Water WISE A project to enhance understanding of the value of our rivers and recognise the impacts of water consumption on water resources has attracted thousands of people to its events and online resources. The Jockey Club Water Initiative on Sustainability and Engagement (JC-WISE) is a three-year, $14.7 million project funded by the Jockey Club and hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences. It was launched in late 2016 at a time when water consumption was falling in many major cities but not Hong Kong. The first step was to survey residents in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhou to understand their water attitudes. “The findings highlighted the need for Hong Kong to strengthen its effort in promoting water conservation. There has been a lack of such data locally and regionally and so we now have a foundation for implementing and evaluating water conservation initiatives in Hong Kong,” said Dr Frederick Lee of the Faculty of Social Sciences, who is the project co-investigator. In 2017–18, these initiatives got into full swing. A Water Footprint Calculator and a GIS-based database and guided field trips to Hong Kong rivers and river basins were launched, nine drone videos of six river catchments and a documentary were produced, and public forums and lectures and school talks were organised. There was also a Water Fun Fest at the Hong Kong Science Museum’s HK SciFest 2018 that attracted nearly 12,000 participants. The JC-WISE website is at www.jcwise.hk. Reaching out across the World with MOOCs HKU offers 15 MOOCs (massive open online courses) through the Coursera and edX platforms, including the first MOOC on FinTech to be launched from Asia. ‘Introduction to FinTech‘ is produced by the Faculty of Law and since May 2018, has attracted more than 30,000 enrollments from every country in the world; Standard Chartered Bank has also made it an element of its FinTech training programmes. In 2019, the course will be combined with two other FinTechrelated MOOCs, on blockchain and ethics and risks, to form HKU’s first online professional certificate. The Dinosaur Ecosystems MOOC from the Faculty of Science also stirred interest when it was selected from about 2,000 edX courses to be a top 10 finalist in the edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning. This was the first Asian MOOC to make it to the top 10 of the edX Prize, which was launched in 2016. Meanwhile, another MOOC of interest launching in late 2018, ‘Doing Gender and Why It Matters‘, taps into the University’s advocacy role in addressing the gender gap, particularly in higher education. Sharing academic knowledge with the community remains an important part of HKU’s knowledge exchange mission, in addition to the demands of demonstrating impact. Making Knowledge Accessible The JC-WISE project aims to impart knowledge about numerous aspects of water conservation to the public. More than 30,000 people enrolled for the ‘Introduction to FinTech‘ MOOC. Dr Khong Mei-li did both the one-minute Visualise Your Thesis showcase and the Three Minute Thesis presentation. A Thesis in One Minute Top academic journals are increasingly requiring scholars to produce short video summaries of their research to accompany published papers, and HKU’s Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) has been providing technical support to our researchers. Graduate students are also encouraged to develop their video and presentation skills through a new international Visualise Your Thesis showcase that was inaugurated at the University of Melbourne in September 2018, where HKU was represented by Dr Khong Mei-li from the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. Dr Khong completed her PhD in 2018 on polyphosphates, which are involved in vital functions of the body. Her work relates to protein folding in the body which, if it goes awry, can lead to disease. Dr Khong discovered that polyphosphates control protein folding and found a strategy to maintain proper protein folding. She condensed her findings into a one-minute video, complete with animation. She also presented her work at another international event, the 2018 Asia-Pacific Three Minute Thesis Competition, and placed in the top 10. “Reducing my thesis to such short summaries was no mean feat. I spent a lot of time refining my script and rehearsing in front of individuals of different academic backgrounds and ages, such as my family, high school students, labmates, academic supervisor, churchmates and friends. I had no training in video production, but my mentor from TELI, Mr Dick Chan, taught me many basic techniques and provided me with ample resources. Basically, I did these projects with my community for my community,” she said. ︱31 30︱ KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
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