The Review 2007

32 33 In Brief The University is constantly assessing how it can further support research. In 2006-07 we initiated a research awards programme and launched an AIDS research centre, and saw one of our top scholars receive the highest honour in China: • The Research Output Prizes were launched in Decem- ber 2006 to recognise the best research produced at the University during the previous year. The win- ners are determined by peer review within their faculty and one prize is awarded for each of the 10 faculties. • Professor Che Chi-ming, Hui Wai Haan Chair of Chemistry, was named the first Hong Kong recipi- ent of the First Class Prize of China’s State Natural Science Award. Professor Che has been working for more than three decades to control and develop new chemical reactions, and he is ranked among the top 0.02 per cent of chemists in the world. His award follows a First Class honour for the liver transplant team in 2005 in the State Scientific Technological Progress Award. • The AIDS Institute was established in the summer of 2007 under founding director Dr Zhiwei Chen to study HIV/AIDS in the region and, ultimately, find solu- tions to end the AIDS pandemic. The Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Centre in New York, Dr David Ho, chairs the scientific advisory committee. Already, several research investigations are underway on the development of vaccines and new drugs and the evolution of the AIDS virus in China. Supporting the Development of Justice in China Access to justice can elude people in the Chinese coun- tryside, where there are few lawyers and many people are unaware of their rights. A new project in the Faculty of Law is hoping to change that situation by training trainers and targeting areas of need. The three-year project is a collaboration with the University of Washington at Seattle to equip rural residents and officials with knowledge about such matters as how to mediate disputes, go to court, fill out forms and gather evidence. Law students and professors from five counties are to be trained to train others in the field and promote the concept of legal aid. The first workshop was held in a county in Changsha, Hunan in June 2007, in a programme tailor-made to address legal needs at the village and township level. Associate Professor, Dr Fu Hualing, is leading the project, which will be extended to counties in Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou and/or Yunnan. Local residents will also be surveyed to track whether their attitudes towards the law change. The project is part of the Faculty’s wider interest in the development of China’s legal system and the promotion of mutual understanding between Hong Kong and China. Several of the Faculty’s scholars have focused on commercial law and its application on the Mainland, and they have been invited by Beijing to give legal advice and opinions on such issues as compliance with World Trade Organisation regulations and intellectual property rights. The Faculty has also been training Mainland officials, judges, academics and other legal professionals in the com- mon law system, to bridge their understanding of Hong Kong’s and China’s legal systems. Professor Che Chi-ming Dr Zhiwei Chen