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Overview of Research Activities of The University of Hong Kong 2004-2005
Major Institutional Policy Developments The University of Hong Kong seeks to sustain and enhance its excellent reputation as an institution of higher learning through outstanding teaching and world-class research, so as to produce rounded graduates with life-long abilities to provide leadership within the society they serve. The University's research policy flows directly from this corporate vision. Its aim is to strengthen its capabilities in both basic and applied research within a culture that strives for excellence and relevance as well as collaboration. The University emphasizes innovative, high-impact and multidisciplinary research, and believes that a fine research record enhances the quality of research postgraduate education. It recognizes that it must be fully accountable for the effective management of the public and private resources it deploys towards its research aims, and welcomes the opportunity to act in partnership with the wider community to generate, disseminate and apply knowledge. Within the spirit of its corporate vision and its institutional policies on research, the University decided to place particular emphasis on several important aspects of these policies during the report period. Internal Research Strategy Exercise The University conducted a far-reaching Internal Research Strategy Exercise (IRSE) in the first half of 2003, which sought to encourage departments to develop a research strategy, and whose results would be used both to provide a benchmark for future research development and to inform internal resource allocation for research and the allocation of research postgraduate student (RPg) places. Strategic Research Areas and Themes The University Research Committee identified eight strategic research areas and 21 themes shortly before the start of the report period as the focus of the University's interdisciplinary research endeavours, appointed 'Shepherds' to oversee the work of the convening groups for the various themes grouped under each strategic research area, and considered possible incentives (e.g. prioritizing seed funding) to encourage further research in these areas. (The eight strategic research areas identified are biotechnology and drug development, built and natural environments, China studies, communications, human health and development, nanoscience and nanotechnology, public law and public policy, and computational sciences and technology). The University agreed to propose 'China Studies' as a third theme for strategic research collaboration between Hong Kong's tertiary institutions. 'Healthcare' and 'Environment' were chosen as strategic research collaboration themes for further investigation at a meeting of the Pro-Vice-Chancellors (Research) of eight Universitas 21 institutions in March 2004. Support for Applied Research The University reviewed its framework of support for applied research in the light of the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC)'s decision to change the ITF funding model to provide Tier 1 funding for R&D Centres. The University, in collaboration with CUHK and HKUST, secured project funding of HK$370 million from the ITC to host the R&D Centre on Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technology. Accordingly, the University has reconstituted the Sub-Committee on Seed Funding Programme for Applied Research to oversee research efforts in the areas covered by the R&D Centres and assigned coordinators for the different areas involved. Assessment Criteria for Arts and Humanities Research Recognizing that research in the Arts and Humanities was not always readily amenable to the assessment criteria often applied to the Sciences and other disciplines and that a set of measures that fairly reflected the achievements of Arts and Humanities research was needed, the University drew up a set of Arts and Humanities research criteria after extensive internal consultation and critique, taking into account the views of prominent academics in top research-intensive universities with Arts and Humanities research programmes. These criteria were approved by the Senate in February 2005. Review of Research Ethics Procedures In early 2004, following a review of its research ethics procedures, the University introduced a central university-wide committee structure to give ethical clearance to research proposals from both clinical and non-clinical faculties involving human participants and live animals. During the report period the University decided that, to ensure that research protocols were efficiently referred within this committee structure, the IRB (which handles research ethics matters in relation to clinical research) would be responsible for reviewing research protocols from the Faculties of Dentistry and Medicine and the newly-established Human Research Ethics Committee for Non-Clinical Faculties would review research protocols from the other eight non-clinical faculties. An operational framework and guidelines have been drawn up and faculties would be consulted for views thereon during the academic year 2005-6. Collaborative Research The increasing importance of collaboration in research is fully recognised by the University's management as well as individual researchers. In addition to joining forces with local institutions, the University is an active participant of Universitas 21, and collaborates with a number of leading institutions, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and government bodies, both in mainland China and overseas. Further details of this collaboration are given below. Partnership with industry has also been reinforced to promote the application of research results. In September 2004 the University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to establish a Joint Centre for Advanced Study (JCAS) with the aim of developing the capability of the three institutions to compete at the highest international levels. The Centre enables the three universities to create synergies by jointly offering courses to their RPg students, giving students access to a wider pool of academic staff, creating opportunities for greater interaction and collaboration between staff and students, and enriching their programmes through other jointly-sponsored activities. The JCAS will develop in three phases. In the current first phase, it operates as a virtual centre and offers joint courses for research postgraduate students of the three partner universities. In the second phase it will organize colloquia and workshops and invite distinguished visiting scholars to deliver lectures for the joint courses. Eventually, following a review of operations, it is envisaged that a permanent home will be found for the Centre. Both the Management Committee (comprising the Pro-Vice-Chancellors of the three universities) and the Administrative Group (comprising Research Office/Graduate School administrators of the three universities) closely monitor the progress made in course offerings and student interest and participation. Collaboration with Overseas Research Institutes Large numbers of individual researchers at the University undertook collaborative projects during the report period with researchers in the PRC or elsewhere in the world across a wide range of activities, including joint research projects, co-authoring of papers, teaching or lecturing, providing consultancy or peer review services, supervising research students, and serving as external examiners. International collaboration in research continues to expand, reflected by the growing volume of co-authored publications and joint undertakings in research projects. Highlights of recent and major collaborative efforts are as follows. (a) The Genome Research Centre continued to work during the report period on Hong Kong's contribution to the International Haplotype Mapping Project, a major international collaborative effort arising out of the Human Genome Project which involves scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, and China. The University has been responsible for generating the genetic data for most of the short arm of chromosome 3, amounting to 2.5% of the genome, and required the assay of over 30,000 genetic markers. Researchers specialising in bioinformatics and statistics also participated in the Data Analysis Group of the HapMap Project by developing software for selecting variable sites for genetic studies and for measuring the genetic relatedness between pairs of individuals. Work on the territory's contribution to the HapMap was successfully completed on schedule shortly after the end of the report period, and will be highlighted in next year's Report. (b) In March 2005 the University of Hong Kong signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Aberdeen to develop greater and broader collaboration with the explicit intention of enhancing research and education excellence. HKU's Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry have worked with experts from the University of Aberdeen on different research projects for some years, and the two universities share a strong commitment to improving healthcare. (c) In June 2005 the University announced that it would cooperate with three prestigious Chinese universities (South China University of Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University) in technology research and development with the objective of enhancing the competitiveness of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region as a potential global manufacturing and logistics hub. Under the cooperation agreement the Science and Engineering Faculty of SCUT, the Modern Logistics Technology and Management Research Centre of Sun Yat-Sen University, and the Shenzhen Institute of SJTU will take part in a 20-month 'RFID Application Enabling Middleware for Enterprise Applications' research and development project initiated by HKU's E-Business Technology Institute (ETI). ETI has been awarded major funding from the Guangdong-Hong Kong Technology Cooperation Funding Scheme (TCFS) under the HKSAR Government's Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) for this project. Research Highlights A number of research highlights in 2004/5 are listed below: (a) League Table Rankings In November 2004 the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University
of Hong Kong as the 39th best university in the world and the 5th best
university in Asia. In the same exercise the University was also ranked
29th in the world's top arts and humanities universities, 45th in the
world's top social science universities, and 48th in the world's top biomedicine
universities. The criteria used by the THES included strength in teaching
and research and international reputation. Strength in research was largely
a function of research impact as measured by citations by HKU researchers
in international refereed journals. The results of the 2005-2006 CERG exercise were announced in June 2005. In this exercise the University submitted a total of 467 applications, of which 175 (37.5%) were approved. For the eighth time in the past nine years it received the lion's share of the funding. It was awarded HK$110.95 million-28% of the total CERG funding allocation. This success was achieved in an increasingly competitive climate. (c) Innovation and Technology Support Programme (ITSP) Awards from the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) under the Government's Innovation and Technology Support Programme (ITSP) have been an increasingly important source of funding for the University since the programme's introduction in 1999. The University has had more projects funded in the past five years than any other UGC-funded institution (39 projects, or 26% of the 150 projects approved in total since 1999), and has been granted funding of HK$181.7 million for these projects (the second largest amount of funding awarded to any UGC-funded institution). In 2004/5 2 of the University's applications under the ITSP were approved, and funding of HK$12.5 million was awarded in respect of these projects. (d) National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)/Research Grants Council (RGC) Joint Research Scheme The University also did well in 2004/5 in bidding for funds under the National Natural Science Foundation of China/Research Grants Council (NSFC/RGC) Joint Research Scheme, securing the second-largest number of projects approved and the second-highest funding amount. In 2004/5 funding of HK$10 million was awarded to 17 projects submitted by six UGC-funded institutions. The University submitted 54 preliminary proposals, of which 17 were shortlisted and 5 funded. It received funding of HK$2.98 million, 29.4% of the total allocation. (e) Croucher Foundation Advanced Study Institutes The Croucher Foundation sponsors a number of Advanced Study Institutes (ASIs) each year, to enable experts in a particular field to meet and conduct advanced tuition on a defined topic. Two ASIs proposed by the University were conducted during the report period:
Three ASIs proposed by the University for 2005/6 were approved, attracting funding of HK$1,771,000. These included:
(f) Croucher Foundation International Conferences and Seminars The Croucher Foundation also provides sponsorship for international conferences
and seminars in the fields of natural science, technology or medicine.
Such events must be of direct benefit to Hong Kong, and preferably have
a strong research emphasis. In November 2004 Prof. G. S. W. Tsao (Department
of Anatomy) conducted a symposium sponsored by the Croucher Foundation
on 'Frontiers in Cell Biology: Liver Colour Imaging in Cell Signalling'.
Dr M. K. P. Ng (Department of Mathematics) was also granted sponsorship
to organize an international conference on 'Superresolution Image Processing:
Theory, Algorithms and Applications', which was held in August 2005. (g) Academic Honours The University's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. L. C. Tsui, received a number of awards during the report period. In October 2004, during a visit to North America, Prof. Tsui received the Distinguished Physician & Medical Scientist Award 2004 from the Chinese American Physicians' Society (CAPS). In December 2004 he received the Distinguished Alumni Fellow Award from the University of Pittsburgh's Alumni Association for his research which identified the gene that caused cystic fibrosis. In May 2005 he was awarded an honorary degree from Tel Aviv University in recognition of his stature as a pioneer, leader, teacher and mentor in the life sciences and medicine. In late 2004 Dr H. Xue of the University's Faculty of Law was elected
one of 'Ten Outstanding Young Jurists in China'. The University encourages and rewards distinguished research achievement by its staff by conferring its own outstanding research awards at a well-attended annual ceremony. In November 2004 the University conferred the following research awards:
The University also made an exceptional Special Research Achievement
Award to the research team in its Department of Microbiology which was
responsible in 2003 for identifying the novel coronavirus that was the
causal agent of SARS.
(i) State Key Laboratories During the report period the University won two important accolades from the Chinese government. To indicate its confidence in the University's high standards of research, China's central government accredited two of the university's laboratories as state key laboratories. The State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases is the first of its kind outside Mainland China The laboratory is located within the Faculty of Medicine, and will conduct research on emerging viruses, bacteria, fungi and anti-microbial resistance. The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science brings together researchers from the fields of linguistics, anatomy, psychology, diagnostic radiology and genomics. Located in terms of subject discipline in the Faculty of Arts, it will pursue interdisciplinary research aimed at improving human health, enhancing the quality of education and communication and discovering the neuro-physiological basis of learning and perception. China's Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua officiated at the opening ceremony for both state key laboratories on 4 October 2005. China's state key laboratories are regarded as crucial components of the country's national research programme in science and technology. They serve as platforms for top-level basic research and applied basic research development, nurture outstanding researchers and promote scholarly exchange. (j) Published Research The University has an excellent record of published research, both in discipline-specific journals and in more high-profile publications such as Science, Nature, and The Lancet. As far as its academic publishing is concerned, it has the highest number of refereed publications, both in absolute terms and expressed as a ratio of publications per staff member, of any UGC-funded institution. According to the latest available statistics, for 2002/3, the University had 3,587 weighted refereed publications, or 2.8 publications per staff member. The University does particularly well in scientific publications. According to statistics published by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), there were a total of 100,202 citations of 14,793 HKU papers in journals tracked by the ISI between 1995 and June 2005. This was the highest number of citations of any UGC-funded institution. In 2004 the University had 2,337 publications in journals tracked by the ISI, again more than any other UGC-funded institution. The ISI has ranked 39 University of Hong Kong academic staff among the world's top 1% of scientists. The ISI has also ranked the University of Hong Kong, in terms of citations per paper during the period 1994-2004, among the top 1% of the world's universities in 12 out of 22 subject fields, including chemistry, clinical medicine, and biology & biochemistry. Several testimonies to the excellence of the University's published research were made during the report period. In April 2005 Prof. J. S. M. Peiris (Department of Microbiology) was awarded the title 'hottest researcher' by Science Watch, the bi-monthly newsletter published by Thomson Scientific, a business unit of the Thomson Corporation which carries out analysis of international research publications, for publishing nine highly cited 'Hot Papers' on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). A published work is so identified if it has achieved a rate of citations in scientific journals markedly higher than papers of comparable type and age. Also within the top ranked field was Professor K. Y. Yuen (Department of Microbiology), with seven papers. Prof. Y. K. Chau of the Faculty of Business and Economics was ranked the eighth most productive information systems scholar worldwide in a study of published IS articles by Taiwan's National Chung Cheng University. (k) Patents The University has filed 433 patents in various parts of the world since
1998, mostly in the United States (218), Greater China (58) and the European
Union (66). During the same period 57 patent applications were issued,
principally in the United States (43). During the 2004/2005 academic year
the University filed 83 patents, and 22 patent applications were issued.
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