OAL The Chinese University of Hong Kong eNewsletter

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a member of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), an exclusive network of 18 research-led universities across nine countries. WUN supports research collaboration among its members with a Research Development Fund scheme that provides seeding fund for research projects under the Global Challenges. The Office of Academic Links received a number of applications for the scheme this year.

WUN Research Development Fund 2012
Application for the WUN Research Development Fund (RDF) 2012 was opened from 1 August to 4 October 2012 (internal deadline). RDF offers seeding fund to kick-start research projects under four key areas of research identified as the Global Challenges, including "Adapting to Climate Change", "Global Higher Education and Research", "Public Health and Non-Communicable Diseases", and "Understanding Cultures". Grants are offered to selected international research collaborations which demonstrate potential in the longer term to become self-sustaining by securing external funding. Successful applications (approved by WUN) will receive an award of up to GBP 15,000 from WUN. CUHK will support the successful project(s) with a funding amount up to the value of the award provided by WUN.

In addition, CUHK has been invited to participate in a number of research projects led by other WUN member universities. They include:

Global Challenge	Project Name	Leading Institution	CUHK Dept. / Staff
Adapting to Climate Change	Evaluating the Potential for Urban Agriculture to Enhance Food Security in Response to Climate Change	University of Alberta, Canada	School of Life Sciences (Prof. LAM Hon Ming); Dept. of Geography & Resource Management (Prof. Lawal Marafa)
Global Higher Education & Research	Negotiating Multilingual Identities in Migrant Professional Contexts	The Pennsylvania State University, US	Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction (Prof. Mingyue Michelle Gu)
Global Higher Education & Research	Language Assessment Research Network	Zhejiang University, China	Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction (Prof. Barley Mak Chan & Prof. Icy Lee)
Public Health & Non-Communicable Disease	Global Public Health Justice	The University of Bergen, Norway	Jockey Club School of Public Health & Primary Care (Prof. Huso Yi))
Public Health & Non-Communicable Disease	WUN International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network	The University of Western Australia, Australia	Dept. of Paediatrics (Prof. Gary Wong)
Public Health & Non-Communicable Disease	Collaborative care for dementia in China rural primary care	Zhejiang University, China	Dept. of Psychiatry (Prof. Helen Chiu)
Understanding Cultures	'Precarious' Migrants, Access to Social Support and Well-being in Global Cities	The University of Southampton, UK	Dept. of Social Work (Prof. WU Qiaobing)
N/A	Functional Brain Imaging Analysis with the Aid of MRA/CBV Imaging	Zhejiang University, China	Dept. of Imaging & Interventional Radiology (Prof. Defeng Wang)

Should any application be selected, the University will provide a matched funding of up to HK$20,000 to each of the participating CUHK researchers to join the projects.

The RDF applications will be assessed and ranked by a selection committee made up of at least two members of the WUN Academic Advisory Group and the Chief Executive. The results will be announced in early January 2013.

WUN Ideas and Universities Conference

Prof. WONG Suk-ying, Professor, Department of Sociology, will speak at the WUN Ideas and Universities Conference – 'The Changing Roles of University of Social and Economic Development and the Implications for Institutional Governance' during 1 to 3 November 2012. The conference is co-sponsored by WUN, the Zhejiang University College of Education and the UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurial Education at Zhejiang University.

The conference will critically examine the changing roles of universities in promoting social and economic development, with particular reference to explore how universities have changed their institutional governance and management strategies to become more able to assert soft power and more entrepreneurial in coping with the growing complexity in the globalized world.

Visits from WUN member universities

CUHK received the following visitors from WUN member universities between 28 August and 31 October 2012:

Date	WUN Member	Delegate(s)
17 Sept 2012	University of Alberta, Canada	Dr. Art Quinney, Professor Emeritus and Senior Advisor to the Provost
26 Sept 2012	University of Leeds, UK	Prof. Dawn Freshwater, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Staff and Organisational Effectiveness Dr. Judith Lamie, International Director
27 Sept 2012	University of Leeds, UK	Prof. Dwayne E. Heard, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, School of Chemistry
28 Sept 2012	University of Rochester, US	Mr. Jonathan Burdick, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid
5 Oct 2012	University of Bergen, Norway	Prof. Reidar K. Lie, Head & Professor, Dept. of Philosophy
5 Oct 2012	University of Western Australia, Australia	Ms. Carolyn Wood, Student Exchange Coordinator
27 Oct 2012	University of Leeds, UK	Prof. Stuart Murray, Director, Leeds Centre for Medical Humanities
31 Oct 2012	Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) / University of Sydney, Australia	A 6-member delegation led by Prof. John Hearn, Chief Executive Officer of WUN, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International), The University of Sydney

In November 2012, CUHK will receive the following visitors from WUN member universities:

Date	WUN Member	Delegate(s)
5 Nov 2012	University of Campinas, Brazil	Prof. Leandro R. Tessler, Advisor - Internationalization Projects
12 Nov 2012	University of Rochester, US	A 3-member delegation led by Dr. Joanna Olmsted, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences

For more information on WUN and collaboration opportunities with WUN member universities, please contact the CUHK WUN Coordinator:

Ms. Shally Fan, Director of Academic Links, Office of Academic Links
Tel: +852 3943 7586, Email: shallyfan@cuhk.edu.hk