KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

HKU Stephen Hui Geological Museum launches exhibition to showcase 65 million years of climate change

The HKU Stephen Hui Geological Museum launched a permanent exhibition on "Cenozoic Climate Change" on Earth Day (April 22, 2015) to trace the history of climate change back 65 million years to the start of the Cenozoic Era – the advent of the age of mammals, which continues into the present. On display are a range of paleoclimate "proxies", from 3,000 year-old tree rings and marine sediments to fossilised marine micro-organisms and mammals, all of which serve as organic "records" of the planet's climatological past. According to Professor Zong Yongqiang of the HKU Department of Earth Sciences, a look into the earth’s Cenozoic past will reveal short-term "abrupt climate changes" when temperature and CO2 levels rise rapidly, sometimes causing highly disruptive effects including extinctions of certain species. Carbon dioxide concentrations have risen steeply since the beginning of the industrial revolution, which should be alarming to people that climate change should be taken seriously and that the climate could respond in an abrupt and unexpected way.

Knowledge Exchange Awards 2014

The Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards were introduced in 2011 in order to recognize each Faculty's outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organizations. Following the successful launch of the Faculty KE Awards, the KE Award (Non-Faculty Unit) was introduced in 2012 with the same objective for the independent centres, institutes and units of the University. Results of the 2014 KE Awards are now available.

HKU promotes light pollution awareness among students and within the community

HKU Department of Physics partnered with the Ho Koon Nature Education Cum Astronomical Centre and the Hong Kong Space Museum to organize the ''Light Pollution Awareness Community Engagement Project''. A total of 42 student teams from 17 secondary schools participated in the ''Light Pollution Project Competition 2014''. The University also held the ''Light Pollution Photography Competition 2014'' in which 154 entries were received. Outstanding projects and winning photographs from the two competitions will be on display for free at the Space Museum from July 9 to August 11 to further spread the message of night sky preservation and educate people the adverse effects of light pollution to the natural environment and our daily lives in Hong Kong. This project is supported by the HKU Knowledge Exchange Fund granted by the University Grants Committee.

HKU partners with Observatory and Space Museum to launch weather information for astronomical observation

The HKU Department of Physics has partnered with the Hong Kong Observatory and Hong Kong Space Museum to launch the "Weather Information for Astronomical Observation" website. This website provides star maps, sky brightness and weather information for star watchers among the general public. The information will also be provided to the University to study light pollution.

HKU holds Science and Art Crossover Programme for secondary students

Over 100 junior secondary students from 48 secondary schools took part in a workshop organised by the HKU Faculty of Science in January 18. The participants learned about the intertwining possibilities between science and art through drawing the spiral patterns in nature, making molecular gastronomy, folding paper Platonic solids, etc. Artworks of the participants are on exhibition at the University until February 17, and will be showcased at the Central MTR station in April.

HKU's artificial mussel technology helps fight marine pollution globally

HKU Director of School of Biological Sciences Professor Rudolf Wu Shiu-sun has developed a technology called artificial mussel to test water quality. Professor Wu has been invited by Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to provide a two-month training scheme for scientists from Tunisia, Tanzania, Ghana, Thailand and the Philippines to learn how to use the technology to test for heavy metals that affect ecosystems and food chains.

Knowledge Exchange Awards 2013

The Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards were introduced in 2011 in order to recognize each Faculty's outstanding KE accomplishment that has made demonstrable economic, social or cultural impacts to benefit the community, business/industry, or partner organizations. Results of the 2013 Faculty KE Awards are now available.