Newsletter No. 270

British Consul-General Speaks on UK's Role in the EU M r. Stephen Bradley, British Consul-General in Hong Kong, delivered a lecture entitled 'The UK in the EU' on 1st December at the lecture theatre of the William M.W. Mong Engineering Building. In the lecture, Mr. Bradley provided a personal and thought provoking overview of the reasons wh y the European Un i on has become 'the greatest economic and political success story of the last 50 years'. Referencing f r om Lord Patten's recent book Not Quite the Diplomat to the Douglas Adams' classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Mr. Bradley examined the UK's past and present membership of the EU — the 25-nation organization that is China's largest trading partner. He noted that the UK is firmly part of Europe and should not be seen as somehow separate when it comes to discerning the 'European view'. Mr. Bradley graduated from Balliol College, Oxford University, in 1980. The many distinguished posts he has held over the years include first secretary, Chancery in Tokyo, marketing director of Guinness Peat Aviation in Hong Kong, deputy political adviser to the Hong Kong government, associate director of Lloyd George Investment Management, French desk of the Western European Department of the FCO, director of trade and investment promotion in Paris, and minister, deputy head of mission and consul-general in Beijing. Support for Three Projects T he following three research projects undertaken by faculty members of the University have succeeded in attracting funding support from the Germany/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme: • Role of Adipose-derived Vasoactive Products in Vascular Dysfunction (HK$15,800) Principal investigator: Prof. Huang Yu (Department of Physiology) • Doping of One Dimensional Nanostructures and Their Luminescence Property Study (HK$30,000) Principal investigator: Prof. Li Quan (Department of Physics) • Functional Magnetic Resonance and Optical imaging of Brain Activity During Preattentive Detection of Bound Stimulus Features (HK$29,600) Principal investigator: Prof. Trevor Penny (Department of Psychology) NewCentre to Improve Care for Seniors A b o u t 70 per cent and 95 per cent of elderly living in domestic households and institutions respectively are reported to suffer from chronic diseases. The promotion of healthy ageing, therefore, would bring huge benefits not only to the elderly but the c o m m u n i t y at l a r g e . With a generous donation of HK$10 m i l l i o n f r om t he S . H. Ho F o u n d a t i o n L t d . , the m u l t i d i s c i p l i n a r y S . H. Ho C e n t r e f or Ge r on t o l ogy and Geriatrics has been established in the School of Public Health of the Faculty of Medicine. The donation will go towards supporting training programmes and funding research projects. The naming ceremony of the centre was held on 1st December. Officiating at the ceremony were Dr. David Ho, chairman of t he S.H. Ho Foundation, Prof. Lawrence J. Lau, vice-chancellor of the University, Prof. T.F. Fok, clean of the Faculty of Medicine, Prof, J o s e p h Sung, c h a i r man of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Prof. Sian Griffiths, director of the School of Public Health, and Prof. Jean Woo, director of the S.H. Ho Centre for Gerontology and Geriatrics. T h a n k i ng the f o u n d a t i on f or its generosity, Prof. Jean Woo, '[The donation] reflects their foresight about the importance of healthy ageing in our community and is also a great c omp l i me nt to our past achievements.' Gerontology and geriatrics have been areas of excellence at the University. Since the mid-1980s, various departments at the Faculty of Me d i c i ne have researched extensively into chronic diseases, health education and services for the elderly. Building on existing expertise of the Faculty of Medicine, the centre will enhance research and t r a i n i ng for c l i n i c i ans and other professionals involved in elderly care and promote community education in the areas of health p r omo t i on and maintenance, disease knowledge and self-management. Going For Gold! School of Law Breaks Learning Record T he School of Law of the University introduces to secondary school students the magic of law through the first ever online game, an exciting development in legal education — with the promise of a golden future for law students. Secondary school teams can compete in The Gold Rush: Mining the L aw of the School of Law at CUHK. The winning team will be awarded the Sir T.L Yang Champions Cup and $25,000 to be used for educational purposes. Law teaching in Hong Kong has been severely criticized in the past for its repetitive style and its emphasis on rote learning. To encourage students to study law, The Gold Rush was developed by the school as part of its efforts to innovate law teaching and learning. This imaginative education tool will show how learning about law can be made exciting, interactive, and fun. The Gold Rush is the product of a team effort led by Prof. Marlene Le Brun and Prof. M i ke McCon v i l l e, director of the School of Law. They demonstrated the power and fun of this innovative online game to the media on 30th November in the Pi Ch'iu Building. (From left) Mrs. Anne Carver, professional consultant, Prof. Mike McConville, and Mrs. Diana Ying, planning officer, of the School of Law; and Mr. Anton Lam of the ITSC at a press conference Endoscopy in the Limelight (From left) Prof. Joseph Sung, Dr. James Lau, Prof. Leung Wai-keung, and Prof. Enders Ng T he 20th International Workshop on Therapeutic Endoscopy was hosted by the Endoscopy Centre of the University from 6th to 7th December 2005 at the Postgraduate Education Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital. Entitled 'Changing the Practice in G1 Disease', this year's workshop underpinned the evolution of endoscopy over the years — from a purely diagnostic to a therapeutic tool. On 5th December, the Institute of Digestive Disease held a press conference to introduce the latest developments in the field, including live demonstrations of 'capsule' endoscopy and endo-cytoscopy. Speakers included Prof. Joseph Sung, director of the Institute of Digestive Diseases, Prof. Leung Wai-keung of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Dr. James Lau, director of the Endoscopy Centre, Prof. Enders Ng, head of the Division of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, and Prof. Philip Chiu of the Department of Surgery. 2 No. 270 19th December 2005