress warning system that was developed by the Construction Health and Safety Research Group, Division of Urban Infrastructure of Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD), PolyU and incorporated into SmartWorks, an end-to-end solution provided by Smartone Mobile Communications Ltd. to promote and manage worksite safety, has won the 1st Prize of the CIC Construction Innovation Award 2019 in the category of Construction Safety. Led by Prof. Albert Chan, Associate Director of RISUD and the Group Leader of Construction Health and Safety Research Group, his research group pioneered the early-warning system to monitor the heat strain levels of workers when they are performing their tasks in hot weather. An indispensable component of SmartWorks is the Heat Stress Artificial Intelligence Engine, which integrates technologies with 5 key smart services, namely, Smart Helmet, Smart Health Station, Environment Station, Dump Truck Management and Danger Alert & Access Control. It is a prime example of what can result from a close collaboration between academe and industry. The Construction Innovation Award was organized by the Construction Industry Council (CIC) on a biennial basis since 2015, with the aim to spearhead the development, promotion and implementation of new construction materials, methods, technologies for enhancing the competitiveness of the construction industry. The same research group won the Local Grand Prize of the Inaugural Construction Innovation Award in 2015 for their innovative development of anti-heat stress uniforms, which have been adopted as a standard work wear for construction workers in all government funded projects since 2017.

The opening of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Joint Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Processes and Control in 2019

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Joint Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Processes and Control which is one of the first ten joint laboratories in the Greater Bay Area (GBA),had its grand opening on 19 December 2019 in Guangzhou. The joint laboratory was a venture led by the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in collaboration with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental Science and Technology, with Prof. Ping’an PENG (Professor of GIG and CAS Academician) and Prof. Xiangdong LI (Chair Professor of CEE at PolyU and Associate Dean of FCE and Director of RISUD at PolyU) as the co-directors. The establishment of the joint laboratory indicates the further integration of research teams and resources in the GBA, and encourages the large-scale collaborative research to address urgent environmental issues in the region, such as air quality and human health, ecological risks of emerging contaminants in estuarine and coastal environments, environmental quality in city clusters, control and remediation of soil mixed contamination, and disposal of municipal waste and sewage treatment in rural areas.

Associate Director of RISUD Appointed the Able Professor in Construction Health and Safety

Prof. Albert Chan, Head of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Associate Director of the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD), and Chair Professor of Construction Engineering and Management, has been appointed the Able Professor in Construction Health and Safety with effect from 1 August 2019 under the University’s Endowed Professorship Scheme, which honours distinguished scholars for their outstanding academic and research achievements. This endowment will unprecedentedly scale Prof. Chan’s efforts and perseverance. Also, it certainly will further realise his belief of raising the bar for the wellbeing and productivity of construction workers. Over the past three decades, Prof. Chan’s research has been focusing on a broad spectrum of topics across the field of construction engineering and management. The continuing progress he made was internationally applauded with a series of awards and prizes over years. His current research interests focus on exploring how extreme hot and humid weather affects the health and productivity of construction workers and developing innovative devices to help improve their well-being.

RGC Theme-based Research Scheme 2019/20: “SureFire: Smart Urban Resilience and Firefighting”

Prof. Asif Sohail Usmani, Head of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) and Division Coordinator of RISUD, has recently been granted funding of HK$33.333 million from the RGC Theme-based Research Scheme for his project entitled “SureFire: Smart Urban Resilience and Firefighting” . The key scientific challenges of smart firefighting and emergency response will be addressed to possibly make SureFire-based critical event forecasting and urban infrastructure more resilient to the fire hazards.The project is expected to last for 5 years from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2024. The project team includes Prof. Heng Li of the Department of Building and Real Estate (BRE), Dr Qixin Wang of the Department of Computing, Dr Fu Xiao and Dr Xinyan Huang of BSE, Prof. John Shi of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), Prof. George Huang of the University of Hong Kong, Prof. Xinzheng Lu of Tsinghua University, Prof. Jose Torero of the University College London, and Dr Stephen Welch of the University of Edinburgh.

Seminar on Toxic Air Emissions from Indoor and Outdoor Combustion Sources,

co-organized by RISUD & Hong Kong Waste Management Association   Date: 28 May 2019 (Tuesday) Time: 5:00p.m. - 7:00p.m. Venue: Z205, Block Z, PolyU

6th Cross-Strait Forum on Sustainable Urban Development

The 6th Cross-Strait Forum on Sustainable Urban Development was held at Tongji University in Shanghai from 16th - 18th May 2019. The Forum was jointly organized by RISUD and Tongji University, drawing over 263 participants on Day 1 of the event, and 253 on Day 2. Representatives from RISUD’s partner institutions (National Taiwan University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Tongji University and Tsinghua University) were in attendance alongside scholars from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The forum started by the opening speeches delivered by Prof. Xiang-dong Li (Director, RISUD) & Prof. Xianglin GU (Vice President, Tongji University) on Day 1. Nineteen presentations were delivered by distinguished research leaders in areas with close relations to sustainable urban development. The presentations were categorized into the following areas: Future City Improvements, Ecosystem Management, Design Improvements and Intelligent Construction. On Day 2, a further twenty-one presentations were delivered, categorizing into the four main themes as Day 1. The presentations were accomplished with much discussion among participants, and provided considerable information regarding future research into said areas. The successful event was closed out with a concluding speech from Prof. Xiao Jian ZHUANG, Head of Department for Architectural Engineering of Tongji University.

Gold Medals for the teams of Prof. Hong-Xing Yang

Prof. Hong-xing Yang of the Department of Building Services Engineering (BSE) and Division Coordinator of RISUD and his teams received 2 gold medals for their inventions at the 47th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva held from 10 to 14 April 2019. The first medal was for an indirect evaporative cooler (IEC) for efficient energy recovery. Consisting of alternating dry and wet channels, the IEC uses exhaust air and water evaporation to pre-cool fresh air for central air-conditioning systems of buildings. His research team included Dr Yi Chen and Ms Yunran Min, a PhD student in BSE. The other gold medal was from a consultancy project to develop a prototype for the third generation in-building hydropower system. In addition to the hydraulic design of the hydro turbine improves the efficiency, the new system also features magnetic coupling for transmission and sealing, which could be work independently, minimising the likelihood of wear-and-tear. His team for this project included Dr Jiyun Du and Mr Zhicheng Shen.

Immediate Past Director of Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) Appointed Next President of PolyU

The Council of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) announced the appointment of Professor Jin-Guang Teng, currently a Vice-President of Dean of Graduate School of Southern University of Science and Technology in China, to be the next President of PolyU from 1 July 2019. Prior to his current role, Professor Jin-Guang Teng was the Director of RISUD from January 2012 – June 2018. Under the effective leadership of Professor Teng, RISUD has developed and supported a significant number of strong Inter-disciplinary Research Projects related to sustainable urban development and established and strengthened networks and collaborations with other scholars, universities, industries and governments on local, regional and international scales. RISUD is delighted to welcome Professor Teng to be PolyU's next President. We are confident that Professor Teng will set a clear and viable vision for PolyU's future development and steer the University to scale new heights. RISUD will continue to strive to further enhance the impact of PolyU in the development and dissemination of innovative solutions for sustainable high-density urban development in Hong Kong and the world under Professor Teng’s leadership at the University.

2018 State Science and Technology Awards

Prof. Xiaoli Ding, of LSGI, Associate Dean (Partnership) of FCE, Division Coordinator of RISUD and his collaborators from Central South University, China University of Mining and Technology, Guangdong Institute of Geological Survey, and Chang’An University were rewarded with a State Scientific and Technological Progress Award (second-class) for their research on key InSAR technologies for millimetre-level ground deformation monitoring and their applications.

2nd RISUD TOAF Distinguished Lecture on MIT Innovations and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

2nd RISUD TOAF Distinguished Lecture on MIT Innovations and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (Poster) Speaker: Prof. Gang CHEN, Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Date: 15 January 2019 (Tuesday) Time: 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (A tea reception will be held at 5:30 p.m.) Venue: Room Y302, 3/F, Block Y (Lee Shau Kee Building), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Campus map) Medium: English   The 2nd RISUD TOAF Distinguished Lecture on “MIT Innovations and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem” was held on 15 January 2019 on the campus of PolyU. The lecture was given by Prof. Gang CHEN, who is the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering; Director, Pappalardo Micro and Nano Engineering Laboratories; Director, DOE EFRC: Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  The lecture was overwhelmed with interest and attracted 133 participants from industry practitioners, government units, international academia and students.  The lecture was started by a warm welcome by Prof. Xiang-dong LI, Director of RISUD, followed by a speech by Ir Dr Andrew K.C. CHAN (Chairman, Arup Group Trusts) to introduce the background of The Ove Arup Foundation – the sponsor of this lecture.  The lecture was very well received by the participants and generated lively discussions. We are very grateful that, with the financial support from The Ove Arup Foundation, the lecture was held with success.