The Review 2016

Examples of Our Research HKU researchers are productive across a broad range of fields. The most recent figures show they had 5,833 peer-reviewed referred publications in 2014–15, averaging about 3.6 publications per academic staff member. The University honoured the best of the best in May 2016 with the Research Output Prize, which recognises a single piece of outstanding research in each faculty in the previous year. The results offer a sample of the breadth and depth of research at HKU: Nearly 3,000 research postgraduate (RPg) students are enrolled at HKU – a deep pool of talent that the University is cultivating through programmes that not only encourage critical thinking and investigation, but also a can-do ethos in translating their research into impact. RPg students are offered formal instruction on everything from research integrity (which the University has been a regional leader in promoting) to writing workshops to making presentations at conferences. In 2015–16 we announced that 50 per cent of all RPg students would have an international or Mainland China experience by 2019 and 100 per cent by 2022. This could be a laboratory attachment, short course, industry internship, fieldwork, conference participation or other academic activity. The aim is to broaden horizons and, hopefully, plant seeds for future international collaborations. Interdisciplinary approaches are also hallmarks of HKU’s RPg programmes. A number of students have made such research the focus of their work, and the Graduate School also offers transdisciplinary workshops that encourage students in single disciplines to think more broadly about the scope and methodology of their research. In 2015–16 the workshops focussed on big data and complex social networks. Xu Xinyi, an MPhil candidate in the School of Nursing, attended the social network session and gained insights for her own research after competing in a workshop poster competition alongside Jiang Zhihang, an MPhil candidate in Law, and Huang Biyun, a PhD candidate in Education. “My research is on diabetic patients’ health promotion, so we combined social networks with health promotion and diabetes prevention. I learned a lot of things, such as how to use cost-benefit analysis in health promotion. This workshop was a good chance for me to enrich my knowledge,” she said. Finally, the Graduate School has been promoting a more entrepreneurial culture through workshops on innovation and start-ups, encouragement to students to participate in HKU’s DreamCatchers initiative (see Knowledge Exchange chapter), and the Internship and Career Expo jointly organised with the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks. Talent development 29 Xu Xinyi, an MPhil candidate in the School of Nursing, used an HKU interdisciplinary workshop on social networks to enrich her knowledge. 28 Research