The Review 2009

26 The Review 2009 • Research 26 The Review 2009 • Research Good research requires a rich intellectual environment where ideas can percolate and cross-pollinate, and new knowledge and ways of thinking can emerge. The University is intent on providing such an environment for our scholars by breaking down physical and disciplinary boundaries between academics and ensuring the research results stand up to the most rigorous standards of global excellence. This approach is outlined in our Strategic Research Themes (SRT), which encourage scholars to collaborate on cross-disciplinary projects that reflect the University’s expertise in frontier technology, the environment, China, biomedicine and community-based research. We introduced the SRTs only a few years ago and they have rapidly resulted in important research initiatives. In 2009 we led three of the five Areas of Excellence (AoE) projects awarded by the University Grants Council for interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research. The Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, the Centre for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Research, and the Theory, Modelling and Simulation of Electronic Electronics will together receive $272 million over eight years. HKU researchers also have a significant role in a fourth AoE on network coding. Funding success was also achieved in the General Research Fund (formerly the Competitive Earmarked Research Grants). In 2009-10 we received the lion’s share of grants, amounting to $139.8 million for 203 projects. Additionally, we received $62.2 million from the Innovation and Technology Fund in 2008-09. That is all good news, but funding is by no means the sole predictor of good research. The right people need to be in place. We have a highly international body of scholars who have worked or studied at many of the best universities in the world, and who are recognised as leaders in their fields. A total of 100 of our scientists, for example, are ranked among the top one per cent in their fields by the Institute for Scientific Information. We now have the rare opportunity to increase their ranks with the introduction of the new four-year undergraduate curriculum in 2012. We are hiring significant numbers of academic staff with an eye to expanding our research outlook, as well as meeting our teaching needs. The appointment of new academics was complemented in 2009 by three new programmes to increase the traffic of international scholars to HKU. The Visiting Research Professors Scheme brings leading scholars here for specific periods each year over three years to advise and interact with our academics and students. The Society of Scholars offers space, time and scholarships to young researchers from around the world so they can pursue their investigations. And joint PhD programmes with overseas universities provides budding scholars with a richer educational and research experience (see Learning Without Borders chapter). More people and more resources are resulting in research excellence. In 2008-09 our scholars produced 3,097 papers for refereed publications that involved findings of regional and global significance and collaborations with other universities around the world. The opportunities for exploration are mushrooming and contributing to a dynamic and optimistic research environment at HKU. Previous page: State-of-the-art equipment in the ‘smart grid’ laboratory 27 The Review 2009 • Research