Welcome to the Centre for Marine Environmental Research and Innovative Technology (MERIT), one the eight "Areas of Excellence" selected by the Hong Kong University Grants Committee (UGC).
MERIT, under the leadership of Prof Rudolf Wu, Chair Professor of City University's Department of Biology and Chemistry, has been awarded $HK 45 million (ca. $US 6 million) by UGC's Area of Excellence (AoE) scheme. Our mission is to develop innovative chemical, biological and engineering technologies for monitoring, assessing, and controlling the effects of human activities on the marine environment. MERIT will assume a leading role in marine environmental research relevant to the protection and conservation of the marine environment through high quality, multidisciplinary research.
The MERIT team is led by the City University of Hong Kong in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Baptist University and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Our team is comprised of 24 outstanding researchers from these six local universities working closely with seven world class scientists in marine environmental research. This will result in an exceptionally high level of synergy through close collaboration between biologists (molecular biologists, genomic technologists, developmental biologists, physiologists, ecologists, environmental toxicologists ), chemists (analytical chemists, environmental chemists, inorganic chemists), physicists, engineers (hydraulic engineers, modelers) and statisticians.
MERIT has also received strong support from a wide spectrum of key stakeholders, including the Environmental Protection Department, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and Department of Health of the HKSAR, United Nations Development Program, World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong, Hong Kong Fishermen's Association, Federation of Hong Kong Industries, and CK Life Sciences International, (Holdings) Inc.. These stakeholders will also serve on MERIT's advisory committee, to ensure that the Centre's output will be directly relevant to Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region. They will also collaborate on various projects, including technology transfer and commercialization of novel technologies.
MERIT 's research activities will be organized under four Task Teams, each with a team leader and a clear objective:
Task Team 1: Novel Technologies for Environmental Diagnosis (Team leader: Prof. David Randall, City University of Hong Kong): to develop a variety of novel chemical, genomic and biomarker technologies for detection and monitoring of toxic chemicals, red tide toxins and waterborne pathogens.
Task Team 2: Field Studies and Validation (Team leader: Prof. Paul Harrison, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology): to validate the various novel technologies developed by Task Team 1 and to study recovery of ecosystems and biomarkers after pollution abatement.
Task Team 3: Impact and Risk Assessments (Team leader: Prof. Joseph Lee, University of Hong Kong): to develop simulation models to estimate carrying capacity of water bodies in relation to pollutants; biokinetic models for bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals, and public health risk assessment and probabilistic models for assessing the risk of toxic chemicals, red tide toxins and over supply of nutrients in local waters.
Task Team 4: Mitigation, Control and Bioremediation Technologies (Team leader: Prof. M.H. Wong, Hong Kong Baptist University): to develop cost-effective technologies for removal of nutrients and man-made toxic chemicals in wastewater, bioremediation technologies for clean-up of contaminated sediments and controlling red tides by application of clay and flocculants.
