KE Spotlight - Community Engagement - HKU Knowledge Exchange

HKU Faculty of Medicine presents new book on Dissecting the Meaning of Life: An Anthology of Essays on Body Donation

The HKU School of Biomedical Sciences Division of Anatomy joined hands with the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit to present a new bilingual book, Dissecting the Meaning of Life: An Anthology of Essays on Body Donation. Included in the book are essays written by medical students reflecting on their dissection experience and their relationships with their Great Body Teachers, and the book is dedicated to all the body donors and their families over the past 40 years. A book launch was held where writers and medical students shared their views on body donation and anatomy dissection.

HKU Department of Architecture holds Degree Show 2014-15

The Degree Show is an annual event to showcase graduation projects and projects by students in various masters and undergraduate programmes at the Faculty of Architecture. The exhibition is held from June 20 to 29 at the HKU Department of Architecture. The projects represent the students' visions of the built-environment, reflecting their concerns with social and cultural environments, and their determination to tackle contemporary issues in architecture with new approaches.

HKU Museum showcases the world's largest collection of Nestorian Crosses

More than 700 pieces of re-installed Nestorian Crosses from the Yuan dynasty will be on view at the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) from June 10, 2015 onwards. A series of events will be held, which includes an international 3-day conference on Jing Jiao on June 10 – 12, 2015 and a public talk on Christianity in China in the Tang and Yuan Dynasties on June 13, 2015. HKU's Nestorian crosses were collected by Mr. F. A. Nixon who served as a British postal commissioner in Beijing in the 1930s and 1940s. The collection was subsequently acquired by the Lee Hysan Foundation and donated to Hong Kong University in 1961.

Launch of "JC A-Connect: Jockey Club Autism Support Network"

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has earmarked HK$167 million for a three-year programme to provide better support for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), their families and schools. The HKU Faculty of Social Sciences, the Education Bureau and six NGOs will collaborate in this programme, commencing in the 2015/16 academic year. Coaching programmes, teacher training and research will be conducted to improve the social communication, emotional regulation and learning strategies of the students to help with behavioral problems and enhance their overall learning ability and social skills. The evidence-based programme will place emphasis on the partnership of families and schools, which aims to enhance skills of teachers and parents competency in handling these cases and provide students with prompt and appropriate intervention, according to Dr Irene Ho and Dr Sandra Tsang of the HKU Faculty of Social Sciences.

HKU holds an entrepreneurship forum with 67 speakers sharing their experiences at DreamCatchers

Sixty-seven speakers shared their experience on start-ups at an entrepreneurship forum, DreamCatchers, held at The University of Hong Kong on May 31, 2015. The forum was attended by 1000 delegates. The keynote was delivered by Mr Pony Ma, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Tencent.

HKU earth scientist collaborates with international experts to develop new laser-induced fluorescence techniques to uncover never-before-seen details in fossils

HKU Department of Earth Sciences' Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory Head Dr Michael Pittman has developed, together with eight international colleagues, a simple new technique to analyse fossils. The technique, called laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF), utilises lasers to stimulate fluorescence in fossils that normally do not fluoresce under standard UV lighting, with the new view photographed through a camera lens. Each colour of laser emits a different wavelength of light, which excites the minerals that make up a fossil in different ways. LSF provides an instantaneous, non-invasive, geochemical fingerprint of fossilised bone, soft tissue, integument and the surrounding rock matrix. The ability to look for hidden specimens in a fossil's rock matrix used to be only possible using X-rays, CT scans and other high-cost imaging methods. With LSF, researchers can set up a basic station quickly and for around HK$4000.

High-energy efficient LED driver invented by HKU researchers and commercialized

A research team of HKU Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering led by Professor Ron Hui Shu-yuen, Chair of Power Electronics, invented a passive LED driver that has an edge over conventional LED in terms of lifespan and environment friendliness. Its components can last 10 years and are 80% recyclable. With the assistance of the University's Technology Transfer Office, the technology has been licensed to a tech company in Hong Kong. It is being tested in Heshan, Guangdong, and will be tested in places with more extreme temperatures before going into mass production.