KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

KE Excellence Award, HKU Innovator Award and HKU Young Innovator Award

The university-level KE Excellence Award was introduced in 2015-16 to recognise the significant impact that our academic staff had made to benefit society. The KE Excellence Award 2020 was awarded to Dr Caroline Dingle, Dr David Baker, Dr Timothy Bonebrake, and Professor David Dudgeon of the Faculty of Science.

The new HKU Innovator Award and the HKU Young Innovator Award have been established to recognise outstanding Faculty members whose innovations demonstrate exceptionally high potential impact (legacy or projected legacy) with transformative results to foster development. The new HKU Innovator Award and the HKU Young Innovator Award were awarded to Professor Chuyang Tang and Dr Ka Wai Kwok of the Faculty of Engineering respectively.

HKU startup “Hollo” – a mental health companion and therapist

“Hollo”, a social technology startup by a group of students from HKU Faculty of Science, provides a platform for NGOs and therapists to advance therapy practices using technology such as Big Data and AI. By improving the diagnosis and treatment delivery with proprietary technology and detection algorithms, the platform allows patients to spend less time in the system and keep professionals more informed. The team will further enhance the accuracy rate and is working with local NGOs for a pilot scheme targeting 100 to 200 people. They hope the App can be formally launched in September 2020.

Three HKU academics receive Croucher Innovation and Senior Research Fellowship Awards

Three HKU academics have been presented with Innovation and Senior Research Fellowship Awards by the Croucher Foundation. Dr Yufeng Wang, Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry who received the Croucher Innovation Award 2019, studies how to put together colloidal nanoparticles to form 1D to 3D superstructures for emerging applications such as photonics, drug delivery and micro-machinery. Professor Anderson Shum, Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Professor Wang Yao, Chair Professor of Department of Physics, received the Croucher Senior Research Fellowships 2020.

Faculty Knowledge Exchange Awards 2019

The annual Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards recognise each Faculty’s outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organisations. Results of the 2019 Faculty KE Awards are now available.

HKU organises STEM competition to raise public awareness of light pollution

The “Dark-sky-friendly Lighting Fixture STEM Competition” was co-organised by HKU Department of Physics, HKU Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Ho Koon Nature Education cum Astronomical Centre (Sponsored by Sik Sik Yuen), in association with the Hong Kong Space Museum, to raise public awareness of the severe light pollution problem in Hong Kong. Entries from 8 teams were received. Each team is required to submit an outdoor lighting fixture (real size or scaled model) which can minimise light pollution for demonstration, along with a written technical report. The winning entry came from Fanling Kau Yan College. The team visited Sheung Shui Wai and learnt how residents there suffered from light trespass originated from lamp posts and created a smart sensing street lamp array with adjustable light intensity based on the flow of pedestrian traffic, thus leading to a reduction in the intensity and the number of lighting fixtures required.

HKU-led study shows 60% of shark species threatened by shark fin trade

An HKU-led study found that global shark catches now exceed one million tonnes per year, more than doubled what they were six decades ago, threatening 60% of shark species.

HKU School of Biological Sciences Professor Yvonne Sadovy, lead author of the study said Hong Kong is the port of entry for about half of all officially traded dried shark fins globally, which is around 6,000 tonnes, but estimated that only 12% of shark fisheries are considered sustainable, while 25,000 tonnes of dried fins each year originate from unsustainable and often illegal fisheries. A 2017 study showed that 33% of shark fins found on sale in Hong Kong’s dried seafood stores were from species listed as Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN). The study researchers urge consumers to reject shark fin products altogether, and for restaurant chains to refrain from selling and serving shark fin immediately.

HKU biologist suggests delay in ivory ban in Hong Kong may spur poaching

A new study has examined how recent ivory bans – and gaps thereof – could help or harm the preservation of elephants. Ivory trade has fueled the rampant and ongoing poaching of these important animals across Africa, leading to unprecedented population declines throughout much of the continent. The study’s lead author, Dr Luke Gibson, Associate Professor of the Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China and Honorary Assistant Professor at the HKU School of Biological Sciences, suggested that the closure of mainland China's domestic ivory market at the end of 2017 may shift more of the trade to Hong Kong as the full ban in Hong Kong won’t be implemented until the end of 2021. The researchers believe that mismatch in timing of the two bans may be inadvertently widening the window for illegal trading and smuggling, fueling the poaching of elephants in Africa.