Bulletin Spring‧Summer Autumn‧Winter 1999

The conference offered an innovative blend of papers and workshops aimed at exploring English language and literature teaching at both th e tertiary and the secondary school levels. There were some 50 presentations covering a wide range of topics such as teaching methodology, course and syllabus design, and the uses of technology in the classroom . Speakers for the plenary sessions included noted Englis h language teaching specialist Prof. H. Douglas Brown of San Francisco State University, Literature specialist Prof. David Punter of the University of Stirling, and stylistics expert Dr. Alan Durant of the University of Strathclyde. Teachers and students from three local secondary schools were also invited to demonstrate creative teaching techniques. Over 250 teachers and experts attended the function. B I O S C I E N C E Third International Symposium and Workshop on Life Sciences In late June 1990, over 700 bioscientists gathered on the CUHK campus for the 'Third International Symposium and Workshop on Life Sciences' jointly organized by the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America and The Chinese University. According to the chairman of the local organizing committee, Prof. C.Y. Lee of the Department of Biochemistry, C U H K , the preparation of this international symposium started almost two years ago . In addition to participants from Ho ng K o ng and No r th America, there were delegates from mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Many speakers of the conference are world leaders in their own fields of study and a number are graduates of CUHK. I n the five-day intensive scientific programme, some 700 papers were presented. A wide range of topics including virus and cancer, molecular genetics of human diseases, biotechnology, environmental toxicology, AIDS, hepatitis, plant molecular biology, molecular immunology, molecular neurobiology and herbal medicine were discussed . The conference was officially opened by Sir Quo-wei Lee, chairman of the Council of The Chinese University, on 25th June 1990. Two Nobel Laureates were invited to be keynote speakers of the symposium: Prof. Yuan-tseh Lee of the University of California, Berkeley, gave a speech on 'Molecular Bea m Chemistry', and Prof. David Baltimore, professor of biology at M I T and president-designate of Rockefeller University, New York, addressed the conference on 'Chasing the Immunoglobulin Recombinase'. The Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA) was founded five years ago in the States and has a membership of over 1,300. According to its present president, Prof. Savio Woo of Baylor College of Medicine, who was also the chairman of the organizing committee of this conference, the main objective of the society is to promote scientific exchange, particularly among bioscientists of Chinese decent. The reason for holding it s international symposium and workshop in Hong Kong was to encourage scientists from Asia to participate in such exchanges. The symposium was the third o f its kind organized by the SCBA. The first two were held at the San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. c o n f e r e n c e s e r i e s 18-