The Review 2006

The Review 2006 22 The Review 2006 23 Collaboration and Partnership Collaboration is a central component in research because it encourages scholars to test each other’s ideas, uncover biases and find novel solutions. In 2004-05 the University sought to provide a framework for interdisciplinary research with the announcement of Strategic Research Areas, which encompass biotechnology, health, communications, sustainable environments, information technology, nanoscience, public law and China studies. A number of projects have been initiated in each area; at the same time, our scholars are broadening research horizons through co-operative ventures with others in Hong Kong, the Mainland and overseas. The international East-West Alliance was announced in April 2006 at the instigation of the University’s Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. Nine medical schools in Asia, North America and Europe have agreed to combine research efforts on cancer and stem cells, infection and immunology, ageing and imaging, and knowledge transfer and translation. The Faculty is a member of the Alliance’s executive together with the University of Cambridge, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Toronto. The School of Chinese Medicine was part of an unprecedented collaborative effort by six Hong Kong universities to bring the clinical application of Chinese medicines up to modern standards, under the umbrella of the Hong Kong branch of the international Consortium for Globalisation of Chinese Medicine. They received $10 million from the Innovation and Technology Fund in September 2006 to join forces on sleep disorders and post-stroke rehabilitation. The new Centre of Theoretical and Computational Physics in the Department of Physics was established in autumn 2005 with the aim of promoting world-class research in collaboration with international research institutions and distinguished visitor programmes. It is led by a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department, Professor Daniel C. Tsui, a Nobel Prize winner in physics. Breadth of Activity The University’s 10 faculties produce a great diversity of quality research each year, reflecting our status as a comprehensive university. While medical research on infectious diseases has attracted much attention due to international concern about outbreaks, other faculties have also made significant contributions locally, nationally and globally. A small selection of the past year’s highlights, described below, illustrate the rich variety of our research interests and achievements. Probing the workings of the brain Three studies in 2005-06 investigated the mystery of the brain, with one suggesting there was hope that functions lost due to brain damage could be restored. Abnormalities were discovered in the brains of Chinese children with autism in the connectivity in areas governing social interaction. The study by the Department of Psychiatry, working alongside scientists from the University of Cambridge, was the first to look at the relationship between brain structures affected by autism. Men who physically abuse their families were found to have subtle differences in their brains when it came to impulse control and cognitive function, according to preliminary research in the Department of Psychology.