HKU Faculty of Architecture
celebrates research excellence

Professor Chris Webster
Dean, Faculty of Architecture

The RAE is not everyone’s perfect research quality evaluation process, but it is tried and tested and copied the world over. FoA set up one of HKU’s most thorough mock RAE processes and the both mock and real RAE gave an identical result: ~40% of FoA’s research outputs are world leading. For me, this testifies to the accuracy of the RAE as a peer review process and also validates FoA’s 6 year position among the top 10-14 Architecture and Built Environment schools in the world. Great result and all credit to my amazingly talented, hardworking and innovative colleagues!

Professor Wilson Lu
Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Architecture

Even though I have worked in this Faculty for more than 10 years, I remain deeply fascinated by its mysteries. Basically, there are two sides to FoA. One side is a liberal, artistic FoA – free souls in knowledge exploration. Another side is a serious FoA, doing world-leading stuff. But when the mock RAE came, all became equally serious in preparing their research outputs, design folios and impact case studies. The excellent RAE outcome is a perfect reflection of the two sides of HKU’s FoA.

Dr. Eric Schuldenfrei
Head, Department of Architecture 

Dr. Cole Roskam
Director of Research, Department of Architecture

40% of the Department of Architecture’s research received a 4*, resulting in the most world-leading assessed work within the RAE2020’s Built Environment panels in Hong Kong. This is a testament not only to the strength of our traditional research outputs, such as sole-authored publications and journal articles, but also indicates we are producing world-leading research in the form of curated exhibitions, built architecture, and design, the quality of which historically has been difficult to evaluate. Through ongoing collaboration and dialogue, we will build upon these efforts to ensure our research remains grounded in the region but globally significant, original, and rigorous.

Professor Kelvin Wong
Head, Department of Real Estate & Construction 

The Department of Real Estate & Construction is proud of its No.1 ranking in the Built Environment panel, both within HKU and across institutions.  Our academic staff will continue producing high-quality real estate and construction research to advance knowledge and make positive impacts on the industry and society.

Professor Bo Sin Tang
Interim Head, Department of Urban Planning & Design 

Professor Shenjing He
Assistant Director, Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning

As evidenced by the RAE 2020 result and QS ranking, among many international recognitions, the Department of Urban Planning & Design/ Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning (DUPAD/CUSUP) has become an internationally leading research hub, teaching and incubation centre for urban studies and planning, urban science, urban design and policy analytics. In the coming years, the department will further develop its brand name in the field, featuring socially-impactful, interdisciplinary and innovative research on topics of urban and regional development and governance, housing, transportation, urban health and environmental studies, with the application of cutting-edge urban science methodologies, towards the goals of promoting healthy, resilient, livable and equitable cities under the new normal.

Mr. Alain Chiaradia
Associate Professor, Department of Urban Planning & Design

RAE Impact case study requirements are tough. They involve multiple team efforts to iterate and coordinate the timely production of underpinning research, the description in a coherent whole of the research finding’s attributes, the planned and sometimes contingent dissemination and research reach to engage and create communities of users, end users, the collection and clear articulation of direct pathways to impacts, their magnitude from the communities of users over several years. It requires an awareness, understanding and tracking of teams and processes over the whole research and knowledge-production cycle. It is both a rigorous challenge and exciting achievement to be recognized for outstanding impacts. FoA has unparalleled advantages for researchers bringing together architectural design and urban and environmental analytics.

Dr. Bin Jiang
Associate Professor, Division of Landscape Architecture;
Director, Virtual Reality Lab of Urban Environments & Human Health, HKUrbanLabs

The mission of the Virtual Reality Lab of Urban Environments & Human Health is to understand how and to what extent urban environments, especially urban green spaces, influence human health and wellbeing. The lab has published more than 30 articles in the leading journals and conferences in the field of urban planning, landscape architecture, environmental epidemiology, and environmental psychology. The studies have been reported or cited by international organizations and media, such as WHO, New York Times, etc. The lab has established an international network with leading scholars and labs across the world.

Dr. Frank Xue
Assistant Professor, Department of Real Estate & Construction

From a background in Systems Engineering, I joined FoA as Research Assistant Professor in Fall 2016, giving me one of the last tickets to the RAE2020, fortunately. HKUrbanLabs, FoA’s interdisciplinary research incubation ecosystem, taught me how to walk on my early career path. The cross-disciplinary debates with my colleagues, including engineers, economists, social scientists, and architects, sharpened my thinking and research edges. I published interdisciplinary findings in the next couple of years as top journal papers, including three 4* and one 3* in the 2019 Mock Exercise. RAE 2020’s final result, i.e., 95% outcomes at 4* or 3* in Surveying, proved FoA’s interdisciplinary excellence splendidly coached me and all other fresh researchers.

Dr. Bin Chen
Assistant Professor, Division of Landscape Architecture

I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations to FoA and colleagues for the exceptional research excellence in RAE 2020. As a geo-spatial data scientist and environmental remote sensing researcher, I am so impressed by the amazing team with diverse knowledge, profound insights, growth mindsets, novel technologies, and leading practices. As a new academic member, I am passionate and eager to contribute to the 2026 exercise and pursue research excellence with an all-star team!