and research postgraduates (RPgs). For instance, the number of RPgs, while still in short supply, has already tripled from 283 to 813. Therefore we formulated our 「十年之計」 at the beginning of my deanship nine years ago to develop new space. I am gratified to report to you today that we are now beginning to realise those building dreams. Building dreams First, the Faculty Administration Wing on Tang Court, eponymously named after one of my predecessors Professor Grace Tang’s family, was just commissioned this September along with extension and improvement works in the William Mong Building at 21 Sassoon Road. The Schools of Nursing and Chinese Medicine are getting ready to move into 3 Sassoon Road during the coming summer. Our research team leaders have been busily working with architects to put the finishing touches on detailed 1:50 design plans for the University Block at Grantham Hospital that is slated for completion by the end of 2024. At around the same time, the first of two new clinical training and amenities buildings, incorporating student residential places, will be ready for occupation. Finally, to coincide with our 140th anniversary in 2027, the second clinical training and amenities building will be commissioned together with the green belt development along Pokfulam Road between 3 Sassoon Road and the Ebenezer School. With the support of Government that has been increasingly invested in innovation and technology development for Hong Kong’s future, our research footprints have spread beyond the Island to now include 5,000 sqm laboratory and other work space at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park as well as 1,100 sqm at the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital. Altogether, we will have expanded from 40,000 sqm to 64,000 sqm, equivalent to more than a 50% increase of net operating floor area. Having secured our space needs in situ for the Pokfulam campus and in Hong Kong generally, at least for the medium term, we cast our sight to the other side of the Shenzhen River. The China Dream: Health care and health tech in the Greater Bay Area This September, the University signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a second campus in Nanshan district of Shenzhen that would complement the Hong Kong campus in Pokfulam. Whereas the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese preceded the University by 25 years, HKU-Shenzhen Hospital is already celebrating its tenth anniversary. HKUMed has been and will always be pioneers, opening up fresh tracks with our own footprints. Those tracks were paved with the gut, sweat and tears of our colleagues who had handcarried scarce supplies every day they crossed the border, held their heads high when all around them deemed the project infeasible, resolved a long-running debt repayment crisis, fought off a corporate takeover bid, calmed labour unease with the introduction of modern human resources best practice, and kept faith and rallied the crew when support on the home front has been less than embracing. While University Central has not planned for HKUMed to be amongst the first group of faculties venturing into Shenzhen, we plough on readying ourselves for a fullfledged northern medical campus that is now more than three years in the making and counting. Some worry that much time has been lost and opportunities forgone; I nevertheless remain confident that there is a bright future ahead. The 14th Five-year Plan envisions health innovation and technology as a national strategic cornerstone for the Greater Bay Area. Shenzhen is arguably becoming more dynamic than Silicon Valley for digital technology companies, and has invested very substantially in health care infrastructure and training. Hong Kong retains its leading edge as Asia’s medical hub. All the ingredients for integrated success are ripe for harvest. Our job is to ensure the fruits are picked in good time. As the Director of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office said in August: 「不進則退，慢進也是退」, whereas the Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office summed it up more parochially as 「蘇州過後無艇搭」. Reassuringly, I am pleased to report that we are well on our way to renewing our collaborative agreement with the Shenzhen municipal government in operating the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital. Vice President Professor Peng Gong is leading that effort on the University’s behalf, as I speak in fact he is negotiating across the River. And by 2027, on the 140th anniversary of HKUMed, a new clinical block of 1,000 additional beds and a research block equivalent in floor area to the Laboratory Block at 21 Sassoon Road will be completed at the Hospital. This enhanced capacity for clinical service delivery and evolution towards a truly research-led academic health science complex is a milestone to which we all look forward. 終身之計，莫如樹人 (A lifelong mission of nurturing people) Having sketched out various huge efforts at upgrading the built infrastructure on both sides of the border, let me now turn to the crux of 管子’s lifelong mission or 「終身之計」, which is of course 「莫如樹人」or human capital development. As I said at the beginning, echoing my repeated emphases back in the 2013, 2015, 2017 and most recently 2019 State of the Faculty Addresses, human capital is at the heart of what we do and who we are. But precisely how should a school expand, enhance and enrich its human capital? Research metrics, prizes and awards are often ready proxies for quality. By these measures, we have completed the year in spades. Topping the list are Professors Guan Yi (Public Health), Malik Peiris (Public Health) and Yuen Kwok-yung (Microbiology). The first two became laureates of the 2021 John Dirks Canada 5 The 205th Congregation
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