Media

HKU weekly notice (from November 11 to November 18)

11 Nov 2011

 

HKU Faculty of Engineering Centenary ExhibitionThe Faculty of Engineering is organizing a Centenary Exhibition as part of a series of Centenary celebratory activities in 2011 and 2012.  At the exhibitions, some of the applied research projects of Engineering Departments will be showcased to the public.  The topics include face detection and recognition technology, tracking device and technology for logistic applications, simulation & 3D technology, ventilation, and the application of nano-materials.  The research projects have substantial impact on the way we live.  The details of the upcoming exhibitions are as follows:

Date:  November 14 - 16, 2011 (Monday - Wednesday)
Time: 
Nov 14: 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Nov 15: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm
Nov 16: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Venue: Shatin Town Hall (Exhibition Gallery)
         
For enquiries, please contact HKU Faculty of Engineering Office at 28592803 or email enggfac@hkucc.hku.hk

The Role of the Supreme Court of Canada as a Court of Final Appeal on Constitutional Issues
The Supreme Court of Canada has been Canada's Court of Final Appeal since appeals to the UK Privy Council were abolished in 1949. Generally, the Court's decisions are subject to legislative supremacy, but on constitutional issues, the court has the authority to declare legislation to be inconsistent with the constitution and of no force and effect. Nonetheless, legislative supremacy is ultimately protected. The federal Parliament and provincial legislatures have the power to override key guarantees of rights. Moreover, they have the power to amend constitutional provisions. To date, these provisions have not been invoked to displace Court decisions, and it is likely that any effort to do so would engender strong public opposition. Nonetheless, the public mood can change, and the final say on constitutional issues in Canada remains in the hands of political majorities.

The speaker Marilyn L. Pilkington is an Associate Professor and former Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School of York University

Date: 14 November 2011 (Monday)
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Venue: Room 223, 2/F Knowles Building, HKU

Registration required. For enquiries, please contact Ms Flora Leung by email at fkleung@hku.hk or by phone at 2859 2941.

HKU100 Public Lecture "Statistics and Society: Emerging Challenges in Official Statistics"
The speaker Professor Paul Cheung, Director of United Nations Statistics Division is well known around the world for his contributions to the development of official statistics, and for his pioneering research in the fields of manpower, population, and social planning. He serves as adviser to many countries in the development of their national statistical systems. In particular, he chairs the International Advisory Committees for Iraq and Afghanistan population censuses, and is involved in census monitoring in a number of countries including Kosovo and Serbia. In 2009, he was invited to serve as the Senior Advisor to the Government of China on official statistics. In 2010, he organized the first-ever World Statistics Day held on 20-10-2010 in which over 140 countries and 40 international organizations actively participated in its observance.

Date: November 15, 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Venue: T2, G/F, Meng Wah Complex, HKU

Registration required. For further information, please visit:
http://lx2.saas.hku.hk/seminar/2011/PL-PCheung-20111115.pdf

For enquiries, please contact Ms. Irene Cheung by email at saas@hku.hk or by phone at 2857 8312 or by fax at 2858 9041

Public lecture - City Labours by Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett is a sociologist and the School Professor of Social and Cultural Theory emeritus at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University. His research interests include the relationship between urban design and urban society, urban family patterns, the urban welfare system, the history of cities and the changing nature of work. He has served as a consultant on urban policy to the Labour party and is a frequent commentator in the press.

Date: November 15, 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 6:30pm to 8pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU
Language: English

For further information, please visit: http://fac.arch.hku.hk/

For enquiries, please contact HKU Faculty of Architecture by email at faulty@arch.hku.hk or by phone at 28592149 or by fax at 28572852.

Globalisation, the Global Financial Crisis, and the Reinvention of the State
Globalisation is a word which has been in circulation since about 1962 and is used to describe complex processes of economic and social change making things global in nature or scope. The emphasis is usually on internationalisation although sometimes distinctions are drawn between globalised localism and localised globalism. There has been a tendency in the last 20 years to think mainly of economic globalisation but social and political globalisation are also important and have deep cultural consequences. Globalisation has been linked with capitalism and imperialism in the past but the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has thrown that into question. Early views of globalisation in the first decade after 1990 saw globalisation as reducing the significance of the nation state. Again, the GFC has cast doubt on that and we have seen the resurgence of the nation state as regulator, investor and sometimes economic saviour. At the same time there has been a need for greater international cooperation. Here then are many paradoxes.

In this lecture, Professor John Farrar, a Barrister of the Supreme Courts of Queensland and ACT and High Courts of Australia and New Zealand and Bond University Emeritus Professor of Law, will consider each of the three concepts of globalisation, the GFC and the state and their complex interrelationship.

Date: 17 November 2011 (Thursday)
Time: 6:30 - 7:30 pm
Venue: Theatre 7, Meng Wah Complex, HKU
Chair: Mr. Anthony Neoh, SC

Registration required. For enquiries, please contact Ms Flora Leung by email at fkleung@hku.hk or by phone at 2859 2941.

Kees Metselaar : Dutch Eyes, 25 years of photojournalism in Asia
Kees Metselaar has covered the fall of two dictators in Asia, Marcos in the Philippines and Suharto in Indonesia, got his feet wet in numerous floods and walked with the mujahedin in Afghanistan. He will speak about his experiences and the big changes in photojournalism since he began in the mid-eighties.

He was born on a dairy farm in Holland, graduated as a microbiologist in Amsterdam and started there as a photographer in 1985.  He has been mostly based in Hong Kong since 1989 and has taught photography and news at the JMSC since 2009.  Learn more about him by visiting his website: http://www.photokees.com/

Date: Friday, November 18, 2011
Time: 3:30 - 4:30pm
Venue: Foundation Chamber, Eliot Hall, HKU

For more information, please contact Kylie Chan at kyliec@hku.hk or 22194416.

HKU weekly notice is sent to its subscribers on Friday afternoons. If you want to receive the event highlights, please regieter with Ms Helen Ho by email at hmsho@hku.hk.