The University is pleased to learn of the results in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2016, where we emerged second in Asia and 12th in the world in Education. The latest positions surpassed the University’s previous rankings in 2015, which were third in Asia and 15th in the world in Education.

In the 2016-17 research funding application results released by the Research Grants Council (RGC) on 30 June 2016, the University was awarded HK$13.27 million in funding for 27 projects under the General Research Fund (GRF) and Early Career Scheme (ECS) categories. Amid very keen competition, the University was awarded six GRF and ECS projects with a total funding of HK$4.27 million in the subject discipline of Education, comparing it favourably with established universities. In the subject discipline of Humanities and Arts, newly developed multidisciplinary areas of the University, eight projects out of 15 applications received funding with a success rate of 53.33 per cent.

In the GRF category, the University was awarded 18 projects under the Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences Panels, which include the subject disciplines of Civil Engineering, Surveying, Building and Construction, Psychology and Linguistics, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Physical Sciences and Education. In the ECS category, the University was awarded nine projects under the Humanities and Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences Panels, which include the subject disciplines of Psychology and Linguistics, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Education and Mathematics. With these newly funded projects and those previously awarded, senior academics and emerging young scholars at the University are undertaking 156 ongoing projects funded by the RGC and the Central Policy Unit, with a total awarded amount of HK$92.23 million, on a wide array of disciplines and subjects covering the aforementioned areas, among others.

Since the establishment of the Knowledge Transfer (KT) Unit under the Research and Development Office in mid-2014, the University has been actively seeking to disseminate its research findings through different KT projects to benefit the school sector and members of the general public. Some of these initiatives are illustrated below.

The number of students with special educational needs (SEN) has been on the rise in recent years, putting immense pressure on the government. With an investment of close to HK$10 million, the Integrated Centre for Wellbeing (I-WELL) was established at the University in May 2016. In collaboration with various social welfare organisations, I-WELL is a one-stop SEN support centre that facilitates multidisciplinary applied research covering counselling, neuroscience, psychology, student support and special education. It is envisaged that I-WELL will be able to provide holistic services and support to SEN students, their parents and other stakeholders in the areas of research support, assessment and clinical services, professional consultancy, parent and family education and community education.

Launched in 2014, the project I Act, U Act! – Education for Plastic Waste Recycling was initiated to promote plastic recycling by way of a new eight-compartment plastic waste recycling bin, whose design patent was successfully granted by the Intellectual Property Department in 2015. With the aim of promoting a “green” lifestyle and enhancing the awareness of sustainable development among university and primary school students, various teaching and learning materials and activities were organised. These included 12 inquiry-based teaching packages and a card game, an international symposium, a learning camp, a trainer programme, plastic waste collection, a public cleanup exercise and the design of an educational poster based on research data, to facilitate students’ recycling practices. Since the project launch, more than 10,000 university and primary school students have participated and successfully recycled more than a metric ton of plastic, equivalent to forestalling the production of about 0.6 metric ton of carbon dioxide, a reduction rate of 55 per cent. The project attracted public attention, resulting in a HK$3 million corporate donation for the further implementation of environmental sustainability in the coming years.

With its leadership role in teacher education and curriculum design, the University kick-started the Computational Thinking and Coding Education Programme in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the City University of Hong Kong in April 2016. With computational thinking framework identified to cover knowledge, practices and perspectives, an instrument will be developed for assessing the aforesaid dimensions in students’ computational thinking at various stages of the Programme. The research team will use the instrument to analyse the Programme’s effectiveness, including that of the formal curriculum on computational thinking development for upper primary students and co-curricular activities on interacting with digital physical objects and solving community problems for learners interested in coding, and the impact of different curriculum hours. The University, in cooperation with other parties, will also lead the organisation of four international and Asia-Pacific conferences and actively participate in coordinating three Hong Kong-wide competitions on computational thinking, seminars, lectures and workshops. Through these large-scale public awareness events, the Programme is set to benefit over 10,000 stakeholders, including parents, teachers, students and members of the general public, through providing knowledge of and insights into computational thinking development.

The above-mentioned projects are just some of the examples with impacts on the Education and the wider communities. During the year, the University’s KT activities benefited 15,873 schools, 15,580 principals, 66,241 teachers and 713,440 students.*

The President’s Awards for Outstanding Performance comprise three categories of teaching, research and administrative services. During the year, under the category of research, four awards in two groups were bestowed on four academic staff members in recognition of their outstanding performance. Recipients of the Research Excellence Award, which recognises outstanding senior and established academics, were Professor Wang Wen-chung, Chair Professor, Department of Psychology, and Dr Stephen Chow Cheuk-fai, Associate Professor, Department of Science and Environmental Studies. Recipients of the Early Career Research Excellence Award, which recognises exceptional emerging and young academics, were Dr Brian Fong Chi-hang, Associate Professor, Academy of Hong Kong Studies, and Dr Qian Haiyan, Assistant Professor, Department of Education Policy and Leadership.

The Awards, supported by other initiatives and activities, have helped cultivate a research-active environment and research-robust culture at the University. The results produced in the process have been turned into tangible applications that benefit the school and the higher education sectors, as well as the community at large.

* The total beneficiaries have been calculated according to the number of activities involved. Some beneficiaries and schools may have been involved in more than one activity.