The Review 2002

The Review 2002 Research 23 MAINLAND CONNECTIONS The University occupies an exciting position as a window to Mainland universities. Academic exchanges and joint projects are helping to enrich the body of work produced by both Hong Kong and Mainland researchers. We co-operate with Mainland universities on several levels. On an institutional level, we have liaison offices in four leading Mainland institutions. In 2001–02, we worked with one of these, Fudan Universi ty, to launch the Joint Centre for WTO Research and China Development. Addi t ional ly, the Universi ty launched the Institute for China and Global Development to study China’s role in the global economy. On an individual level, we welcomed 133 visi t ing Mainland scholars during the year and sent a similar number of our scholars to China. Researchers from both sides also col laborated on indi v idual projects. Two examples are described below: LANGUAGE AND BRAIN ACTIVITY Native English and native Chinese speakers use different parts of their brains to process language, in a discovery which could affect language learning programmes and have clinical implications. A multi-disciplinary team is working on a three-year joint study with the Key Laboratory of Cogni t ive Science and Learning of the Ministry of Education in China, located at Beijing Normal University. They took functional magnetic resonance images of native Chinese and native English speakers, and found English speakers used the inferior area of the frontal cortex whereas Chinese speakers used the middle front cortex – an area responsible for visual and spatial processing. The goal of the study, jointly funded by Hong Kong and China, is to develop an educational model that will enable Chinese people to learn English more effectively. It may also have implications in preventing the post-surgical loss of language. WAVE-ABSORBING SEAWALLS A joint project between the University and the Dalian University of Technology has been looking at the interact ion between waves and the marine environment. In 2001– 02, researchers put finishing touches on a seawall design that reduces wave impacts. Unl ike ver t ical sol id seawal ls, which bounce waves back and make the water uncomfortably choppy when traffic and vessel speed increase, the new seawall absorbs the waves. The absorbent seawall was adopted by the Hong Kong Government in 2002 for all new reclamations. It was first used along a reclaimed section of Victoria Harbour. LINKS ABROAD The University has a multi-national academic staff and on-going connections with universities around the world. Some of these connections have been formalised, notably with one of the world's leading AIDS research institutes and the Institut Pasteur in France. AIDS CENTRE The Universi ty signed a memorandum of understanding in the summer of 2002 to set up a twin research centre to the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Centre in New York. State-of- Our researchers work at the frontiers of their fields and their achievements are of local and international significance.