HKU Bulletin April 2010 (Vol. 11 No. 2)

As it celebrates its 15th anniversary, the Department of Nursing Studies has been renamed as the School of Nursing of the University of Hong Kong. Established in 1995, the Department has grown into a large, complex academic unit that provides vital undergraduate and postgraduate education. Since its inception, the School has nurtured and trained a total of 1,373 graduates – with 110 at the Masters and PhD level. It is becoming increasingly research intensive, has a strong history and presence in community service, and also keeps pace with the global trend of strengthening the professionalization and independent scholarship of the discipline. Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Professor and Head of the School of Nursing said, “We are absolutely thrilled that this dream has become a reality and believe that this name change reflects our growing status and reputation. It would not have been possible without our incredibly hard-working and dedicated staff, and the support of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine and the University.” Reflecting on the future plans for the School, she added, “Since the development of a clearly defined focus for our research, we have made considerable progress and will continue to build upon this. Currently, we are preparing for the introduction of the four-year curriculum, as we believe it will bring huge advantages to our students and will ensure that they can take a more mature approach to their studies. This will be imperative for preparing them for the challenges they will face as practitioners in the future. Planning for new programmes to meet community needs is also underway.” WITH A NEW NAME, NURSING SCHOOL LOOKS FORWARD TO FUTURE HKU ACADEMICS SNAP UP LION’S SHARE OF THE CROUCHER AWARDS From left: Professor Chan Kwong-yu, Professor Sun Hongzhe and Professor Shen Shunqing. Three outstanding academics of the University were awarded the prestigious Senior Research Fellowship by the Croucher Foundation on March 26, 2010 in recognition of their scientific achievements and contributions to the international scientific community. Professor Chan Kwong-yu and Professor Sun Hongzhe of the Department of Chemistry, and Professor Shen Shunqing of the Department of Physics, all from the Faculty of Science, took three of the four Senior Research Fellowship Awards this year. The awards were presented by the Honourable John Tsang Chun-wah, JP, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government. Professor Chan Kwong-yu’s research focuses on multi-scale structured materials for electrochemical technologies such as fuel cells, batteries, super-capacitors, and ozone generation. These technologies are important for clean energy and environment. The bottlenecks in energy conversion can be widened with fundamental understanding and optimization of various transport limited processes in the materials. Professor Sun Hongzhe’s research interests lie at the frontier of inorganic chemistry and biology/medicine. He has recently focused on structural biology of metallo-proteins, and metallomics and metalloproteomics. He is an international leading expert in the latter. By using chemical biology and metallomic approaches, he has identified several key metallo-drug binding proteins and characterized selected metallo-transport and storage proteins in microorganisms which provide a basis for mechanism-based drug design. Professor Shen Shunqing is an expert in the field of condensed matter physics. He is recognized for his research on spintronics of semiconductors, quantum magnetism and orbital physics in transition metal oxides, and novel quantum states of condensed matters. He has proposed a theory of topological Anderson insulator, spin transverse force, resonant spin Hall effect, and a theory of phase separation and antiferromagnetism. He has also proved the existence of antiferromagnetic and off-diagonal long- range order in itinerant electron systems. They will each receive a fellowship of about US$100,000 that will enable them to devote more time and effort to research work, by allowing the University to recruit replacement teachers to take over their teaching and administrative duties for one year. They will also receive a grant of $60,000 for research expenses. 4 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin 5 April 2010 The second Hong Kong Shenzhen bi-city Biennale of Architecture/Urbanism tapped in to the trend for greening by encouraging Hong Kongers to express their aspirations for a better environment. Launched in December, and running through to the end of January under the banner of ‘City Mobilization’, the event invited artists, designers, students and members of the public to essentially create their own BRING YOUR OWN VISION FOR A BETTER ENVIRONMENT biennale, encouraging them to raise their expectations about their living conditions and assume the role of collaborators in their own environment. Organizers – the Institute of Architects, the Institute of Planners and the Design Association – selected Marisa Yiu and Eric Schuldenfrei, both Assistant Professors in the Department of Architecture, to help curate the event. They threw their energies into their vision for a biennale with strong public participation. “We wondered how we could get the public involved, and we thought it might work through a partnership with younger media, so we engaged youth magazines as a partner and worked very closely with the Federation of Youth,” says Yiu. They also invited celebrity artists and architects to install thought-provoking exhibitions and express their own take on Hong Kong’s urban lifestyle. In one striking Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros called for greater understanding between nations and a ‘doctrine of harmonious development’ in China, in a recent talk at HKU. Speaking at a packed Loke Yew Hall in February he emphasized the need for a more open China and an improvement in US-Sino relations. That openness, and greater understanding, he said could only be achieved through a process of critical thinking, a necessary element for future prosperity. China, he conceded that has already developed a very efficient critical process, but it is confined to within government. “One of the strengths of China today is that the leadership is very self-critical and very anxious about doing the right thing, but I think it’s very important to allow outside criticism as well. “That, I think, is one very important reason for China to move towards an open society. In some respects it’s not very far removed because there is this internal physical process which I think is very efficient, but another very important point is that China has emerged as a leading power in the world and has become very influential, and therefore for China to continue to rise, it has to pay increasing attention to how the rest of the world views it.” This he said was the doctrine of harmonious development “which is well- accepted in China.” The event, jointly organized by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre and the School of Economics and Finance attracted over a thousand participants including almost a hundred journalists, and featured a panel discussion, followed by a Q and A. project artist Kacey Wong built his own seafaring ‘apartment’ strapped to plastic barrels. Entitled, Paddling Home it explored the ‘search for a better place,’ and was launched into Victoria Harbour in January. On the same day Stanley Wong’s Heaven on Earth – a boat planted with a single tree – was also launched. In keeping with the theme of sustainability and public engagement, 150 children were invited to a massive eco-farm in west Kowloon, designed specifically for the biennale by a team of architects. The youngsters indulged in planting and harvesting winter vegetables. A rare occasion to get their hands dirty in Hong Kong. Others were kept busy planting trees. Yiu said, “We set out to raise issues and encourage engagement, to establish a volunteering mindset and it’s been very effective.” GEORGE SOROS ADVOCATES PEACE FOR PROSPERITY Soros responded to queries on several subjects including the impossibility of predicting the point at which market bubbles will burst; his controversial view on the global regulation of financial markets; and worsening US-Sino relations which, he feared, would adversely affect global prosperity. News in Brief