Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS15/H01/16
Project Title: Phenomenology : a multidisciplinary dialogue
Principal Investigator: Dr FU Wai (Shue Yan)

Abstract
Phenomenology is one of the most influential philosophical perspectives on the contemporary intellectual scene. While Positivism is the dominant philosophical mode in a range of science and social science disciplines, phenomenology remains a major approach to a range of subjects including ethics, sociology, anthropology, hermeneutics, and cultural studies, and it is the root to a range of qualitative research methods including discourse analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Phenomenology is also a major influence on existential psychotherapy. Nonetheless, most of the research methods curriculum is still Positivism orientated, and leaves little room for discussion of phenomenology. Part of the difficulty is that novice learners are alienated by the terminology adopted in phenomenology, and the central tenets of phenomenology are markedly different from Positivism-orientated methodologies.

In order to enhance public's understanding in Phenomenology, the proposed IIDS project will comprise 6 seminars and 4 workshops in total. The seminars include 1) Phenomenology: a general introduction, 2) Modern Technology in the perspective of phenomenology, 3) Phenomenology and cultural and literary criticism, 4) Phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and gender studies; 5) Phenomenology and society; 6) Phenomenology, religion and culture. The workshops include: 1) Interpretative phenomenological analysis as a methodology in social sciences; 2) Phenomenology and Existential Psychotherapy; 3) Applying phenomenology and hermeneutics in the humanities; 4) Phenomenology in applied Ethics. PowerPoints of the seminars will be uploaded for the general public.

The proposed IIDS project will greatly enhance the teaching and learning of qualitative research methods, ethics, and literal critiques in the self-financed sector in tertiary education, and will initiate a dialogue between humanities, science, social science, and human services.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS14/H01/16
Project Title: Shadow Silk Road: Non-state Flow of Commodity, Capital, and People Across Eurasia
Principal Investigator: Dr HUNG Eva Po-wah (HSMC)

Abstract
This project aims to bring together international scholars researching on cross-border exchanges for an intensive discussion on the shadow economy in comparative perspectives. In particular, the call by the Chinese government's Belt and Road initiative for an orderly flow of economic resources along the historical Silk Road brings to fore the prevalence of unofficial and shadow trade in the borderlands of Eurasia. The project is a two-day workshop featuring four discussion panels. Thematic topics include (i) the research of the state to the borderland and its implication on state sovereignty; (ii) border politics in terms of the gateway and checkpoint; and (iii) the ecology of the local border community.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS25/M01/16
Project Title: Seminar series on "Urban green infrastructure - enhancing ecosystem services and biodiversity"
Principal Investigator: Dr LAW Man-yee (THEi)

Abstract
The title of this seminar series is 'Urban Green Infrastructure - enhancing ecosystem services and biodiversity', which will be conducted quarterly in a year. A specific related topic will be assigned to each seminar, including: 'Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Trees', 'Building Biodiverse and Healthy Urban Spaces', 'Planting and Landscape Design for Better Life' and 'Sustainable and Effective Biotechnical Techniques on Slope Upgrading'. Four to five speakers will be invited for each topic. Internationally renowned experts from policy, planning, design, implementation and monitoring, will share knowledge and experience on how working with nature is essential to transforming cities that are resilient. Our target will be university students, practitioners and professional members in the field of horticulture and landscape design, and the public as well. The ultimate goal is to increase in environmental and sustainable awareness in urban green and biodiversity.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS14/B01/16
Project Title: Symposium of Taxation: The Era of BEPS
Principal Investigator: Ms LEE Hau-yee (HSMC)

Abstract
What is BEPS (Base Erosion and Profits Shifting)?
By OECD definition, BEPS refers to tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules of different jurisdictions to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax regions where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no overall corporate tax being paid.

Driven by the call from the G20 leaders, OECD commenced work on developing measures and framework to fill up the gaps and mismatches in tax rules of different jurisdictions, to ensure that taxing rights between countries are fairly allocated. A comprehensive package of 15 action plans is developed by OECD. Although these measures are not legally binding, they are expected to be implemented by all participating countries with an aim to achieving the global fairness of taxing rights.

This Symposium of Taxation
This Symposium of Taxation with an aim to provide a platform for knowledge exchange on tax development in BEPS and the OECD's 15 action plans. It is intended to offer a timely platform to share information amongst business players, tax practitioners, academics and government officials, in order to bridge the gaps between practical and theoretical perspectives. Guests and speakers from Hong Kong, the Mainland China, and other parts of the world (such as the US) would be invited to share their insights and facilitate cross-disciplinary networking.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS16/H01/16
Project Title: Harnessing the latest corpus-based approaches for research
Principal Investigator: Dr LEUNG Chung-hong (OUHK)

Abstract
This project aims to develop academics' capability to conduct research using corpus-based approaches or research in corpus linguistics, through organizing a series of events including seminars and workshops. A corpus is a large and principled collection of natural texts that support empirical language studies. Corpus-based approaches have greatly benefited from new advances in computing technology, which has brought the costs of information management down in the past decades. The increasing number of large corpora means that researchers can now examine use patterns of languages and incremental effects based on real-world instances. There is also a proliferation of smaller, specialized or purpose-built corpora. Armed with these corpora, researchers may conduct corpus-based work related to their research or teaching, or develop a new corpus for research in areas or disciplines that have yet to reap the benefits of using corpus-based analysis.

The proposed event series will not only address the research needs of a wide cross-section of academics, but also encourage others to make informed and sustained use of the latest corpus-based approaches in their research. The two sub-themes of the events are the latest developments in corpus-based approaches and their research applications. Participating academics will be able to draw on lessons offered by the speakers and learn how to use existing or build new corpora for language, educational, or social science research. The said research will in turn inform and enhance teaching. Academics in technology and engineering-related disciplines may even come up with new areas of research by exploiting the interface between human-readable language and machine-readable language in corpus-based studies.

The proposed speakers include eminent scholars working in corpus-related fields such as applied linguistics, computer science, and educational technology, and experts in corpus-based approaches. The seminars and workshops will enrich academics' knowledge and hone their skills for corpus-based research within a specific discipline or even across disciplines. While each seminar will feature an in-depth presentation of a research topic, each workshop that ensues will offer training in a more interactive or hands-on setting and provide a forum to discuss research ideas and designs. Academics familiarizing themselves with the concepts will be able to interact during the series and to formulate new projects using corpus-based approaches. Each seminar will be videotaped and shared online to benefit an even wider academic community.

The proposed series will enhance inter-institutional cooperation and optimize resource allocation. It will enable participating academics from different institutions to collaborate on a number of research studies using existing corpora and other research resources in Hong Kong with benefits for multiple stakeholders.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS14/B04/16
Project Title: The Bright Side and Dark Side of Consumer Ethics
Principal Investigator: Dr LO Lawrence Wing-to (HSMC)

Abstract
There is emerging evidence that consumer ethics involves multidimensional issues, and is often intertwined with business ethics. For example, consumers may engage in unethical behavior to vent their anger with a firm's purportedly unfair practices. Conceivably, a low level of consumer ethics may lead to a hostile business environment, an unhappy workplace (for service personnel), and even a disruption of social harmony. On the bright side, "ethical consumerism" (e.g., green consumption, support for fair trade) may result in higher ethical standards on the part of both business and consumers. To advance theory and inform practice on this important topic, the Marketing Department of Hang Seng Management College will organize a two-day symposium in the summer of 2017. The goal is to facilitate intellectual exchange on different aspects of consumer ethics among researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. Overall, the symposium will be a first step toward building a vibrant intellectual community for developing new theories and business initiatives pertaining to the bright and dark sides of consumer ethics.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS13/E02/16
Project Title: Workshop Series in Data Science and Machine Learning Applications
Principal Investigator: Prof LO Wai-lun (Chu Hai)

Abstract
This project will organize a four-day workshop which consists of daily lectures and seminars in the area of data science and machine learning. Leading scholars, computer science experts and IT professionals from local institutions or foreign institutions will be invited as guest speakers. The topics to be discussed in the workshops cover latest advances in Data Science and Machine Learning Applications. The rapid development of high network infrastructure, database technology and high performance computing in the past decade made Data Science become one of the popular research field in computer science. In order to extract knowledge after acquiring large amount of data, the data science system engages artificial intelligence to analyze and extract useful information from the data. Machine learning is also a popular research field in computer science. This project brings together academic scientists and IT professionals to exchange and share experiences and research outcomes in Data Science and Machine Learning.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS14/E01/16
Project Title: Intelligent Systems Ready for the Digital Future of Supply Chains
Principal Investigator: Dr MO Yiu-wing (HSMC)

Abstract
With various governments' digitalisation strategies, the innovation of decision analytics and intelligent systems will sharpen the global operational performance of companies and make big impacts in the future of supply chains. This project aims to set up a collaboration platform using workshops, seminars and a conference for academics, practitioners and students to face the emerging challenges and opportunities for supply chain management.

In partnership between Hang Seng Management College and Shue Yan University, we have invited a number of experts from local and international universities contributing to the development of the next generation. The expected deliverables include not only the exchange of innovative ideas across institutes through seminars, but also opportunities for researchers and students to work with practitioners on application-based research projects. These activities will be integrated into a roadmap for companies and universities to collaborate on the digital future of supply chains.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS24/B02/16
Project Title: From Social and Environmental Accounting to Sustainability Accounting and Responsible Investment: Emerging Research Agendas
Principal Investigator: Dr NG Artie Wai-cheong (PolyU SPEED)

Abstract
This project aims to organize a series of workshops, seminars and a regional conference to be delivered and participated by international experts in the academic areas ranging from Social and Environmental Accounting to Sustainability Accounting and Responsible Investment. This project will collaborate with the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR) affiliated with the University of St Andrews in United Kingdom to arrange these events, so as to bring in experts from its global network of in-depth research experience and journal publication track record in the specified areas of study. These international experts are senior academics affiliated with overseas tertiary institutions who will explore with the local participants about emerging research agendas that are internationally and locally relevant.

Over the past 20 years CSEAR has been pioneering research studies about social and environmental accounting that are influential in the international development of research agendas in corporate social responsibility, sustainability accounting and more recently responsible investment. These studies have implications for policy making and regulations of corporate social disclosures and related professional practices.

Through this collaboration, this Project will enable local scholars and researchers to build up their professional knowledge and research capability in conducting research in pertinent areas which have been gaining attention across the disciplines of accounting, business and finance. Knowledge exchange will be facilitated in the proposed workshops, seminars and a North Asia regional conference which the local academics will interact with a group of seasoned academics as well as journal editors. As a result, the local participants will be able to broaden their international outlook and to learn from the research experience of the invited speakers from overseas universities. Through such knowledge exchange, local academics with a scholarly interest in these areas will not only be able to develop their own research agendas but also be better informed for teaching about corporate social responsibility with an international perspective.

 

Project Reference No.: UGC/IIDS14/B02/16
Project Title: Interactive Case-based Pedagogical Development on Maritime, Aviation and Logistics Law for Supply Chain and Logistics Operations
Principal Investigator: Dr WONG Eugene Yin-cheung (HSMC)

Abstract
To maintain the competitiveness of the logistics and transport business in Hong Kong in the world arena requires continuous education and nurturing of future leaders in the field. Hong Kong ranked fourth in port throughput among the container ports of the world in 2014. In air cargo logistics, Hong Kong has been the world's busiest cargo hub since 2010, and it continues to rank first in total cargo throughput among hubs of the world. There is a high demand for professional talent and skilful labour in the shipping and transport logistics industry, especially in the peripheral and high value-added services such as maritime law and arbitration, aviation and safety regulations, maritime insurance or ship broking and chartering. Furthermore, the government is encouraging and setting plans for positioning Hong Kong to serve as an important international maritime services hub for China and the Asia-Pacific region, providing comprehensive maritime services in areas such as maritime law and arbitration, marine insurance, and ship broking and chartering. As the recent Belt and Road Initiatives from China continue to evolve, the need is growing for professional practitioners with expertise in carriage of goods law and investment arbitration for the support of cargo trading at points along the identified maritime Silk Road. Even with the current levels of shipping, practitioners in the supply chain and logistics divisions of corporations that handle day-to-day cargo distribution and delivery often lack sufficient knowledge concerning basic cargo claims, insurance and regulations. Thus, there is a crucial need to enhance the levels of research and education development in this area.

Today, there exist few state-of-the-art teaching and learning materials on logistics and shipping law that suit the needs of business school students studying supply chains, logistics and transportation in Hong Kong. The availability of textbooks and relevant case studies is minimal, and the reference materials are often designed for legal students instead of business or engineering students. These students often find it difficult to follow the textbooks that are being used in law schools. The reference materials in law schools often focus on legal perspectives and terminologies appropriate for solicitors and barristers. These texts are not intended for supply chain business and operations students. Thus, there is a need to develop a research and teaching platform on maritime and aviation law for those in the disciplines of supply chain management and logistics, including both students and industrial practitioners. These people are required to be well prepared in their knowledge of shipping and logistics law when they deal with disputes or claims involving international cargo deliveries, vessel chartering, cargo damage or contracts of affrei.htmlent. The need for such expertise in Hong Kong is evident in the many cases involving vessel collisions, logistics contract disputes, documentation issues, cargo claims and insurance or maritime arbitration. In view of these needs, this project aims to organise a series of seminars and workshops on cases of maritime, aviation and logistics law. The project also aims to develop a case-based curriculum that will enable teaching and research. Furthermore, it will establish a Maritime, Aviation, and Logistics Law (MALL) teaching platform, and will compile relevant case studies and reference handbooks for students and practitioners, providing them with the necessary background in business, supply chains, logistics and engineering. This tailored research and teaching platform on maritime and aviation law in Hong Kong will introduce students to the latest cases occurring in Hong Kong, China and nearby regions. The platform will present such material in a structurally integrated, interactive way. The project deliverables will certainly benefit the students, scholars, educators and industry practitioners in this field.