The Review 2014

The University’s research programme continued its forward momentum in the 2013-14 academic year, receiving local, national and international recognition of its excellence. Recognition came firstly in the form of funding. For the 13 th consecutive year, HKU secured the highest amount of research grants of all eight University Grants Council institutions, amounting to $164.7 million for 240 projects. HKU has also done exceptionally well in special funded areas that advance high-level, interdisciplinary research. It leads nine of the 18 Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) projects and eight of the 18 Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme projects awarded by the Research Grants Council. All of our TRS and AoE projects can be mapped to our Strategic Research Theme (SRT) initiative, which provides seed funding for interdisciplinary projects of relevance to society. The SRTs were launched a decade ago in 2004, and now cover 16 themes and five emerging themes. Our five State Key Laboratories and National Key Basic Research Development (973) funded projects are also linked to SRTs. What began as an experiment has become the norm, and HKU has become a leader in Hong Kong and the region in nurturing interdisciplinary research. Academic Excellence Recognition has also been awarded to our academics for the excellence of their work. Some 115 HKU academics were named among the world’s top one per cent of scientists in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters. Further, the information agency named five of them (see pictures below) among The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds, based on the high frequency with which their publications are cited by fellow academics. A number of other scholars were also honoured internationally by their peers, and by national bodies. The HKU liver transplantation team led by Professor Lo Chung-mau, for example, won a State Natural Science Award (First Class) for their achievements over more than a decade. Apart from working across disciplines, we also collaborate across institutions. HKU seeks out the best partners from around the world to work on joint projects. In Mainland China we are able to go a step further. We are building our own research campus, the Zhejiang Institute of Research and Innovation (ZIRI), which will be ready in December 2014. The 330,000-square-foot compound has received support from both the provincial and local governments. A Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation (SIRI) established in 2011 also gives us a base in the Pearl River Delta region. These facilities, together with the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital that opened in 2012, widen the opportunities for HKU researchers to expand their areas of investigation, and be engaged with research communities and problems in the Mainland. Research Integrity The excellence, interdisciplinarity and collaboration that contribute to our success are underpinned by another crucial factor: integrity. Integrity means others can trust our findings, and HKU is at the forefront in Asia in investing time and effort on promoting research integrity among staff and students. Over the past four years, we have organised 11 seminars on research conduct for 945 staff, including four discipline- The Recipe for Success HKU scientists named among top 1% in the world by Thomson Reuters 115 research postgraduates enrolled in 2014 2,966 in research funding 164 million $ .7 THE REVIEW 2014 ⎜ 21 Research Professor Guan Yi, Daniel CK Yu Professor in Virology, School of Public Health Professor Zhao Guochun, Department of Earth Sciences Professor Sun Min, Department of Earth Sciences Professor Malik Peiris, Tam Wah-Ching Professor in Medical Science, Chair Professor of Virology and Director of School of Public Health Professor James Lam, Chair of Control Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering The Five ‘Most Influential’