qs asia university rankings 2020

Report One – Overview

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Executive Summary The year 2018/19 was marked by three major strands of vigorous development and progress in research and impact which were concurrently carried out with concerted efforts of the faculty and supporting units: Scaling up the capacity of postgraduate studies and research Reaching new levels of research collaborations and funds Striving for higher performance in the Research Assessment Exercise As a Liberal Arts university with a compact size, the above was achieved with our staff strength of 156 GRF/ECS* eligible academics and corresponding small-scale support units and management personnel. The process had stretched our very limits but gratifyingly also expanded the research frontiers of Lingnan University (LU). (*General Research Fund / Early Career Scheme under the RGC)

Scaling up the capacity of postgraduate studies and research 2018/19 was a year of significant development in LU’s postgraduate studies with the establishment of the School of Graduate Studies (GS) which was developed from the Division of Graduate Studies founded in 2016. As a central coordinating unit for postgraduate education, the new GS provides more coherent administrative support and research training for postgraduate students, promotes the University’s inter-university and inter-faculty-taught postgraduate programmes, and oversees the launch of new programmes. Beyond the campus, it collaborates with leading academic institutions around the world, and co-organises a plethora of scholarly activities, including the LU-Oxford International Postgraduate Summer School. Reaching new levels of research collaborations and funds Our performance in obtaining funds from non-UGC/RGC sources such as charities and community organisations was noteworthy in the reporting year. With our particular strengths in research and knowledge transfer (KT) of high social value and relevance, cumulative income received from social projects, and the total contract value of on-going projects, were at record high of $14 million and $101 million, representing increases of 84% and 102% respectively. Recently, LU has the first-ever successful application for some $3.3 million in funds from the Government’s Innovation and Technology Commission and the industry partner for a project using Artificial Intelligence in smart toilets. In response to exciting development opportunities that may be presented by the Greater Bay Area (GBA) under the national strategy of “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, earlier this year, Lingnan University and South China University of Technology (SCUT) co-launched a joint research centre on social policy and governance.


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On the international front, research collaborations were forged with member institutions of the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities which was founded by LU, in the Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership, and with UK universities in the Centre for Research in Education in China and East Asia. Striving for higher performance in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) While LU’s continuous advancement in research is demonstrated in our score of Citations per Paper which has risen from 76.2 to 78.4 in the QS Asia University Rankings 2020, we strive for higher performance in the RAE 2020 for the reputation and stronger support for the University’s research infrastructure and endeavours. Over the past year, various strategies and measures adopted by our senior management and Research Committee were aimed at improvements over our results in the last RAE. These included what we will elaborate further in ensuing parts of this report on: Strategic recruitment and nurturing of researchers Research Centres review for performance enhancement Mock RAE and the internal Research Performance Fund Internal Task Force for RAE Strategies and Submissions One-on-one support for Impact and Environment Impact with CARE A tagline recently developed by the University encapsulates our research aspirations and summarises succinctly the nature and the scope of research conducted at LU: RESEARCH at Lingnan University: Impact with CARE

“Committing to Society” - a common theme of research conducted in our Social Sciences disciplines “Advancing Entrepreneurship” - Business research that is of particular importance to our Strategic Plan in student development “Revitalising Heritage” - an important area of research conducted in the Faculty of Arts “Embracing Sustainability” - interdisciplinary research programmes (including research conducted by the Science Unit) that focuses on sustainability, a goal that spans many areas of human endeavours


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1. Policy

1.1. University Policy on Research The achievements depicted in the above are reflections of LU’s strategic goal and policy of “Driving Research Excellence and Knowledge Transfer” as in the University’s Strategic Plan 2019-2025 for: -

Supporting strategic thematic research areas to increase the number and total dollar value of competitive research and KT grants

Developing international and regional inter-university platforms to promote research cooperation, publication and KT

Reaching out to the wider community for strategic joint research funding to enhance research impact on society

Expanding the number of research postgraduate students to create a critical mass of students required for a more lively research environment

Setting up joint research centres/institutes in the Greater Bay Area of China

1.2. Relationship between research policy and other university policies (a) Strategic Recruitment and Staffing Policy

Recruitment and Promotion With a strong conviction to enhance the research capacity and create a more vibrant research culture, strategic recruitment for researchers in their early and more established career has been going on to build stronger research teams with the needed mix of experience and achievements for overall performance. In promotion and substantiation of academic staff, a set of guidelines with explicit criteria and requirements for research performance are in place for appraisal exercises. Two-Track Academic Appointments In order to strengthen the University’s research profile while being committed to student learning, a Two-track Academic Staff Appointment Structure has been implemented to meet the University’s long-term needs in the increasingly competitive wider environment. The two tracks are the Teaching-Track and Research-Track which enable appointees to excel in their respective areas. Research-Track academics are expected to contribute to the University’s research goals and enhancing external research funding opportunities.

(b) Research Centres & Review for Performance Enhancement To support strategic thematic research areas, Research Centres are established to pool research expertise and promote inter-disciplinary research. Currently there are 17 Centres and platforms as follows. Newly established Centres are marked


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with an asterisk with more information appended below.

1) Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership (APHERP) 2) Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies (APIAS) 3) Centre for Asian Pacific Studies (CAPS) 4) Centre for Cinema Studies (CCS) 5) Centre for Competition Policy and Regulation (CCPR) 6) Centre for Environmental History and Development (CEHD)* 7) Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) 8) Centre for Social Policy and Social Change (CSPSC) 9) China Economic Research Programme (CERP) 10) Hong Kong and South China Historical Research Programme (HKSCHRP) 11) Hong Kong Institute of Business Studies (HKIBS) 12) Kwan Fong Cultural Research and Development Programme (KFCRD) 13) LEO Dr David P. Chan Institute of Data Science* 14) Lingnan University-South China University of Technology Joint Research Centre

for Greater Bay Area Social Policy and Governance* 15) Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute (PSEI)

STEAM Education and Research Centre (SERC) 16) Public Governance Programme 17) Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre

(WJLCCPRC) New Research Centres

Lingnan-SCUT Joint Research Centre for Greater Bay Area (GBA) Social Policy and

Governance LU and the South China University of Technology (SCUT) have brought together social scientists with a wide variety of disciplinary skills and experiences to establish this joint centre. They form strong research teams to critically reflect upon issues related to challenges and opportunities for future development across the cities in the GBA. Since its inception earlier in 2019, the Centre had released findings of its first project on the youth’s and university students’ perceptions of development opportunities in the GBA in a press conference held in May, which was widely covered in the media and broadcast by TVB on the same day. In timely response to ageing issues in the GBA, LU and Wuyi University recently signed an Agreement of Collaboration for the establishment of a Joint Research Centre on Ageing in Place through which the two universities will together conduct research and establish a laboratory on smart ageing for social benefits and impact.

LEO Dr David P. Chan Institute of Data Science The Institute was established with a generous donation from Lingnan Education Organization Limited (LEO) and Dr David P. Chan. In the University’s Strategic


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Plan, data science is chosen as an area of priority development to meet societal needs. Primary functions of the Institute include empowering our researchers to conduct research in selected areas of data science, and cultivating collaborations within and outside academia.

Centre for Environmental History and Development (CEHD)

The Centre aims to enhance multi-disciplinary research capacity and facilitate inter-institutional collaboration in certain key areas such as environmental history and quantitative history. It will develop a number of research themes that link up faculty members and students by their shared interests and increase the scale and scope of the research activities through collaboration, critical review, and scholarly dissemination.

Review of Centres Following a framework of key performance indicators (KPIs) developed for the research centres under the University’s Research Committee (RC), each centre identifies itself as being a more research-focused or more KT-oriented centre based on its strengths and aspirations, while performance in both areas are still expected. Based on the Centres’ annual reports under the KPIs for the two years of 2016-18, the University invited internationally renowned academics as external members to join a Task Force set up to conduct an in-depth review on the Centres in June 2019. Critical comments were given by the Task Force on each Centre’s strengths and areas for improvements. Recommendations were also offered by the Task Force for setting each Centre in a position within the three-level structure for line management, monitoring and support, viz., Departmental Level, Faculty level, and the University-wide / Institutional Level. The University demonstrated its determination to enable this exercise to promote performance by taking the results of the review into consideration of resource allocation and Centre development. The Task Force was of the view that for Centres that perform, they should be given more support and be considered for being upgraded, while for those with weak performance, they would face the possibility of being downgraded or dissolved.

(c) Enriching Postgraduate & Undergraduate Student Research and Learning The University provides a supportive environment for our research postgraduate students with increasing funding and learning opportunities. The School of Graduate Studies (GS), with Prof Ka Ho Mok, our Vice-President and Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy serving as the Founding Dean on a concurrent basis, offers high-quality postgraduate programmes with an emphasis on comparative perspectives and international learning experiences through


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participation in various regional and international research activities and meeting top scholars and community leaders. Enhanced Student Base & International Postgraduate Programmes It is in the University’s Strategic Plan that the number of research postgraduate (RPg) students be expanded by using UGC and non-UGC funding sources to create a critical mass of students as required for a more lively research environment. This also creates more opportunities for faculty members to supervise RPg students, and encourages colleagues to bid for external funds to support RPg places. During the reporting period, there were 86 RPg students (51 PhD, 35 MPhil), among them 74.4% were non-local students. With more new programmes in place, the number of postgraduate students has greatly increased. In 2018/19, the University and GS are offering 19 Taught postgraduate programmes. In August 2019, the University welcomed around 740 master’s students and some 50 MPhil/PhD and Doctor of Policy Studies students from Hong Kong and other regions including mainland China, Taiwan, Macau, Ghana, India, Latvia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Uganda, the US and Zambia. Further collaborations are being developed for dual-master and dual-doctoral programmes with leading institutions such as the University of Bath, University of Essex, University of Westminster, and University of York in the UK. LU-Oxford International Postgraduate Summer School With successful experiences in the past two years, our GS and the Hertford College of the University of Oxford in the UK co-hosted the three-week Summer School over June and July 2019. It attracted the participation of postgraduate students and faculty members from different universities in mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Scholars and students discussed some critical issues on interdisciplinary studies which enriched the horizon of participants from traditionally discipline-based academic backgrounds. The first week at LU in Hong Kong was followed by a two-week programme at Hertford College. Other co-organisers of the Summer School this year were Ewha Womans University, National Chengchi University, National Chung Cheng University, Peking University, South China University of Technology, and Zhejiang University. Postgraduate Conference on Interdisciplinary Learning With the support of RGC’s Postgraduate Students Conference/Seminar Grants, the GS successfully organised the Postgraduate Conference on Interdisciplinary Learning in March 2019. The conference brought together more than 100 speakers and participants from local and international institutions such as the University of Bristol, University of York, National University of Singapore, Fu Jen Catholic University, Central China Normal University and University of Shanghai for Science & Technology.


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Postgraduate students had the opportunity to dialogue with distinguished keynote speakers like Prof M. Ramesh from National University of Singapore, Prof Lisa Lucas from University of Bristol and Prof Antonios Roumpakis from University of York. Postgraduate Studies Seminar Series The GS has been actively organising seminars for postgraduate students as one of its core roles. In 2018/19, 15 seminars were held with renowned speakers from local and international universities including the University of Bath, University of Bristol, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, and University of Stavanger. Workshops on Academic Writing and Research Methodology across Disciplines Since 2016/17, a new course on academic writing and research methodology has been offered to all new research postgraduate students. Weekly workshops and seminars/tutorials on research methodology and writing research proposals / academic papers are provided with a further component of social statistics for students in Business and Social Sciences. Research Skills Enhancement Workshops To support postgraduate students in their research and study, a series of well-structured workshops are offered by GS, Library and the Teaching and Learning Centre for students to learn about research methodology and develop their skills in information searching, publishing, teaching techniques and presentations. Student Research Enhancement Scheme Since 2017, the scheme has been set up to provide research training for undergraduate students, research and taught postgraduate students. Faculty members of Research Centres form research teams with students as junior research partners to work on their research projects in business, humanities and social science. There is also the “Student-Led Research Programme” to provide student teams with academic guidance and some financial support for their research projects. Research training and activities include systematic reviews, meta-analysis, policy review, action research, historical research, surveys, ethnographic research and case studies. Undergraduate Research Training Undergraduate students receive research training through capstone projects and supervised individual research and Library workshops. These are on top of what some Faculties have already implemented as credit-bearing requirements for students to write about a selected topic and participate in surveys, interviews, and data collection. It is a goal in the University’s Strategic Plan to enable 100% take-up


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rate of undergraduate students in capstone projects, faculty research or supervised self-initiated research including community-based research projects. In addition, more faculty members have offered their GRF/ECS projects to provide opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience in experiments, literature review, empirical work, data analysis and manuscript writing. Undergraduate students working as research assistants may learn about research design, planning and execution.

(d) Creating Impetus for International Collaborations Research Visit Fund To encourage international research collaborations and publications, the internal Research Visit Fund is not meant for a visit only, but also engaging partners in deep collaboration to secure competitive grants, conduct joint research projects, or produce publications of international relevance. In the reporting period, funding support was provided for scholars from the US to visit LU, and for our faculty members to visit institutions in Germany and the US. Sino-British Fellowship Trust Fund With the support of the Trust, scholars of our University and their counterparts at institutions in UK and Mainland China benefit from exploring opportunities of research collaboration and the expansion of international research networks. Efforts made are paying off in bringing in renowned researchers to engage in direct communication with LU scholars and postgraduate students on research methodology and strategies in publications. In the reporting period, 12 visits were supported by the Trust to and from these universities:

Outgoing visits King’s College London University of Cambridge University of Exeter University of Oxford Fudan University Peking University

Incoming visits University of Bath University of Bristol University of Cambridge University of Sussex Huaqiao University

Research Postgraduate Scholarships and PhD Student Exchange These scholarships, ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, support PhD students in short-term outbound or inbound exchange for up to 6 months under the joint supervision of the home and host institutions. Students benefit from the international learning experience, a global perspective and appreciation for cultural diversity.


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In the 2018/19 academic year, scholarships were approved for four inbound students (2 from Taiwan and 2 from Ghana) to visit LU, and two LU students to visit universities in the UK. For the PhD Student Exchange programme, LU has been successful in forming partnerships with the following universities: University of Stirling Peking University Sun Yat-sen University Ewha Womans University South China University of Technology National Cheng Chi University Zhejiang University Fu Jen Catholic University Northeast Normal University The University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Also, through the Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities (AALAU) founded by LU in 2017, our research students benefit from exchanges with partner institutions in mainland China, Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan.

2. Research Funding

2.1 Organisation of Research Funds The University’s Research Committee (RC) is responsible for policy formulation and overseeing research activities. It recommends to the University the annual research budget and funding schemes, decides on internal research and conference funds, and monitors the progress of research projects within its purview, with the assistance of the Office of Research Support (ORS). ORS identifies areas which may require the RC’s review on policies for research and internal funds, strengthening corporate governance and awareness of UGC/RGC rules.

2.2 Funding Criteria In assessing applications for internal research funds, the RC and the Faculty Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee give careful consideration to academic merit, feasibility of completion within the proposed timeframe, budgetary appropriateness and the track record of the investigator. While the Direct Grant is based on GRF/ECS application results, the Faculty Research Grant is given through a rigorous process of peer review to ensure that only sound project ideas with well-thought-out plans are supported. Such practice is to ensure that money is well spent for research performance. Funding rules are reviewed from time to time to facilitate outcomes in line with University strategies. In the reporting period, internal rules having been tightened up included: - Internal grants should be aimed for generating either RGC/external fund applications

or publications for the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)


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Completion Report of internal grants: both the Head and Dean are required to give a rating on it before submitted the report to the RC. An “Unsatisfactory” rating will lead to the PI being barred from applying for the grant for 2 years, with reference to RGC standards.

2.3 Use and Allocation of Research Funds Research funds provided through the RC for GRF/ECS eligible staff include: Faculty Research Grant (FRG) Direct Grant (DG) Conference Grant Research Seed Fund Research Visit Fund Research Collaboration and Development Fund Fund for Organising Conference In 2018/19, the RC approved $1.18 million to support 16 DG projects, $0.46 million to support the Faculties to organise 6 conferences, and $1.12 million in Conference Grant for academic staff to give paper presentations at 89 conferences. Through the Faculties, 25 FRG projects at a total of $1.18 million were granted. Twelve new staff members were provided with the Research Seed Fund. Projects supported by the Block Grant are shown in Section 2(A) of this report. Research Collaboration and Development Fund (New) As international research collaborations and networks are one of the performance indicators for LU, and in practice they contribute to research inputs and outputs, this new fund is to facilitate and develop international/regional research collaborations expected to be at institutional level with the involvement of international/regional collaborators as research team members.

2.4 Efforts made to attract Non-UGC/Private Funds for Research The role of ORS has evolved from an administration unit to also promoting research, impact, collaborations and more external funding opportunities. In 2018/19, it had facilitated the assessment process for the University’s Research and Knowledge Transfer Excellence Awards, and promoted to faculty members a total of 56 funding schemes supported by the University’s Research Committee, the UGC/RGC and other external organisations. We are gratified to see that external funding sources for our research projects continue to increase in diversity and amount apart from UGC/RGC funds.


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(a) Public Policy Research More than $1.6 million of funds were secured by LU’s researchers in recent bids (the first 3 as below) for the Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding Scheme under the Government’s Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office (PICO) to support policy-related research in areas of social, political and financial developments. This is a testimony to our strengths, track records and diverse range of expertise. Prof Ray Forrest, Centre for Social Policy and Social Change -

$0.87 million for the project “Housing as an Intergenerational Project-parent Resources, Parental Strategies and the Housing Opportunities of Young People in Hong Kong” (2019/20 round)

Prof Jin Jiang, School of Graduate Studies -

$0.5 million for the project “The Greater Bay Area and Career Opportunity for Hong Kong Youth: Integrating Big Data Analysis and Survey Experiments” (2019/20 round)

Prof Iam Chong Ip, Department of Cultural Studies -

$0.27 million for the project “Privacy Challenges and Big Data in Smart City” (2019/20 round)

In the $4.37 million project “Accelerating the Development of a Global Innovation and

Technology Hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area: The Roles of Public Research Universities in Hong Kong” under the Strategic Public Policy Research Funding Scheme, our Vice-President Prof Ka Ho Mok collaborates with researchers of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as the lead institution, and undertakes the Lingnan part of the project.

(b) Substantial funds from charitable and community organisations

The momentum of rising funds from charitable and community organisations has been growing from strength to strength. The most recent one is a significant donation of $10 million from the Lam Kei On Memorial Trust for LU to establish the “Lam Kau Yui Research Fund” to foster junior academic staff in advancing the University’s scholarly reputation.

Research Matching Grant (RMG) Since this Grant was open for application through the UGC on 1 August 2019, in the first processing cycle up to 30 September 2019, LU has already presented $44 million in donations for matching, and is approved for $42 million in matching grant. The two sums will together support worthy causes of building up strong Research Centres, economic policy research, projects to revitalise cultural heritage, intergenerational research projects and student research work. These serve as good testimonies to community support for research at LU, which is expected to continue with $12 million in the pipeline for the second processing cycle of the Grant, including the $10 million for the “Lam Kau Yui Research Fund” as mentioned above.


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Other Substantial Funds These include: $28.63 million for the project “‘ICH+’ Heritage of Pride: Intangible Cultural Heritage

Education” conducted by LU’s Hong Kong and South China Historical Research Programme to revitalise Hong Kong’s ICH items and promote among the youth a deeper understanding of local intangible cultural heritage through experiential learning.

$19.68 million under the scheme of Chief Executive’s Community Project List for the project “Social Innovation and Socialpreneurs Development: Smart Ageing with Gerontechnology” conducted by our Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies to promote Smart Ageing and Active Ageing through social innovations and socialpreneurs development. The establishment of the Gerontech-X laboratory at LU will certainly enhance research, KT and teaching in health, social gerontology and social policy.

For Conservation of Environment The Science Unit of LU has received strong funding support since 2016 for promoting the education and conservation of the environment. Prof Jonathan Fong is the PI of the following projects: Early Career Scheme 2016/17

Developing environmental DNA approaches to study the ecology and conservation of endangered Hong Kong turtles

$827,773

Croucher Chinese Visitorship Managing captive breeding of Beal’s eyed turtle (Sacalia bealei) (2/2017 - 8/2017)

$144,000

Croucher Chinese Visitorship Identification for Bellamya species based on DNA sequence (12/2017 - 5/2018)

$144,000

Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong Conservation genomics of the critically endangered golden coin turtle (Cuora trifasciata) and application to ex-situ breeding and wildlife DNA forensics (7/2018 - 6/2020)

$599,722

Croucher Chinese Visitorship Comparison of gut microbiota of wild and captive turtles (2/2019 - 8/2019)

$144,000

Environment and Conservation Fund Building a natural history collection of Hong Kong’s amphibians for conservation and education, with a genetic case-study on the endangered Romer’s tree frog (Liuixalus romeri) (6/2019 - 5/2021)

$1,094,304


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General Research Fund 2019/20 Conservation genomics of two endangered Hong Kong turtles - the big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) and Beal’s eyed turtle (Sacalia bealei)

$1,032,078

$3,985,877

Also, Prof Paulina Wong obtained a fund of $499,920 from the Environment and Conservation Fund in 2019 for her project “Fine particulate matter pollution from incense burning at temples in Hong Kong”.

(c) Other Significant External Funds

Prof Maggie Lau, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies - $0.77 million from the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF for the project “The Voices of Ethnic Minority Children on Their Lives and Well-Being in Hong Kong”

Prof Sophia Law, Department of Visual Studies -

- $0.49 million from the Jean C.K. Ho Family Foundation for the project “Art as intervention in serving child victims of family violence: a parent-child art therapy approach”

- Funding from the British Council for the project “Research on Arts and Wellbeing”

Prof Zong-qi Cai, Department of Chinese - $0.9 million from the Tin Ka Ping Foundation for the $1 million project “Lingnan University Chinese Culture Programme”

Prof Dickson Chan, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies - - Funding from the Tin Ka Ping Foundation for the “Students and Happy Ageing with

Chinese Medicine Project” (commencing in 2019/20) - Funding from the Elder Academy Development Foundation for the project

“Business Genius in Silver Age” (commencing in 2019/20)

(d) On-going Projects (as of 30 June 2019) Contract Research Projects 10 projects at $24.8 million Consultancy Projects 20 projects at $9.7 million Social & Community Projects 13 projects at $101 million


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3. Research Promotion & Collaborations

3.1 Incentives and Recognition

To promote a rigorous research environment, the University’s Research Excellence Awards were revamped in 2018 to become more “purpose-built” to incentivise performance and success particularly in securing RGC Competitive Grants and high quality publications. Riding on the success of the previous year, the award presentation ceremony was again organised by ORS in April 2019 at which more than 20 faculty members received the awards and around 80 participants from the academia and social sector came to present or witness the awards.

3.2 Seminars/Workshops on Quality Research and Impact

To enhance the quality of GRF/ECS applications, ORS has provided support in the following: External reviewers invited to comment on draft proposals Editing service by professional companies Sharing tips on proposal writing gathered from RGC panel meetings Successful GRF/ECS proposals placed on ORS website for LU applicants’ reference One-on-one advice on writing the “Pathways to Impact” as a new requirement of

GRF/ECS In addition, the Head of ORS reached out to Faculty forums and seminars to share important notes and updates on writing quality proposals and on research impact.

3.3 Publicity of research and KT achievements

The newsletter “Accelerating Research and Impact” has proven to be effective in promoting LU’s achievements. Commendations on the newsletter were received on the third issue produced in the reporting year from: a UGC member who is a professor of Cambridge University – “wonderful booklet on

Accelerating Research Impact” a member of the UGC Secretariat – “delighted to receive the latest issue of

Lingnan’s Accelerating Research and Impact. Congratulations on the achievements Lingnanians have made in research and knowledge transfer … dedication and insights from Sharon and her office …”

President & Vice-Chancellor of The University Hong Kong – “read this latest issue of

the Lingnan University Newsletter with great interest” a professor at Hong Kong Chu Hai College of Higher Education – Research and

Impact newsletter … was very impressive indeed”


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3.4 Collaborations

Apart from the LU-South China University of Technology Joint Research Centre for Greater Bay Area Social Policy and Governance that was introduced in an earlier part of this report, below are examples of more collaborative platforms: (a) Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities (AALAU) AALAU Research Collaboration Workshop To promote regional and international research collaboration among partnering institutions of the Alliance, ORS organised the two-day Research Collaboration Workshop under the central theme of Comparative Asian Studies to facilitate LU scholars and academics from Duke Kunshan University and National Chengchi University to explore and discuss research collaborations on the topics: (1) Liberal Arts Education: Asian and Comparative Perspectives; (2) Comparative Culture and Literature; (3) Ageing Studies in Asian Countries; and (4) Smart Cities, Digital Culture and Urban Governance. AALAU International Symposium at National Chengchi University Presentations were given by Prof Ka Ho Mok the Vice-President, Prof Paulina Wong of Science Unit, Prof Jin Jiang, Dr Padmore Amoah and Dr Weiyan Xiong of the School of Graduate Studies in this Symposium at the National Chengchi University (NCCU). It was part of the research collaborative projects of AALAU, with the support of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. (b) Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership Earlier in 2018, LU became the new Secretariat of the Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership (APHERP) (originally based in the US) with LU’s Vice-President Prof Ka Ho Mok as the current Co-Director. It is a membership organisation comprising universities, ministries of education and quality assurance entities. Research team members of APHERP include many from renowned institutions such as the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, University College London, King’s College London, National Chung Cheng University and National University of Singapore. Around 120 speakers and 80 postgraduate students from approximately 30 countries and regions participated in the recent Conference for Higher Education Research (CHER) and the Asian Conference on the Liberal Arts (ACLA) co-hosted by LU, APHERP and the International Academic Forum (IAFOR). Another important event co-hosted by LU and APHERP was the international symposium on “Internationalisation and Quality Management in Higher Education” which was held at LU in February 2019 in collaboration with the School of Public Administration of South China University of Technology and the School of Education of Guangzhou University.


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(c) International Collaborations in the UK

LU has made serious attempts to reach out to leading institutions in the region and overseas for research collaborations. Two major international research events with leading institutions were held in the UK.

Oxford-Lingnan Higher Education Symposium Prof Leonard CHENG, President of LU, led a delegation of LU colleagues to give presentations at this Symposium in March 2019. Discussion was held among prominent scholars in higher education and China studies under the theme “Expansion of Higher Education in China for Two Decades: Critical Reflections from Comparative Perspectives”.

Launch Event of the Centre for Research in Education in China and East Asia As a key partner of this new Centre, LU co-organised the launch event with the University of Bath in March 2019. Led by the President, a team of LU scholars joined this event which opened Asian-European dialogues on knowledge exchange, cross-cultural educational trends and methodologies in Education and Social Sciences. (d) R & D with Industry Partner Together with an industry partner, academics of our Business Faculty have won funding support from the Government’s Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) under the Partnership Research Programme for the project “Smart Toilet: An AIoT Based Predictive Maintenance Solution”. The funds from ITF and the industry partner total $3.3 million. A smart solution using Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) technologies will be developed for predictive maintenance of public toilets.

4. Research Highlights

4.1 GRF/ECS Funds

In the 2019/20 exercise, LU has 18 General Research Fund (GRF) / Early Career Scheme (ECS) projects funded at a total of $7.6 million, which represents a 69% increase over the total sum from the same funds last year. Among these, the largest grant obtained for a single project is $1.03 million. The success rate of GRF applications has improved from 11.8% in the previous round to 21.5% in this exercise. Further highlights are shown below:


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Newly funded and on-going RGC funded projects (as of 30 June 2019) There were 54 projects at a total value of $20.4 million spanning the GRF, ECS, and Theme-based Research Scheme.

4.2 A Top 5 scholar in international higher education research Prof Ka Ho Mok our Vice-President was recently ranked among the Top 5 scholars in the world in citations relating to research on international higher education (Science Mapping in the Research of Higher Education Internationalisation from 2013 to 2018: Asian Trends).

4.3 Publications Research outputs and scholarly activities of our faculty members in the past few years have put Lingnan University firmly on the global academic map. (a) QS Asia University Rankings 2020

According to the QS Asia University Rankings 2020, LU’s overall ranking has improved by 10 places to 113. The score of Citations per Paper has risen from 76.2 to 78.4 which proves LU’s continuous advancement in research impact in academia.


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(b) Publications in top-tier or major refereed journals A good number of our faculty members have published their research findings in top-tier or major refereed journals in their disciplines, or in monograph series/book titles with renowned publishers. In the reporting period, more than 230 papers by our faculty and research postgraduate students were published in refereed journals such as the Contemporary Accounting Research, Production and Operations Management, International Economic Review, Higher Education Quarterly, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, and Australasian Journal of Philosophy. The download count of research outputs by the public from our Library’s digital repository has increased from 80,599 in 2017/18 to 87,247 in 2018/19. Since its launch in 2012, the repository recorded over 1.4 million cumulative downloads (as at September 2019) with visitors coming from 220 countries worldwide. In addition, our faculty had well presented themselves as editors, editorial board members and reviewers of academic journals. In 2018/19, 19 staff members took on 34 editor roles in 27 academic journals, and another 7 faculty members took part in 9 book reviews.

4.4 RAE 2020 To strive for higher performance in this Research Assessment Exercise, the University has been exerting a lot of efforts in these work areas: (a) Two rounds of internal Mock RAE were conducted involving more than 30

international external reviewers and actively engaging academic Departments to enhance their ownership of the exercise.


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(b) The VP and the Head of ORS had conducted 21 sessions of sharing with Faculties and Departments on the mock results and how the Units of Assessment (UoAs) can better prepare for the actual RAE.

(c) ORS together with a consultant company advised individual UoAs on a one-on-one basis about writing and corroborating their Impact Case Studies, and had conducted 16 workshops. ORS also helps identify what is and is not “impact” in UGC terms, what evidence is needed to corroborate the case, and selects relevant sample cases from UK’s Research Excellence Framework for UoAs to take reference in preparing their cases. For the “Environment” element of the assessment, ORS compiles and analyses data gathered from different units for each UoA.

(d) The Task Force on RAE 2020 Strategies and Submissions as set up and led by the Vice-President advises on Research Output submissions, Impact Case Studies, and the Environment Overview Statements of the UoAs.

(e) Research Performance Fund To encourage achievements in RAE 2020, this fund was provided by the University central for academic departments according to the results of their performance in: the Mock RAE UGC’s RAE 2014 the number of funded projects under GRF, ECS, HSSPFS, PPR# # General Research Fund, Early Career Scheme, and Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme of the Research Grants Council, and the Public Policy Research Funding Schemes of the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office The largest amount of fund provided for a department was close to $300,000. Departments could use the fund for teaching relief and research trips etc. to enable RAE eligible staff to aim high in publications.

4.5 Knowledge Transfer (KT) The new initiatives and achievements of KT at LU in the year 2018/19 are well characterised by the social innovations and high social relevance embedded in the many projects carried out. At LU, we strive to innovate for society, especially for those who are in need; and we conduct KT from research, particularly to make our findings relevant to the challenges and opportunities presented to our community, like those arising from the development of the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Riding on our strengths over the years in ageing studies and our care for the elderly, it is quite unique of LU that a number of our core KT projects are designed to enable intergenerational interactions and even co-invention in entrepreneurial activities. That is innovative, as people are most of the time led to think of the young ones and them


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alone in such endeavours. Whether in the I-Gen Series 2018 activity under the Lingnan Entrepreneurship Initiative (LEI), or the Citizen Scientist project which won the Lingnan KT Excellence Award, the young and the old work or even innovate as a team. In a social environment where people of different generations struggle to appreciate the views of each other, those KT activities offer precious chances for the seem-to-be disparate groups to learn together, and even grow together in not only skills, but also importantly knowing about each other’s ways of thinking and doing, and thus promoting social understanding. With LU’s particular strengths in research and KT of high social value and relevance, cumulative income received in the reporting year from social projects, and the total contract value of on-going projects, were at record high of $14 million and $101 million, representing increases of 84% and 102% respectively. Of these, two are new projects funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust at a total of $48 million.

4.6 Major International Conferences Organised A number of international forums and postgraduate seminars were organised / co-organised by LU in 2018/19. Some of them were supported by the internal Fund for Organising Conference. Here are some highlights: The 6th International Conference of Social Policy and Governance Innovation cum The Launch Conference of the LU-SCUT Joint Research Centre for Greater Bay Area Social Policy and Governance Co-organised by Lingnan University South China University of Technology The Education University of Hong Kong Supported by Alliance of Asian Liberal Arts Universities (AALAU) Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University Centre for Social Policy and Social Change, Lingnan University Launch Event of the Centre for Research in Education in China and East Asia: Asian-European Dialogues Co-organised by Lingnan University University of Bath Held in Bath, UK, with over 70 academics from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds and Bath The IAFOR Conference for Higher Education Research - Hong Kong 2018 Co-organised by Lingnan University Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership


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The International Academic Forum Participated by more than 18 keynote and featured speakers from universities in the US, UK and Asia, and 100 paper presenters from 19 countries/regions International Symposium on “Deconstructing Inequality and Well-being between China and Africa” Organised by Centre for Social Policy & Social Change, Lingnan University Participated by over 50 participants and experts from around the world Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Regional Conference 2018 Co-organised by Hong Kong Institute of Business Studies, Lingnan University Academy of International Business Southeast Asia Regional Chapter Participated by over 80 participants and guests from 17 countries/cities Symposium on “Internationalization and Quality Management in Higher Education” Co-organised by School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership School of Public Administration, South China University of Technology School of Education, Guangzhou University Participated by distinguished scholars from Japan, Malaysia, mainland China and Taiwan The Sixth South-South Forum on Sustainability Co-organised by Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University Global University for Sustainability Participated by over 100 intellectuals and social activists from Hong Kong, mainland China and all over the world ‘Follow the Practice’: Tracing Formations of Culture & Knowledge in Asia Organised by Department of Cultural Studies, and Kwan Fong Cultural Research and Development

Programme, Lingnan University In collaboration with Department of History, University of Cambridge Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts Lingnan-Peking-Wisconsin Education Forum Co-organised by Lingnan University Peking University University of Wisconsin-Madison Supported by Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership


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Postgraduate Conference on Interdisciplinary Learning: Positioning the Young Scholar for Academic Excellence Organised by School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University Supported by Postgraduate Students Conference/Seminar Grants, RGC International Forum on the Change of American Trade Policies and the Possible Responses from China Organised by Department of Economics, China Economic Research Programme and Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Centre, Lingnan University Co-organised by CCB International (Holdings) Limited Institute of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Development Studies of Sun Yat-sen

University Supported by Hong Kong-Shanghai Economic Development Association Belt & Road General Chamber of Commerce The Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong Performance Studies x Cultural Studies Colloquium: Cultures in Motion, Performance in Transit Organised by Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University 中國古典詩學高端論壇

Organised by Department of Chinese, Lingnan University “Ecowriting: Tradition and Modernity” Conference Organised by Centre for Humanities Research, Lingnan University Conference on “Modality in Structural/Naturalist Ontologies” Organised by Department of Philosophy, Lingnan University

United Nations World Press Freedom Day: The State of Press Freedom in Hong Kong & Around the Globe Organised by Department of English, Lingnan University International Conference on “Western Critical Theory and Chinese Literary Scholarship”


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Organised by Centre for Humanities Research, and Department of Chinese, Lingnan University 《嶺南學報》復刊學術會議之七：「中國文學抒情和敘事兩個傳統的交響共鳴」

國際研討會

Organised by Department of Chinese, Lingnan University International Conference on “Facing the West: Circulation, Cooperation and Contestation in the Post-War Development of Sociology in Asia” Organised by Department of Sociology and Social Policy, Lingnan University International Symposium on “Wellbeing and Inequality in the Digital Age” Organised by Centre for Social Policy and Social Change, Lingnan University

5. Conclusion

In this report, we have presented our rigorous endeavours to raise the quality and impact of our research and to strengthen our profile in interdisciplinary research that is of local relevance and global resonance. Our commitment to forging international collaborations and partnerships to scale up our research and innovations is highlighted. Timely response to social needs has been a key pursuit of LU research work, especially upon the opportunities and challenges presented by developments in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). With current strengths we have particularly in social policy research and collaborations, the University has in its Strategic Plan 2019-25 the establishment of a new research and learning centre in the GBA. The University will thus continue to invest in research and development, and in strengthening its research capacity through strategic recruitment and research support to excel as a leading Asian Liberal Arts university with international recognition, and distinguished by outstanding teaching, learning, scholarship and community engagement. Lingnan University December 2019

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