HKU Law Awarded Five KE Impact Projects 2021/2022

The University of Hong Kong's Knowledge Exchange (KE) Funding Scheme for Impact Projects supports projects that have the potential to create social, economic, environmental or cultural impacts for industry, business or the community by building on expertise or knowledge in the University and projects designed to collect evidence for corroboration and evaluation of impacts. Engagement projects that aim to benefit non-academic communities beyond Hong Kong are strongly encouraged.

     Five projects are supported under the KE Impact Project Grant Scheme in the 2021/22 with an exceptional outstanding case being awarded with the maximum funding amount of HK$150,000. Congratulations to :

• Ms Amanda Whitfort "Wildlife Crime: Knowledge Transfer for Informed Sentencing in Greater China". This ongoing interdisciplinary project involves a collaboration between Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort, Faculty of Law, Dr Caroline Dingle, School of Biological Sciences and Dr Gary Ades, Head of Fauna, Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden, in producing species victim impact statements, showing the impact of wildlife crime on endangered species. These statements aid the Agricultural Fisheries and Conservation Department, Customs and Excise Department and the Department of Justice (Hong Kong) and Forestry police and prosecutors in the PRC to effectively prosecute wildlife crimes, and assist the judiciary in Hong Kong to deter, through effective sentencing, wildlife offences against Hong Kong legislation.

• Ms Isabella Wenting Liu and Ms Stephanie Biedermann “Understanding Rule of Law for Secondary School Students”. The project aims at enhancing Hong Kong secondary school students’ understanding of the rule of law and its crucial role as the foundation of Hong Kong’s success and institutions. HKU law students will develop teaching plans on different rule of law topics and deliver legal talks at secondary schools. This project provides a platform for HKU students and secondary schools to form connections and develop a forum for discussion on foundational legal concepts. Teaching materials will be made accessible to the wider community through the ROLE website (www.role.hku.hk).

• Ms Darcy Lynn Davison-Roberts “Employment & Labour Claims Knowledge Hub”. In partnership with LITE Lab@HKU, A2J and HKWWA, this project seeks to implement the Hub; a technology-based caselaw databank for use by the primary beneficiary HKWWA. The Hub will provide the means by which HKWWA can collect, collate and analyse labour and employment caselaw and in turn facilitate their mission of promoting and improving women workers’ interests and status in Hong Kong through their advocacy work. Once established, the project intends to make the Hub open-sourced and available to other NGOs. This project aims to achieve greater transparency in the judicial decision-making process and to increase access to justice for grassroots, female workers in respect of their labour and employment law issues in Hong Kong.

• Ms Darcy Lynn Davison-Roberts “Legal Advice Programme for Grassroots Women Workers”. This project aims to address the lack of employment and labour law expertise and legal resources available to the grassroots women workers served by the primary beneficiary, the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association (“HKWWA”). By conducting a needs and capacity assessment, the project will first seek to understand what HKWWA, and its clients identify as their existing and future legal needs and what legal knowledge and resources exist within HKWWA. Following this preliminary analysis, the project will revise and expand upon HKWWA’s existing legal case handling practices and knowledge base and design and implement a bespoke monthly community legal advice programme similar to those utilised by other Hong Kong NGOs.

• Dr Richard Wai Seng Wu “Building Better Lawyers in China and Australia in the Post-Covid-19 Era Through Strengthening Their Capabilities in Innovation, Creativity and Ethics with Experiential Learning”. This interdisciplinary project aims to build better lawyers in China and Australia by strengthening their capabilities in innovation, creativity and ethics in the post-Covid-19 era. Cutting-edge knowledge in these areas will be delivered through webinars to lawyers in these two countries by academics from HKU, UC Berkeley, Melbourne University and Birmingham University, as well as law firm partners, legal counsel and legal technologist who have local experience in China and Australia. This project seeks to create social impact by raising Chinese and Australian lawyers’ awareness of the importance of innovation, creativity and ethics for globalized legal practice in post-Covid-19 era.