KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

HKU-led research team calls for establishing a Waste Trade Organisation for construction waste materials in GBA

A research team led by HKU Department of Real Estate and Construction Associate Professor Dr Wilson Lu and comprising experts from HK and Mainland universities, has proposed forming a Waste Trade Organisation (WTO) in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to trade and share construction waste materials to achieve zero waste in the long term. The team’s preliminary recommendations including establishing a GBA-level information sharing platform to allow real time construction waste demand and supply exchange, using ‘green labels’ to qualify construction waste as sharable, and using policy options such as taxation and subsidy to encourage cross-region sharing.

HKU JC-WISE launches ‘Water WISE Tram’

The Jockey Club Water Initiative on Sustainability and Engagement (JC-WISE) has launched the ‘Water WISE Tram’, a theme tramcar decorated with knowledge of Water Footprint and highlights of multiple functions and values of Hong Kong’s rivers. Water WISE Tram will travel through the heartland of Hong Kong with high visibility from March 22 to April 18, 2019, celebrating the annual World Water Day (March 22) and raising public's awareness of the importance of water conservation and sustainability through promulgating the concept of Water Footprint and re-connecting us with our rivers.

HKU Dental Professor calls for regular dental checkup for people over 45 to detect and prevent mouth cancer

A research team of HKU Faculty of Dentistry led by Professor Peter Thomson has been working to improve understanding of the cause and development of mouth cancer, to identify the population in Hong Kong most at risk, and to apply effective primary, secondary and tertiary preventive strategies to target disease at the earliest possible stage, and to facilitate minimal interventional treatment. Professor Thomson said many mouth cancer patients are diagnosed only when the disease is advanced and incurable. However, early suspicious signs of cancer or pre-cancer change, including non-healing mouth ulcers, red and white mucosal patches and unexplained swellings within the mouth or in the neck, could easily be detected by a dental professional during standard oral examination. According to the government’s statistics, less than half of HongKongers had regular dental check-ups and fewer than 37% of those in the high risk group aged 45 or above visit their dentists regularly. The strategies that prevention really is better than cure when it comes to halting the progress of this life-threatening oral disorder are confirmed in Professor Thomson’s new book “Oral Cancer – From Prevention to Intervention “.

HKU start-up wins championship at the Hong Kong finals of the IMAGINE IF! Competition

Lifespans, a start-up company formed by HKU professors and alumni, won at the Hong Kong Finals of IMAGINE IF! 2018-19 and will participate in the Global Final of IMAGINE IF! at the “Health Horizons - Future Healthcare Forum” from June 26 to 27 in Cambridge, UK. Lifespans develops proprietary technologies that make orthopaedic implants safer and more effective when treating fractured hips, shoulders, and spines in elderly patients. Its products are undergoing final safety testing and are expected to be available to hospitals in the second quarter of 2019.

HKU Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre launches new book and exhibition tour

To celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the HKU Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre, a bilingual book “The Pulse of Nature - Mid-Levels West” is launched. It provides an alternative city guide, and brings together over a dozen of artists, novelists, academics and others with the Centre as a starting point and Mid-Levels West as an exploratory space to invite readers to engage in the pulses of the world from different angles including humanities, society, architecture and natural history. The Centre also offers an exhibition and guided tour from now until June 9.

HKU School of Nursing guides elderly to exercise with AI robots

HKU School of Nursing collaborated with the Hong Kong Housing Authority to host a health talk under the Healthy Ageing in Public Rental Housing Estates programme. Over 100 elderly people who participated in the talk worked out to strengthen their muscles with simple exercises under the guidance of two AI robots from the School of Nursing. The HKU team also conducted a hand-grip test to measure the muscle strength of elderly persons. The AI robots serve as fitness coaches to stimulate the elderly’s interest in exercise and help them remember the movements better, minimising the chance of sarcopenia and the risk of falls.

HKU Studies the Prevalence of Viral Hepatitis in Hong Kong – The First Largest Population Territory-based Study

A research team of HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine performed a 19-month territory-wide study involving 10,256 individuals on the prevalence of five viral hepatitis in 2015 and 2016. It found the overall prevalence of hepatitis B in Hong Kong was 7.8%, yet 48% of infected participants were unaware of it. Since vaccine cuts the infection rate by 85% and many hepatitis B carriers were unaware of their situation, the HKU team called for a territory-wide screening for hepatitis and promotion for vaccination, especially if Hong Kong is to achieve the public health objectives of the World Health Organization in 2030.