The Review 2015

The latter initiative touches on an important research goal for HKU, and that is impact. The quality of much of HKU’s research is very good: in the Research Grants Council’s 2014 Research Assessment Exercise, more than half of our research was deemed world-leading or internationally-excellent. The strongest performers included chemistry, visual arts, earth sciences, biomedical engineering, linguistics, history, psychology and pre-clinical sciences. The results will feed into our strategic planning, which will focus on quality over quantity, as well as impact. This will not only make our work better, it will help us to make ever more meaningful contributions towards the betterment of society. New Partnership with Karolinska The Karolinska Institutet, a world-renowned medical university famed also for selecting the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine each year, established its first physical presence outside Sweden in 2015 with HKU as its partner. The Dr Li Dak-Sum Research Centre in Hong Kong will promote collaboration on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and help to develop a regional stem cell hub for China and Asia. It was made possible by a $100 million donation by Dr Li Dak-sum. ZIRI Opens The Zhejiang Institute for Research and Innovation (ZIRI) opened in December 2014, giving HKU a major base for extending its research infrastructure in China’s Yangtze River Delta region. The 330,000-square-foot facility has three world-class laboratories for aerodynamics and acoustics, nanofluids and thermal engineering, and industrial Internet research, and there are plans to add more. ZIRI is supported by the local and provincial governments. HKU also established the smaller Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation (SIRI) in 2011, focused on the Pearl River Delta region. 9 scholars at the top Æ Thomson Reuters named 9 HKU scholars among the world’s most ‘Highly Cited Researchers 2015’, up from 5 in 2014. The 9 were: Dr Chan Kwok-hung and Professor Yuen Kwok-yung in the Department of Microbiology; Professor Guan Yi, Professor Malik Peiris and Dr Leo Poon Lit-man in the School of Public Health; Professor James Lam in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; Professor Nagendra Shah in the School of Biological Sciences; and Professor Sun Min and Professor Zhao Guochun in the Department of Earth Sciences Leader in 10+8 major projects Æ HKU scholars are project co-ordinators for 10 of 23 Theme-based Research Scheme projects (and members of 9 other TRS projects), and 8 of 18 Areas of Excellence (and members of 6 other AoEs) 14 years running Æ HKU received the highest funding allocation under the General Research Fund for the 14 th straight year in 2015 – a total $150.19 million for 215 projects 847 non-local projects Æ Active research collaborations with non-local institutions rose from 746 in 2009–10 to 847 in 2013–14, the most recent year for figures 2,900+ RPg students Æ Enrolment of research postgraduate students has risen by more than 7.4% since 2010 Æ 14% of RPg students are from outside Greater China 6 Croucher Fellowships Æ HKU received 6 of the 10 innovation and research fellowship awards granted by the Croucher Foundation in 2014 and 2015 to support and recognise exceptionally talented scientists. The recipients included Professor Benjamin Cowling in the School of Public Health; Professor Khoo Ui Soon in the Department of Pathology; Dr Stephanie Ma Kwai-yee and Professor Zhou Zhongjun in the School of Biomedical Science; Professor Patrick Woo in the Department of Microbiology; and Dr Zhang Shizhong in the Department of Physics The Year in Brief – Research 17 The Review 2015