First Omics Science conference
In keeping with its commitment to advancing research into public health, CityU will host the International Conference on Translating Omics Science to Clinical Applications (TOSCA 2013) from 13 to 15 August. The international field of experts, including interdisciplinary scholars from CityU, will discuss how advances in imaging, proteomics, metabolic phenotyping and healthcare can be translated into improvements in patient treatment and population health management. Professor Istvan Horvath, Head and Chair Professor of the Department of Biology and Chemistry, will deliver the opening remarks at the conference.

Volunteers wanted
The City-Youth Empowerment Project, together with the Society for Community Organisation (SoCO), Salvation Army and St James' Settlement, will conduct a city-wide homeless street count for the Homeless Outreach Population Estimation (HOPE Hong Kong 2013) project on 21 August. It is the first time that community organisations serving the homeless have joined forces with a university service-learning platform to conduct a city-wide homeless street count. The collected data will help community organisations lobby for effective resources and policy change. CityU staff and students are welcome to register here as volunteers to take part in the street count.

New appointment
Professor Zang Xiaowei has been appointed as Chair Professor of Social Sciences in the Department of Applied Social Studies and concurrently as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. He will assume duty on 15 August. He was the Head of the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield from September 2008 to January 2013. His research interests lie in the fields of ethnicity, gender, and social networks. 

CityU Research Excellence Awards 2013
CityU Research Excellence Awards 2013 will be presented to Professor Xue Quan, Chair Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering, and Professor Leung Kwok-wa of the Department of Electronic Engineering; and a Certificate of Merit to Professor Yang Zhilin of the Department of Marketing. The awards acknowledge their outstanding research achievements.

Art exhibition
A collection of ceramics and installations titled "Men and Women•This and Less" by Rosanna Li Wei-han will be on show at Singing Waves Gallery from 3 August until 10 September. The artist has held 10 solo exhibitions and taken part in more than 120 group exhibitions. Her major exhibitions in 2013 include "The 27th Asian International Art Exhibition" (Thailand), "2013 Asian Contemporary New Ceramics Exchange Exhibition" (South Korea and Japan), and "Coffee or Tea – Works by Rosanna Li 2013" (Singapore).

Kudos
Dr Annis Fung Lai-chu, Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Social Studies, has recently been presented with a Hero Award at the 3rd Annual Anti-Bullying Summit in Alabama, US, for her contributions to anti-bullying research and effective intervention with evidence-based outcomes in Hong Kong. Dr Fung conducted the Project C.A.R.E. (Children and Adolescents at Risk Education) between 2006 and 2011 with accumulated funding of over $10 million from the Quality Education Fund to study school bullying in local primary and secondary schools.

Dr Alan Chan Hoi-shou, Associate Professor in the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, was appointed Justice of the Peace by the HKSAR Government on 1 July 2013. In addition, he has been re-appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Council for a term of two years with effect from 22 August 2013.

Supported by the Office of Education Development and Gateway Education, Jacky Lai Chun-tak, studying for a BEng (Hons) in Electronic and Communication Engineering in the Department of Electronic Engineering, received a Certificate of Merit after coming in the top 5 in a Green Innovation Design Competition with his project "Low cost intelligent energy controller". The competition was part of a nation-wide activity initiated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China. Jacky competed against 56 teams from other local higher education institutes. He received the title "Environment-Friendly Youth Ambassador", and CityU was awarded the title "Base for Environment-Friendly Youth Ambassadors", too.

PhD candidate Wang Zhiguan of the Department of Electronic Engineering received the Lotfi Zadeh Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics (ICMLC) and International Conference on Wavelet Analysis and Pattern Recognition (ICWAPR) 2013 for her paper titled "An Efficient Searching Algorithm Based on Local Shape Complementarity of Hydrogen Bonds and Relaxation Labeling For Protein-Ligand Docking". Her supervisor is Professor Hong Yan, Chair Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Science and Engineering. Wang Zhiguan's paper was one of six selected from a total of 339 papers submitted this year, and she was the sole award recipient.