ACE Hosted International Symposium on Sustainable Construction Fostering Hong Kong-Mainland-Europe Collaboration

On 15 November 2025, ACE co-organized the Sino-Belgium Symposium on Sustainable Constructions in a hybrid format. This event was jointly coordinated by Prof. Dengwu Jiao (ACE, CityUHK) and Prof. Geert De Schutter (Head of Department, Ghent University), with the support from the East Asia Platform (Ghent University) and guidance from an advisory committee comprising Prof. Jianguo Dai (CityUHK), Prof. Luc Taerwe (Ghent University), and Prof. Yong Yuan (Tongji University).

The symposium began with opening addresses from Prof. Petra De Sutter (Rector of Ghent University), Prof. Jianguo Dai (Chair Professor and Head of Department at CityUHK ACE), and Prof. Luc Taerwe (Emeritus Professor and Director of East Asia Platform). The two sessions, chaired by Prof. Dengwu Jiao (Session 1) and Prof. Yaxin Tao (Session 2), featured more than ten distinguished scholars and experts from Ghent University, Imperial College London, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Tongji University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shandong University, and several research institutes. Presentations focused on the theme of Green Technology and Sustainable Construction, delivering cutting-edge insights into areas including durability of advanced cementitious materials, intelligent construction robots, phase distribution in 3D-printed concrete, concrete rheology, numerical modeling, low-carbon cement development, lithium slag-based binders, and silane-based superplasticizers for alkali-activated materials. The symposium was concluded by Prof. Geert De Schutter with closing remarks and prospective collaborations.

This symposium attracted over 50 participants both online and onsite, including scholars and students from City University of Hong Kong, Ghent University, Tongji University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Jiangsu Solute New Materials Co., Ltd, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and University of Melbourne, and Wuhan University of Technology. The event served as a dynamic platform for strengthening international cooperation and academic exchange among researchers from Hong Kong, Mainland, and Europe.