My research is mainly focused on construction management with three clear directions: Construction informatics, international construction, and construction waste management. I am currently interested in corporate social responsibility in an international construction context. My computer science background has fostered my innovative and interdisciplinary ideas for applying ICT in construction. Recently, my students and I won a prestigious Construction Industry Council Innovation Award 2015. My research on construction waste management has received international recognition. I was interviewed by The New York Times and The Economist to talk about construction waste management. My paper was recommended by the European Commission and included in its Science for Environment Policy.
I have been particularly benefited from a capable team with me. I have been lucky to secure internal funding and many external research grants from various prestigious funding bodies, so the research team can be sustained. My favourite research activity is visiting construction sites/offices, talking to practitioners and learning from them, and making a real impact.
1. External competitive research grants
1.1 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) 2024-25
Project Title: PanoCause: Auto-profiling illegal dumping ‘black spots’ using a novel panoptic deep causal discovery approach. HK$ 775,443. 36 months, PI.
1.2 Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) Public Sector Trial Scheme – ITF Projects (PSTS-ITF) 2024
Project Title: e-TranStar 2.0: i-Core-enabled Smart Just-in-Time MiC Transportation Planning (ITT/004/24LP). HK$3.73m. Project Coordinator (PC).
1.3 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)/Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Collaborative Research Scheme 2023/24
Project title: The Mechanism and Policy Optimisation of Multi-stakeholder Cross-regional Collaboration in the Construction Industry of the GBA (CRS_PolyU505/23). HK$3.6m, 48 months, Co-PI. PCs: Prof. Geoffrey Shen (HK PolyU) and Prof. Dongping Fang (Tsinghua University).
1.4 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) 2022/2023
Project Title: Generative DfX in high-rise modular building: An expert-augmented cascade graph learning and optimisation approach (C7080-22GF), HK$5.31m, 36 months, Project Coordinator (PC).
1.5 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS) 2022/2023
Project Title: The effects of small business organising on private and social optimality: a big data-augmented social network analysis of the construction waste collection sector in Hong Kong
HK$ 401,930, 12 months, PI.
1.6 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Theme-based Research Scheme (TBRS) 2021/22 (Eleventh Round)
Project Title: Healthy and Resilient City with Pervasive Local outdoor Comfort/Cooling Hubs (LoCHs)
HK$ 34.604m. 60 months, Co-PI. Project Coordinator (PC): Prof. Niu Jianlei (HK PolyU)
1.7 Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (SZSTI) (深圳市科技创新委员会）Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macau Technology Research Programme (Type C) 2021
Project Title: 3D Point Cloud and Dynamic Semantics Enabled Lean Quality Assurance System for Prefabricated Housing Products. CNY 1m, 24 months. Co-I, PI: Dr Xue Fan
1.8 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) PhD Fellowship Scheme 2021
Awardee: Mr. Benjamin Ababio
1.9 Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) 2020
Project Title: “BIM Square”: Blockchain and i-Core-enabled Multi-stakeholder Building Information Modelling Platform for Construction Logistics and Supply Chain Management in Hong Kong (ITP/029/20LP). HK$10.36m, 24 months. Project Coordinator (PC).
1.10 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDF) 2020-2021
Awardee: Dr Xiao (Shell) Li
1.11 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) PhD Fellowship Scheme 2020
Awardee: Mr. Frank Ato Ghansah
1.12 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) PhD Fellowship Scheme 2019
Awardee: Mr. Vikrom Laovisutthichai
1.13 Hong Kong Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF) 2019-2020
Project title: Big data-based “AI inspector” for gauging inert contents at the off-site construction waste sorting facilities in Hong Kong (ECF Project 111/2019). HK$ 485,000. 24 Months. PI.
1.14 The Government Policy Innovation and Co-Ordination Office (PICO) Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding Scheme 2018-19
Project Title: “Finding the Needles in a Haystack”: Identification of the Illegal Dumping of Construction Waste Using Big Data (Project No.: 2018.A8.078.18D). HK$ 447,350. 18 Months. PI.
1.15 The Government Policy Innovation and Co-Ordination Office (PICO) Strategic Public Policy Research (SPPR) Funding Scheme 2018-19
Project Title: Boosting Construction Waste Material Sharing in the Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area (Project No.:S2018.A8.010.18S). HK$ 2,902,000. 36 Months. Project Coordinator (PC).
1.16 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) 2018-19
Project Title: A derivative-free optimisation (DFO) approach to architectural symmetry detection from 3D point clouds. HK$ 522,846. 36 months. Co-I (PI: Dr Frank Xue).
1.17 Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) –Public Sector Trial Scheme (PSTS) 2018
Project Title: RFID-Enabled Building Information Modelling (BIM) Platform for Prefabrication Housing Production in Hong Kong, HK$ 2.99m. 24 months. Co-PI.
1.18 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) 2017-18
Project Title: The causal effects of green building certification on construction waste minimisation: triangulating ‘big data’ with ‘thick data’. HK$ 534,559. 36 months. PI.
1.19 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) 2017-18
Project Title: Generation of semantically rich as-built Building Information Models (BIMs): A derivative-free optimization approach. HK$ 454,157. 36 months. Co-I (PI: Dr Frank Xue).
1.20 The Charted Institute of Building (CIOB) Bowen Jenkins Legacy (BJL) Research Fund 2015
Project Title: From CSR to OHS and Well-being of Construction Workers: The China Dilemma, GBP 9,795, 24 months. Principal Applicant: Prof. Dongping Fang (Tsinghua University), Co-Applicant: Dr Wilson Lu.
1.21 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) 2014-2015
Project Title: Exploring the effects of building information modelling (BIM) on project-based organisations (PBOs): A social network approach. HK$ 500,000. 36 months. PI.
1.22 Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) 2014
Project Title: RFID-Enabled Building Information Modelling (BIM) Platform for Prefabrication Housing Production in Hong Kong. HK$ 7,365,020. 24 months. Co-PI.
1.23 Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) Internship Programme 2014
Project Title: RFID-Enabled Building Information Modelling (BIM) Platform for Prefabrication Housing Production in Hong Kong.HK$ 288,000. 24 months. PI.
1.24 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) General Programme (面上项目) 2012
Project title: Application of Hong Kong Construction Waste Management Experience in Mainland China: An Empirical Exploration “淮南为橘，淮北为枳”？香港建筑废弃物管理经验于内地的适用性研究. HK$ 628,000. 48 months. PI.
1.25 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF) 2012-2013
Project Title: The paradoxical link between corporate social responsibility and financial performance: Evidence from international construction business. HK$ 475,020. 36 months. PI.
1.26 Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Public Policy Research (PPR) 2011-2012
Project Title: Polluters or stakeholders, who should pay? Development of a more effective construction waste charging scheme in Hong Kong using system dynamics. HK$ 372,025. 24 months. PI.
2. HKU internal competitive research grants
2.1 HKU Post Doctor Fellowship (PDF)/Research Assistant Professor (RAP) 41st Round 2019
Project Title: Smart Construction and Robotics, 36 months. Chief Supervisor. Vacancies for 3 PDF
2.2 Seed Fund for Transnational and Applied Research 2019
Project Title: Developing a Local Positioning System (LPS) for smarter construction. HK$ 130,000, PI.
2.3 HKU Platform Technology Fund (PTF) 2017/18
Project title: Development of an Urban Big Data Platform for Smarter Hong Kong: Integrate to Inspire. HK$ 915,870. 24 months. Co-PI (PC: Dean Prof. Chris Webster).
2.4 HKU Application for RPG Places from Central Pool 2017/18
Project Title: Isomorphic pressures to catalyse diffusion of innovations. (50% of a 4-year PhD). Chief Supervisor.
2.5 Seed Fund for Transnational and Applied Research 2018
Project Title: An i-Core-enabled tower crane management system for construction productivity and safety. HK$ 130,000, PI.
2.6 HKU Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research 2016
Project Title: Cost-benefit sharing for better Building Information Modelling (BIM) implementation: a moral hazard problem and an evolutionary game theory approach, HK$ 68,980, PI.
2.7 HKU Post Doctor Fellowship (PDF)/Research Assistant Professor (RAP) 34th Round 2015
Project Title: BIM-and IoTs-oriented Smart Construction Objects (SCOs): The Elementary Particles of Future Construction, 36 month. Chief Supervisor
2.8 HKU Application for RPG Places from Central Pool 2015/16
Project Title: Bridging BIM and Buildings (BBB), Unbinding Bounded Rationality. (50% of a 4-year PhD). Chief Supervisor.
2.9 HKU Small Project Fund 2014
Project Title: An intuitive Building Information Modeling (BIM) maturity model for Hong Kong. HK$ 54,600. PI.
2.10 HKU Post Doctor Fellowship (PDF)/Research Assistant Professor (RAP) 29th 2012
Project Title: Enhancing housing production in Hong Kong through BIMatzing offshore prefabrication. 36 month. Chief Supervisor.
2.11 HKU Application for RPG Places from Central Pool 2012/13
Project Title: Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the changing learning practices towards architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) synergies. (50% of a 4-year PhD). Chief Supervisor.
2.12 HKU Small Project Fund 2011
Project Title: Demystifying the time-effort distribution curves: Toward a model for measuring overall benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in architecture, engineering, and construction processes. HK$ 36,800. PI.
2.13 HKU Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research 2010
Project Title: Modeling BIM as a learning tool for construction works. HK$ 36,000. PI.
2.14 HKU Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research 2010
Project Title: Sharpen Competitive Edge through Innovate Procurement: Perspectives from Chinese International Construction Companies. with Dept. matching fund, HK$ 240,000. PI.
