The “Advancing Greener Tomorrow Competition”, organized by KONE Elevator (HK) Limited, aims to encourage students to develop innovative ideas to convert the existing building into a greener structure come in form of efficient use of energy or consideration of environmental sustainability in the design. The theme of the competition was Advancing Greener Tomorrow – preventing waste through reduction, recycling and reuse and achieving sustainability of the environment.
Students were required to submit a written proposal and multimedia work. Qualified entries were uploaded to KONE Elevator (HK) YouTube channel and proceeded to Public Voting. The most popular entry was selected and won the Most Popular Green Solution Award; while the Champion and Merit entries were selected by the judging panel, comprised of senior management members of KONE Elevator (HK) Limited.
“The competition was a valuable opportunity for me to combine transdisciplinary knowledge in an area I barely knew anything about. The competition requires participants to choose 1 type of building (commercial, institutional, educational…) and design a sustainable solution for it. I decided to do a case study on one of the previous clients of KONE, Swire Properties and their commercial buildings in Quarry Bay.
During the preparation phase, I had to conduct research on various areas, such as Engineering for the design of the HVAC and Movement Systems, Architecture for the facade design, Urban Design for the interaction between occupants and the building and the community, and Law for industry best practices and regulations. In the end, I was able to create a solution that pushes the boundaries of energy conservation and efficiency, create a circular economy that helps the building achieve net zero and even net positive throughout the building lifecycle, and stimulate the review of current regulations and codes of practices for the progress to a greener tomorrow.
The competition proved to be an excellent journey of challenge and self-exploration for me.”
The “Climathon@Hangzhou 2022” is a regional case competition, hosted by the Melton Foundation. This year, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the competition was organised virtually by Melton Foundation ZU (Zhejiang University) and co-organised by the ZU Student Association of Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction (SAEC).
The competition aims to develop tangible and efficient solutions and to collaborate on forward-thinking ideas from students that tackle local environmental and climate change challenges.
During the 24-hour virtual innovation marathon, students learnt about environmental issues through keynote speeches given by scholars and experts and received guidance from the judges before the final presentation. The theme of Climathon@Hangzhou 2022 focused on energy conservation and emission reductions, as well as community involvement and economic growth.
(2 other team members were students from other Universities)
Students Sharing:
“Participating in Climathon@Hangzhou 2022 was a fun and unique experience. At first, we found the case challenging due to its innovative nature, the unfamiliar context and the need of coming up with a pain point on our own. However, we managed to come up with an idea and solution that we were satisfied with. Throughout this competition, I was able to develop my intellectual knowledge in both E-commerce and Augmented Reality. I also seized this precious opportunity to learn from the professional judges and the other teams. It was extremely memorable when the professor specifically mentioned our team during the debriefing, encouraging us to continue developing our idea and even to connect with his team.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my teammates for their immense effort, especially during the first hour of brainstorming. I would not have gone this far without them.”
(by HUANG Rui Xiang)
“The Climathon@Hangzhou was a fruitful experience. As the person in charge of E-commerce, not only did I learn a lot about the operation and the business model of online shopping, but I also gained more knowledge of cryptocurrency. My research and presentation skills have also been polished in the case. It is definitely a precious chance of learning. Furthermore, I would like to thank my teammates for their dedication and all the hard work. I would not have done it without them.”
(by CHAN Yik Fong)
“To me, participating in Climathon@Hangzhou 2022 was an enigmatic yet intriguing experience. It was also a challenging experience since I have never joined a case study competition before. We are required to thoroughly investigate a case and come up with new innovative ideas in a limited period of time. Fortunately, our team managed to overcome all these trials and tribulations. Since I am responsible for the background and current situation of E-commerce in Hangzhou, I am able to gain a deep insight into the carbon emission due to E-commerce, which is mainly contributed by logistics and packaging. As a witness of these evitable carbon emissions, we proposed two potential solutions, Augmented Reality and Location-Based Advertising. It was such a precious opportunity that I learnt to appreciate the beauty of E-commerce. Lastly, I would like to express my platitude of gratitude to all of my teammates. Without our concerted effort, we could never have done it.”
Delivering quality education to nurture future leaders is an integral part of the Faculty’s mission. Every year, the Faculty recognises teachers with outstanding achievements and significant contributions in teaching and student learning through the Faculty Teaching Award Scheme. The award-winners for the academic year 2021-22 are:
Faculty Outstanding Teacher Award (Undergraduate Teaching) Dr. Chao DING Principal Lecturer
“Online teaching and learning do not have to be ineffective and just one-way communication. With the assistance of a variety of online collaborating tools, the traditional in-class engagement can be transformed to a suite of digital experiences such as drawing, discussion board, brainstorming, survey, games, and group discussion. These tools can transcend conventional communication barriers, augment online and offline interactions, enrich learning environment, and provide instructors a great opportunity to give immediate feedback to students. Let us embrace digital transformation in the classroom.”
Dr. Jing LI Lecturer
“Teaching is fun but also challenging with modern IT technology, because the world is changing so fast and students tend to explore it through many sources of information. I always treat teaching as another way of learning and I feel so enjoyable to learn together with my students. Through the interactions with them, I am impressed by their creative and insightful thoughts. Their desire for knowledge and enthusiasm for learning always encourage me to keep exploring more dynamic ways of teaching. Experiencing fast technological transformation, I conduct my teaching and learning through more diversified integration of theory, practice, experiencing, and discussion. I also emphasize reasoning besides knowledge and give students the opportunity to agree or disagree. This change also leads to a significant increase in teaching efficiency and learning achievements.
Teaching allows me the opportunity to reshape other people’s thoughts and to make a difference in their lives. I appreciate the privilege as a teacher to help more students become the best person in their life. I also want to extend my thanks to all my students and colleagues who always give me full support that makes my teaching easier and more enjoyable. This award is not just for me – it is for my students and colleagues too.”
Dr. Andrew SINCLAIR Assistant Professor
“I am very honored to receive the Faculty Outstanding Teacher Award (Undergraduate Teaching). I have learned a tremendous amount from the many stellar and passionate educators here at HKUBS, and this award is a reflection of their thoughtful guidance, advice, and encouragement. I would also like to thank my wonderful students. We are fortunate to have some of the brightest young minds in the world here at HKU and I have greatly treasured our engaging discussions. I often tell people that I have learned as much from my students as they have from me. I hope that I can do my part to inspire my students and empower them to become the future leaders of Hong Kong, China, and the world.”
Dr. Helen ZHAO Associate Professor
“It is a great honor to be nominated by my students for the Faculty Outstanding Teacher Award this year. It can be challenging to create a motivating learning environment in the online/hybrid delivery mode, but I have been fortunate to have a group of amazing students who have been very supportive of my teaching. It was a fun experience, even though most of us didn’t get to meet in person. I’m also thankful for the support from the community at HKU Business School, which has helped me to learn and grow as a teacher over the years. I hope to continue providing my students with engaging learning experiences while also giving back to the teaching and learning community at HKU Business School.”
Faculty Outstanding Teacher Award (Postgraduate Teaching) Dr. Matthias BUEHLMAIER Principal Lecturer
“I am immensely grateful for the support and mentorship I have received throughout the years from colleagues at HKUBS and HKU. While we as teachers strive to continuously develop and improve, it is only possible to do so consistently with a strong network of like-minded individuals such as can be found at HKUBS and HKU. Without the feedback and guidance received in the past, it would have been impossible to achieve the Faculty Outstanding Teacher Award (Postgraduate Teaching) 2021-22. I am deeply thankful for that, and I look forward to keep advancing the teaching and learning at HKUBS in the future.”
Dr. Derek CHAN Associate Professor
“It is a great honor for me to receive the Faculty Outstanding Teacher Award (Postgraduate Teaching) 2021-22. I regard teaching as one of my central responsibilities and I have always enjoyed teaching, especially the process of communicating my ideas to my students and challenging them to think more deeply about business problems and accounting issues. I also have strong commitment to providing the most up-to-date teaching and subject-relevant materials and learning environment by integrating academic principles with practical applications. I teach with tremendous passion, curiosity, innovation, and personal inspiration to foster active learning atmosphere and closer connection with students, as I strongly believe that learning will take place only when students are engaged in class.”
Professor Simon LAM
“I believe education is a transformational process. When I teach, I am interested in transforming the way students learn and think. I would like not only to provide them with basic course information but also engage them in thinking and discussion that moves them to a higher level of understanding. I often tell my students that they must take a more critical approach to the analysis of a business case or a company. Business education is also not a spectator sport. Students cannot simply fold their hands and sit back. Intense discussion leads to transformation in thought.”
Dr. Winnie LEUNG Principal Lecturer
“I believe timely and constructive feedback is a significant contributor to students’ success in formal education. While summative feedback is useful in benchmarking students and ultimately assessing their final grade in the class, it is formative feedback that plays a more important role in students’ learning and development.
In a group project setting, I require students to discuss with me on their project proposals. This allows me to recognize what students are struggling so that I can address their problems at an earlier stage. During the discussion, I will also emphasize my expectations on their deliverables (e.g. demonstration of critical thinking) and help them identify potential challenges for their better project management. The interactive and constructive discussions have motivated students to unleash their potential for a higher quality product.”
Faculty Teaching Innovation Award – Team Mr David LEE (TeamLeader)Mr David BISHOP Principal Lecturer Associate Professor of Teaching
Message from Team Leader: “Changes to the traditional, in-class teaching environment over the last few years has increased the importance of teaching innovation. Of course, a key part of this process is enhancing student learning through the effective use of technology. Meaningful teaching innovation, however, is more than just technology. Besides selecting and implementing relevant technological tools, teaching innovation also demands a commitment to reconsidering and exploring both teaching philosophy and pedagogy. Fortunately, both the University and Faculty offer tremendous support for such holistic teaching innovation, which ultimately leads to improved student learning. We are grateful for such institutional support of teaching innovation, and more importantly, for our resilient students that continue striving to learn despite classroom disruptions.” Faculty Teaching Innovation Award – Individual Dr. Ka-fu WONG Principal Lecturer
“My two recent teaching innovations are my replies to challenges on teaching. The personalized exam papers (1000 versions of exam papers for 1000 students) was developed to address the cheating problem during online exam from 2019 to 2022. Subsequently, this innovation helps transform the usual paper-and-pen exams to exams that allow students to use computers and packages within. The use of computing packages lowers the barriers of algebraic calculations and thus allows us to test a bigger variety of concepts in a typical two-hour test. The Virtual Research Learning Centre was developed to address the lack of research opportunity for junior year students. The Centre gives students a nudge to read and understand the logical reasoning of newspaper articles written by our colleagues and hence their research. Students are required to produce videos based on the newspaper articles. These videos become additional knowledge exchange from our Faculty to the general public.”
Faculty Special Contribution Teaching Award Mr David BISHOP Associate Professor of Teaching
“I am really grateful for this Special Contribution to Teaching Award, and even more so to be part of a Faculty that cares so much about quality teaching and learning. Due to the courses I teach, I have the opportunity to work with students from just about every HKU Faculty, and every FBE program. While working with such a diverse student base, I am consistently reminded at how great our Faculty’s students are, and how good a job our Faculty does at preparing them for life after graduation. I’m thankful for the freedom and trust that the Faculty gives to us to educate in proactive and innovative ways. Together I believe we can continue to lead the region in quality teaching and learning, but more importantly, inspire and help develop the region’s future leaders.”
Congratulations to Professor Kevin Zheng Zhou, Chair of Strategy and International Business, Chung Hon-Dak Professor in Strategy and International Business, for being named on the list of “Highly Cited Researchers 2022” from Clarivate.
Professor Zhou is selected for his exceptional research performance, determined by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in Web of Science. https://cutt.ly/8MUSJk8
The Inauguration Ceremony of the HKU Business School Mentorship Programme was successfully held on 3 November 2022. We were delighted to welcome a record high of mentors with diversified business backgrounds, most of whom are alumni, friends and supporters of the Faculty, as well as 93 student mentees to embark on this year’s mentorship journey.
Dr. Derek Chan, Associate Dean (Undergraduate) of HKU Business School kick-started the event with a welcoming remarks to our mentors and mentees. He expressed gratitude to mentors for their generous support to the Faculty over the years, and hoped mentees would benefit the most out of the programme this year.
Two experienced mentors, Mr. Vincent Tam, Head of Talent Management, Hong Kong Productivity Council and Ms. Samantha Pei, Founder & Director of Present Senses Limited with two mentees Mr. Justin Cai, BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 5 and Ms. Beata Kung, BFin(AMPB), Year 2 had shared how the meetings between mentors and mentees should be managed in this programme, and their thoughts on how to maximise the programme outcomes.
As the youngest and most dynamic member of The University of Hong Kong which has been established for just 21 years, HKU Business School has achieved significant growth in faculty strength and research capability. The Faculty strives to be a leading, globally impactful academic institution of business and economics and provide opportunities for students to connect with the real business world. Mentoring is especially valuable in empowering students by sharing mentors’ knowledge and experience, encouragement and inspiration. Through regular mentoring sessions in the academic year, students can gain professional and personal development throughout their studies.
Background: HKU – WINNER of the Inter-Varsity ESG Case Challenge 2022 !!!
The final round of the Polymer Inter-Varsity Case Challenge was held on 28th October 2022 at the auditorium of Polymer’s office, it showcased a tight competition amongst the three Universities:
“RAC Capital” of the University of Hong Kong (“HKU”) “PolyFarm” of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (“HKUST”) “ESGeneration” of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (“CUHK”)
Each of the HKU, HKUST and CUHK teams picked their own topic on building of an ESG-themed portfolio and ways to engage stakeholders in the ESG journey. The three topics were “Smart Energy”, “Sustainable Agriculture” and “Electrification” respectively for the three university participating teams. Each team was given 10 minutes to present their ideas followed by a 5-minute Q&A. Given the very short time frame, each team has to make its presentation concise and punchy.
The HKU team (RAC Capital), supported by Faculty representatives Professor Anna Wong, Dr. Winnie Leung and Ms. Janet Li on-site, made a forceful presentation and addressed the questions of the panel judges precisely on risk management of the portfolio under the current volatile environment as well as demonstrating the usefulness of a live stream platform to engage stakeholders.
The HKU team, comprising Rachel Yip (AMPB), Carson Lui (IBGM) and Ande Chong (IBGM) was named WINNER of the Case Challenge.
Thanks to Polymer, the organiser of the event providing opportunities for our talent to go through the journey. Thanks also go to our mentors/advisors who have provided valuable advice to our HKU teams in the first round and the final round. It is only with the support of all of you that our teams (including the first-round teams) were able to gain the experience.
Congratulations to the winning students – Rachel, Carson and Ande. Your ESG journey will definitely continue through your internship with Polymer.
We look forward to the 2023 Polymer Inter-varsity Case Challenge.
Rachel, Ande and Carson presenting the RAC Capital Smart Energy at the Challenge
The winning team – Carson, Ande and Rachael – received the award from two of the panel judges
Professor Anna Wong, Adjunct Associate Professor Janet Li and Mr. Anthony Cheung, MD of Polymer with the HKU winning team
Congratulations to Dr. Hailiang Chen on winning the INFORMS Information Systems Society (ISS) Sandy Slaughter Early Career Award 2022.
The ISS Sandy Slaughter Early Career Award recognizes and honours individuals who are on a path towards making outstanding intellectual contributions to the information systems discipline.
Dr. Chen is the first information systems scholar in Asia Pacific to receive this distinguished award. He is also a winner of the prestigious AIS Early Career Award in 2019.
Dr. Chen’s research interests include social media, fintech, social finance, and channel management. His research has been published in top-tier journals such as Information Systems Research, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Management Information Systems, Management Science, Review of Financial Studies, and Strategic Management Journal. His research has also been featured in the popular press such as Forbes, New York Times, Reuters, and Wall Street Journal.
Background: The CT Good Jobs Hong Kong Future Leaders Awards aims to provide a unique opportunity for undergraduates and fresh graduates to explore their potential and sharpen their talents to become future leaders and connect with industry experts. Participants have the opportunity to win the scholarship, connect with industry experts and even join the leading corporation as their career kickstart.
The competition consisted of two rounds. Participating individual and teams were required to submitt an idea on “The Future Workplace under New Digital Norm” in the form of text, picture or video. Quality ideas were proceeded to Public Voting and the top 10 teams or individuals were selected to earn an additional score in their challenge profile. In the second round, shortlisted participants were invited to join the leadership day and group for the final showcase study and presentation. The top 100 contestants were invited to the Leadership Day (September 23rd, 2022), where workshops and challenges were carried out and group discussion and presentation were held to examine participants’ leadership skills and potential of becoming future leader.
Lau Pak Hei, a BBA(Law)&LLB student, joined the competition as an individual, as well as formed his team on the Leadership Day.
Students Sharing: “The CTGoodjobs Hong Kong Future Leader Awards was an exceptionally rewarding experience for me. I understood how the concept of the traditional workplace has shifted during the pandemic, and how a redefinition of the workplace by looking at the corporate purpose through an empathetic and human lens could bring immense benefits to employees and motivation. I was also grateful to have diligent and innovative teammates during the leadership day, who were randomly assigned by the organizer that day, to collaborate and find solutions to different case questions and leadership tasks.” (by Lau Pak Hei)
Background: Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) Career Day 2022 – Pitch Perfect Video Competition aims to encourage the young people of Hong Kong to develop innovative ideas to promote Hong Kong as a Future Tech-lent Hub. The Topic for the competition was: “To promote Hong Kong as an international financial centre and develop the city into a global innovation and technology hub”.
Students were required to submit a two-to-five-minute video and an optional proposal. Shortlisted finalists were invited to attend the FSDC Career Day on September 24, 2022 (with their video played during the event).
Students Sharing: “I am honoured to be selected as the champion of the FSDC Career Day 2022 “Pitch Perfect” Video Competition. As a local student myself, the topic was particularly relevant to me as there is an observable trend of the exodus of professionals and our city slipping in competitiveness rankings, with cities like Dubai and Singapore quickly catching up. Therefore, I came up with a few strategies including promoting Hong Kong as an ESG investment hub, offshore RMB centre, innovation centre and most importantly reskilling and upskilling our local workforce. The Career Day was also a precious opportunity to mingle with panelists who were also from the crypto/web3 scene in Hong Kong.” (by Lau Pak Hei)
