Partnerships and links established through the International Partnerships Development Programme 2013-14

Eighteen awards were granted under the programme for 2013–14 to facilitate the development of partnerships with institutions identified by the University, including University of Cambridge, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Oxford and Utrecht University. The awardees undertook visits to the host institutions and consolidated plans for academic and research collaborations in the past six months.

In Psychiatry, during the visit to the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus at Utrecht University Medical Center, Prof. Linda Lam, Chairperson and Prof. Sandra Chan, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, forged collaborations in five areas, namely TMS, genetic studies in autistic spectrum disorder, genetic studies in schizophrenia, physical exercise on brain functions, and neuroimaging for psychiatric disorders. Plans are underway to co-host research seminars in the identified areas in October 2014 in Hong Kong.

In Law, Prof. Martin Doris, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, has been active in developing a number of international partnerships with leading research led universities across Europe. In June 2014, with funding support from the programme, he visited the University of Oxford's Institute of European and Comparative Law. Another professor, Prof. Xu Yan of the Faculty of Law visited Cambridge and presented her research on the history of taxes on goods and services in post-socialist China at a colloquium on tax history organised by Cambridge's Centre for Tax Law. The visit allowed her to meet with scholars in the field of tax law from institutions in the UK, Australia and New Zealand and to explore the setting up of staff and student mobility programmes between the two Faculties of Law at CUHK and Cambridge.

In Environment and Climate Change, Prof. Lawal Marafa, Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Resource Management, visited the University of Cape Town. New initiatives for collaborations on "Land and Sustainable Development", "China and South-south Scoping Assessment for Learning and Development" and "Sustainable Tourism" were identified. Ideas were exchanged with the African Centre for Cities to promote interdisciplinary research on African cities.

In Information Engineering, Prof. Chiu Dah Ming, Chairman of the Department of Information Engineering, visited University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where he gave presentations and explored collaborations on big data analytics and job market for data scientists in the US. He had fruitful discussions with UIUC professors and students on compunnity and influence detection in social networks, overlay network topology management, and data mining in academic social networks. He also gained insights on promoting entrepreneurship at CUHK from an annual event organised by the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center of the Faculty of Engineering at UIUC.

Besides forging research links, awardees of the programme also introduced graduate study opportunities at CUHK to the host institutions, which will no doubt strengthen the University's profile as a research comprehensive university and support its internationalisation efforts.

Faculty members are reminded that the application deadline for visits during 2014-15 is 19 September 2014. For more details, please click here.

CUHK-Utrecht University host joint workshop on "Urban Design in the Era of Ubiquitous Information"

The workshop was jointly organised by CUHK's Institute of Future Cities (IOFC) and Utrecht University (UU) during 3-5 July 2014. Presentations under the themes "Urban Informatics" and "Sustainable Cities" were made by CUHK members including Prof. Leung Yee, Director of IOFC; Prof. Irwin King, Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Engineering; Prof. Edward Ng, Professor of Architecture; and by UU members including Prof. Paola Monachesi, Department of Languages, Literature and Communication; Prof. Martin Dijst, Professor of Human Geography and Planning - Urban Geography; and Prof. Mei-Po Kwan, Professor of Human Geography and Planning - Urban Geography. Deeper collaborations in the newly identified themes, such as social media, healthy ageing, social informatics, and air pollution and health will be pursued by the two institutions.

The workshop was funded by UU's Intensive Workshop Programme which aims to provide grants to explore new research or education projects between UU and its international partners in at least one of UU's four strategic themes, namely "Life Sciences", "Sustainability", "Institutions", and "Youth and Identity". CUHK faulty members are encouraged to apply for funding from the programme by 2 December. For more details, please click here.

South Africa's Minister of Health delivers talk on the impact of Ebola epidemic

Dr. Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of Health of South Africa, visited the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care (SPHPC) on 8 September to give a lecture on "The Impact of Ebola Epidemic in South Africa and the African Continent". Over 150 staff and students from CUHK, healthcare and consulate officials were attracted to the event.

At the lecture, Dr. Motsoaledi gave an overview on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and shared with the audience the preparedness, prevention, and control measures adopted by South Africa, such as raising public awareness; arranging sufficient medical equipment and emergency supplies; and providing training and support to healthcare workers. He also talked about the country's assistance in battling the epidemic, including deploying experts and mobile laboratory to West Africa.

Dr. Motsoaledi's talk was hosted by the Centre for Global Health, SPHPC. A video of the talk will be uploaded on the Centre's website for viewing.

CUHK hosts Gordon Research Conferences Meetings for the third year

CUHK played host to two GRC meetings and one GRC seminar during 20 July-1 August, bringing together some 370 scientists with common research interests who came together for intense discussion and examination of frontier research on "Structural Nanomaterials" and "Green Chemistry". The GRC seminar is specifically designed for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting-edge ideas. In May and June 2015, five GRC meetings and one seminar will be held at CUHK. Faculty members are encouraged to take part in the events to engage in dialogues with distinguished scientists from around the world. For more details, please click here.

CUHK welcomes third STINT Fellow from Linnaeus University, Sweden

CUHK welcomes the third STINT Fellow, Prof. Päivi Jokela from Linnaeus University, Sweden, who is teaching at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering during this semester. CUHK and the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) have established cooperation in the STINT's Excellence in Teaching Programme since 2012. Under the scheme, selected Swedish university faculty (STINT Fellows) will undertake a one-semester teaching at CUHK with funding support from the Foundation.

Prof. Jokela is teaching a course entitled "Business Information Systems". She has been engaging herself in the CUHK community through participating in the activities organised by Morningside College. She is fascinated by the University's college system, and high standard  services and facilities, which has made her campus life exciting and pleasant.

Short-term Faculty Exchange Programme 2014-15 opens for application

The programme is part of CUHK's ongoing drive to expand its network of international partnerships for joint research collaborations. The selected faculty members will participate in a series of academic activities relevant to their research interests during a one-week exchange at the partner institutions where they will meet with scholars and researchers to explore institutional-level academic collaboration. CUHK will provide international airfare to the awarded outgoing faculty members and free accommodation to the visiting faculty members. Applications for the 2014-15 programme to Brown University, US; University of Bristol and University of Leeds, UK; Utrecht University, the Netherlands; and the University of Sydney, Australia are now open. The application deadline is 31 October 2014.  For more details, please click here.

PhD Student Exchange Programme 2014-15 opens for application

The programme provides funding to support CUHK research postgraduate students to undertake short-term research attachments at the partner institutions. It enriches the students' learning experience and facilitates research collaborations. The awards will range from HK$15,000 to HK$50,000 and are meant to cover part of the travel cost and living expenses at the host institutions. Applications for the 2014-15 programme to University of Bristol, UK and Utrecht University, the Netherlands are now open. The application deadline is 20 October 2014. For more details, please click here.