Annual Report 2005–06

40 Introduction The Chinese University of Hong Kong is committed to the pursuit of excellence in academic research. The seven established faculties as well as the School of Law, and their departments, provide research infrastructure to support researchers. Major institutes and other research units provide points of convergence for research projects of an interdisciplinary nature. Together they form a vibrant community showcasing the University’s research strengths. In the year under review, the University announced a scheme of focused investments of new resources in chosen areas. These resources may include endowment income and earmarked external donations. In particular, five major areas with potential to achieve world-class impact, were identified for strategic development. They include Chinese Studies, Biomedical Sciences, Information Sciences, Economics and Finance, and Geoinformation and Earth Sciences. The University will also develop at least 25 research areas of excellence that enjoy national, regional and international recognition. Significant Research Achievements Faculty members continued to excel in research, as demonstrated by their achievements in all areas. According to a business publication ranking conducted by the University of Texas–Dallas, management publications for the years 2000-05 by CUHK faculty were ranked 38th in the world, the leader among Asian universities. Founders of network coding theory at the Faculty of Engineering won the 2005 IEEE Information Theory Society Best Paper Award, the first time in over three decades for scientists from Asia-Pacific to receive this award. Researchers in the Faculty of Medicine, who are internationaly acclaimed authorities on research on circulating foetal nucleic acids, discovered a universal foetal DNA marker that could be used for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis and monitoring. The discovery was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) . The School of Law collaborated with New York University on a research project sponsored by the US National Science Foundation, the Filomen D’Agostino Research Fund, and the Research and Innovations Fund at R esearch 研 究 引言 香港中文大學致力於卓越學術研究。中大七所學院 連同法律學院，以及其屬下各學系，提供各種研究 設施以輔助校內的研究工作。大學主要的研究所及 規模較小的研究中心，則負責協調及匯聚各研究單 位的跨學科研究工作。大學各研究部門形成一個充 滿活力的研究整體，充分發揮其強大的科研力量。 二零零六年公布的《策略計劃》，大學宣布運用基金 收益及專用校外捐款，重點投放資源於卓越領域研 究。大學從現有的研究項目中，確定五個策略性發展 重點，分別為中國研究、生物醫學科學、訊息科學、 經濟與金融，以及地球信息與地球科學，期望研究 成果對世界產生深遠影響。此外，大學亦致力發展 最少二十五個獲國際公認的傑出研究領域。 重要研究成就 在二零零五至零六年度，中大教學人員在科技及 人文學科範疇上，開展多元化的研究工作，成績斐 然。根據德州大學達拉斯分校（University of Texas- Dallas）一項有關商業的著作排名（二零零零至零 五年度）調查，中大工商管理學院發表有關管理的 著作，在芸芸亞洲大學中，名列榜首，全球亦排名 三十八。 中大工程學院研究學者，首次提出突破性的網絡編 碼（network coding），並憑著發表有關網絡編碼 的研究論文，獲電機及電子工程學會（IEEE）頒發 信息理論學會二零零五年度最佳論文獎，是三十多 年來首次有亞洲研究學者獲得。 中大在母體血漿胎兒核酸研究上再創領先國際 的驕人成績。醫學院研究學者率先發現母體內的 胎兒會向懷孕婦女的血漿釋出其脫氧核醣核酸 （DNA）。這項重要發現開創非創傷性產前診斷