The world is facing a confluence of crises in food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, and peace and security that threaten the very survival of humanity. To put the world on track to sustainability will require concerted action on a global scale. The education system plays an important role in raising awareness of sustainable development goals and teaching the skills needed for a sustainable world. CUHK has joined the multi-institutional Future17 programme, taking students on a journey to unleash their creativity and develop solutions that tackle SDG-related challenges.
A CUHK professor is trying to turn Geographical Information Science into a vehicle for improving people's lives. From helping protect the vulnerable groups who are most at risk of COVID-19 to monitoring the safety of public infrastructure, her work shows how the field can be a force for good.
You might feel perplexed if you were to live in a town where you had to order coffee and buy clothes using sign language, especially when you know nothing about signing. This town might not exist in real life but it does virtually by a university research team which aims to promote sign language and social inclusion among the hearing and the deaf in a fun way. “SignTown”, an online AI assisted game launched by a team of CUHK sign language researchers and overseas partners, allows you to learn signs in a fictional town while completing daily tasks like a deaf person would, all simply in front of a camera.
Parents should keep an early lookout for their kids having difficulty in Chinese, English and mathematics. It may signal a disability. Waiting for a time-consuming face to face assessment might miss the best time for intervention. A CUHK team is building an online assessment tool that lets parents predict early their kids’ learning problems in these core subjects for a timely and satisfactory solution.
Mangrove wetlands help with climate change by retaining carbon but the methane they emit counters the benefit. An international study shows the good being done by retention is reduced by emission to half over 20 years. And the balance is tipping the wrong way because of global warming and river discharge.