Understanding city-scale environment for people and microbes

Presenter: Prof Yuguo Li from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong

A livable habitat is necessary and essential for both people and microorganisms. Many scientists and engineers explored how major environment parameters in a habitat are maintained and changed, and how we might design such habitat for improving the environment and climate for its occupants, and for controlling the transmission of infectious microbes. The transport phenomena at the micro-scale surface touch and meso-scale city climate are linked.

Our research team at the University of Hong Kong has been attempting to understand the physics of such city-scale environment. I shall report our recent progress in understanding the possible new local synergistic warming phenomenon in Hong Kong, how the urban heat island circulation impact on urban air pollution/climate, and how the microbes are transmitted on the surface network and indoor contact network in a large city, and how these findings may impact on city design and policy.

Bio

Dr. Yuguo Li is Professor, Associate Dean of Engineering (Research) and former Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong. He studied at Shanghai Jiaotong University, Tsinghua and KTH in Stockholm, and was a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO. His main research interests are on built environment engineering (indoor air quality, city climate, and environment studies of infection). He led the development of 2009 WHO guidelines on natural ventilation.  He currently serves as an Associate Editor of Indoor Air, and President of ISIAQ Academy of Fellows. He received John Rydberg Gold Medal from SCANVAC in 2014, and an Honorary Doctor Degree from Aalborg University, Denmark, 2015 and the Inoue Memorial Award, SHASE, Japan in 2016. He was elected a Fellow of ASHRAE, ISIAQ, HKIE, and IMechE.

If anyone is interested to meet Prof Yuguo Li for research discussion, please email to  Dr Zhiwen (Vincent) Luo (z.luo@reading.ac.uk) to make an arrangement.