20 OCT 2025 (MON) 18:30-19:30

GEOG HKU
Oct 5
2 min read

Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series:

Micro Campus, Macro Future – STEMtification of HK Geography in Secondary Education: School-Based Microclimate Monitoring and Forecasting Network in Geography and STEAM Education

Date: 20 OCT 2025 (Monday)

Time: 18:30 – 19:30 (HKT)

Venue: Social Sciences Chamber 11/F, The Jockey Club Tower Centennial Campus, HKU

Registration link: https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=103231

Abstract:

The scorching Urban Heat Island (UHI) impacts are raising concerns in society. More frequent extreme hot days were recorded under the compound effect of climate change and urban development in Hong Kong. To raise awareness among local secondary students, meteorological measurements and urban heat investigations are being integrated into school-based Geography lessons as part of STEM education initiatives. With the assistance of the Community Weather Information Network (Co-WIN), students are engaged and operating community instruments at the rooftop of their schools across the territory. To further expand students’ knowledge and connect them with citizen science through STEM education, a KE project named Spatiotemporal Heat Extremes “Hotspots” Surrounding the School Campus was developed. In this project, students participate in DIY low-cost environmental sensors’ development, fieldwork measurements, and conduct a multi-method heat survey over their school campus with inquiry-based learning pedagogies to quantify the thermal comfort and heat-related health threats of their schools.

Professor Yun Fat Lam

Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Science, The University of Hong Kong

Professor Yun Fat Lam is an Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He received his BS (2001) in Civil Engineering, MS (2004) in Environmental Engineering and PhD (2010) in Civil Engineering in the department of CEE at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. After his graduation, he had worked a year as a post-doctoral research scientist before he joined the City University of Hong Kong as an Assistant Professor where he had spent eight years of his time in teaching and research. Professor Lam is interested in a variety of climate and air quality researches, including ambient air quality sampling, permitting, emission inventory development and future air quality and climate change modelling. Professor Lam has published more than thirty peer-reviewed publications with focuses on urban air pollution and regional climate and air quality modelling. His research interests include regional climate and chemistry downscaling, future climate change, ozone stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE), Asian biomass burning, and ozone pollution. Professor Lam has been a trainer for climate and air quality models for various government agencies, including Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (HKEPD) and Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP) in Japan. Currently, he is serving as members of Air Quality Objectives Review Working Group for Hong Kong Environment Bureau (HKENB), and application of numerical models to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs) for HKEPD.