Obituary

In memory of Ir SZE Tak Wei John

The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers expresses our deepest sorrow over the passing away of Ir Sze Tak Wei John on 10 January 2023 at the age of 93.

We remembered Ir John Sze for his infectious passion, not only his contributions in the telecommunications industry, but also his devotion to community services. He worked in Cable and Wireless Limited Hong Kong from 1951 to 1973 with skills covering MF, HF, VHF, Microwave and Satellite systems. In 1969, he was the Cable and Wireless Staff Union Chairman and led the industrial action to fight for the same salary and benefits (同工同酬) for local staff, demanding an equivalent to expatriate staff for carrying out the same type of work. In 1973, he operated his own communication business ranging from trunk radio, paging, microwave systems to digital radio alarm network service, GPS monitoring, and smartcard systems with services in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. One of his remarkable achievements was the pioneer introduction of the Care-on-call “平安鐘” service to enhance the caring and medical attention to the elderly in Hong Kong.

Ir John Sze joined the HKIE for more than 50 years and served as the Chairman of Electronics Division for Session 1999/2000, Chairman of Information Technology Division for Session 2002/2003 and Council Member (Division) during Sessions 2000/2001 and 2001/2002. He was the founding Chairman of the HKIE Veneree Club “睿賢學社” in 2012. The Club served retired engineers with monthly talks and regular visits. He served on various advisory committees of the government and universities. He also represented the HKIE to give opinions and comments on public affairs and issues related to electronics and IT engineering.

Ir John Sze was also dedicated to community services and joined Rotary Club in 1946. He established the Rotary Club of Kowloon Northeast (九龍東北扶輪社) in 1986 and took chairmanship and was a committee member for more than 30 years. Regular community activities were organised, including cooperation with the Hong Kong Federation of Handicapped Youth (香港傷殘青年協會), a registered charitable organisation managed by people with disabilities. In 2004, he started to learn Cantonese Opera (粵劇) and in subsequent years participated in many charitable performances.

Ir John Sze’s telecommunication skills and his devoted community services, in particular, his motto “Never say Re-tired (永不言休)”, are always treasured by all our hearts.

Ir John Sze is survived by his wife with one son and one daughter. We would like to express our deepest condolences to his family.

May his soul rest in peace.

The Council at its meeting held on 19 January 2023 adopted the nomination procedures for election of Vice President (VP) for Session 2023/2024 on the day of the 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM).

There will be one vacant post of VP and the nomination period opens on 8 February 2023. Nomination Form, Procedures and Schedule for VP Nomination and other details for election of VP could be downloaded from the HKIE website at www.hkie.org.hk. In accordance with paragraph 2.1 of the Procedures and Schedule for VP Nomination, each nomination must be proposed by a current Council Member and supported by four current Council Members, where each Council Member could propose or support one nomination only for each vacancy. The requirements of VP as stipulated in Article 16 Clause (b) of the Constitution are extracted below:

“The Vice Presidents shall be nominated by the Council from among the Fellows who have been Council Members for at least two years for election by Corporate Members on the day of the Annual General Meeting. …”

Each nomination shall be delivered to the Chief Executive and Secretary by completing the Nomination Form for election of VP for Session 2023/2024. Candidate shall also submit the following supplementary information on a single sided A4 paper for circulation to Council Members for consideration:

• personal information
• present position or occupation and brief work history 
• membership and offices (present and/or former) held in the Institution
• a brief supporting statement

The original signed copy of the Nomination Form together with the supplementary information of the Candidate must be delivered to the Chief Executive and Secretary on or before Friday, 10 March 2023 at 5:30pm.

Report of Activities for Session 2022/2023

The Report of Activities contains President’s report, Chief Executive and Secretary’s report, and reports from various boards, committees, discipline advisory panels and divisions.

To protect the environment by minimising paper use and support the Institution in pursuant of digitalisation, members are encouraged to refer to the electronic version of the Report which will be available on the Institution’s website.

If you prefer a printed copy of the Report, please indicate at the Member Login Area of the HKIE website by Friday, 28 April 2023. Late orders will not be accommodated.

HKIE Diary 2024

The HKIE Diary is a pocket-sized planner featuring information about the Institution and useful telephone numbers. Members may place an order for a complimentary copy of the HKIE Diary 2024 at the Member Login Area of the HKIE website by Thursday, 31 August 2023.

Upon successful order, members will receive an acknowledgement email in September 2023, and the HKIE Diary will be sent out in December 2023. Late orders will only be accommodated while stock lasts and an administrative charge of HK$40 will apply.

HKIE Member Login Area

https://www.hkie.org.hk/memberarea/

For enquiries on the access of the HKIE Member Login Area, please contact mlssuport@hkie.org.hk.

Remarks:

• Members are encouraged to update your correspondence address at “My Profile” under “Services” in the Member Login Area.
• Please note that only subscribed members with valid membership will receive the publication(s) ordered.
• Student Members under the Free Student Membership Scheme are not eligible to order the Report of Activities and the HKIE Diary.

Date and Venue
The 45th Annual Dinner will be held at Convention Hall, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Harbour Road, Wanchai on Friday, 17 March 2023.

Dress Code
Black tie

Principal Guest and Guest of Honour
We are honoured to have invited The Hon John KC LEE, GBM, SBS, PDSM, PMSM, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Ir Thomas O S HO, JP, Chairman of Construction Industry Council to be our Principal Guest and Guest of Honour respectively.

Price
HK$1,800 per person which covers a western set dinner and one complimentary drink. Other drinks during and after the dinner will be on members' own account.

Reservation & enquiries
Please visit the HKIE website at www.hkie.org.hk/AnnualDinner for further details. For enquiries, please contact the HKIE Conference and Function Section at Tel: 2895 4446 or by Email: conf3@hkie.org.hk.

The online CPD logbook service is now in operation to provide solely for members of the HKIE to record their personal CPD activities. Members are invited to enter the Member Login area of our website to access to this online free-of-charge CPD logbook for keeping a systemic record of their CPD participation.

For trainees who are under the formal training schemes of the HKIE, they will remain to be required to record their CPD activities in the Record of CPD with endorsement by their Engineering Supervisors.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Member Login Service Support at mlssupport@hkie.org.hk.

The Engineering Council (UK) implemented “SARTOR3” system from 1999. Accredited MEng degrees or accredited BEng degrees plus matching sections are required to satisfy the academic requirements for Chartered Engineers in the United Kingdom. The HKIE is a signatory to the Washington Accord and the HKIE recognizes the accredited MEng or accredited BEng degrees plus matching sections of the Engineering Council (UK) from first intake year 1999 as satisfying the academic requirements for Member of the HKIE.

With effect from 1 March 2004, the “SARTOR3” system has been replaced by the “UK-SPEC”. The Engineering Council (UK) has revised UK-SPEC and has implemented it from 31 December 2021. The academic requirements for Chartered Engineers (CEng) Registration are:

1. An accredited Bachelors degree with honours in engineering or technology, plus either an appropriate Masters degree or engineering doctorate accredited by a Licensee*, or appropriate further learning to Masters level
2. An accredited integrated MEng degree
3. An accredited Bachelors degree with honours in engineering or technology started before September 1999
4. Equivalent qualifications or apprenticeships accredited or approved by a Licensee*, or at an equivalent level in a relevant national or international qualifications framework

*Licensee is the engineering institutions that have been licensed by the Engineering Council (UK) to assess individuals for professional registration.

The HKIE shall accept graduates from the UK as satisfying the academic requirements for Member of the Institution if they could provide document proof from the Engineering Council (UK) that they have satisfied the academic requirements (i) to (iii) above for Chartered Engineers (CEng) Registration.

Commencing 1 January 2019, competence-based approach to CPD activities will be fully implemented as part of CPD requirements for Corporate Members. Corporate Members are required to undertake, out of the 30 hours per year, at least 5 hours each for two areas of CPD activities, namely “Discipline-Specific Technical Matters” (DSTM) and “Broader Areas of Studies” (BAS) or “General Professional Matters” (GPM). In 2021, the HKIE further updated the CPD requirements for its members. Corporate Members are required to attend at least 3 hours per year of CPD activities related to “Health and Safety” (H&S) effective for CPD declaration from 2022 onwards.

Corporate Members are required to complete and return an annual CPD Declaration Form together with the membership subscription advice to the Institution. A random checking, usually 1% sampling, on all Corporate Members, will be conducted on an annual basis. Members who are selected for checking will be asked to submit their evidences of CPD.

The following actions shall be taken in case of non-compliance:

1. Corporate Members will receive a warning letter if they fail to comply with the CPD requirement for the first year that they were selected for sampling, and will be asked to submit their CPD attainment again for the following year; Warning letters will be issued to Corporate Members who fail to comply in two consecutive years. The HKIE Continuing Professional Development Committee (CPDC) will also follow up with those Corporate Members on the reasons of non-compliance;
2. Corporate Members who fail to comply with the CPD requirement again in the second year may be asked to submit their CPD attainment for the following year and be invited to an interview with CPD Committee Representative(s) or to attend specific HKIE CPD activities proposed by the CPDCSP; and
3. Corporate Members who fail to attend interview or the specific HKIE CPD activities in the third year may have their names published in the HKIE website and the HKIE journal; the frequency of which shall be determined by the CPDC.

For details, please refer to the “Guidance Notes for Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for Corporate Members” which is available on the HKIE website at http://www.hkie.org.hk.

Corporate Membership has satisfied the Commissioner for Labour in respect of section 6BA(4), Cap 59 since 1998 on the understanding that Corporate Members have undertaken a minimum units in the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, which include updates on occupational health and safety legislation. On the basis that Corporate Members will continuously update their knowledge in occupational safety and health through CPD, Corporate Members of the HKIE do not need to take mandatory basic safety training before entering construction sites.

Please note that the HKIE is required to provide such CPD records concerning the recognition of the Corporate Members’ training for the purpose of section 6BA, Cap 59 upon the request of the Labour Department.

Corporate Members and Associate Members who have been removed from the membership roll (due to resignation or striking off by Council resolution) for more than seven years will be required to submit fresh applications should they wish to re-join the Institution. All other grades of members who have been removed from the membership roll (due to resignation or striking off by Council resolution) for more than three years will be required to submit fresh applications should they wish to re-join the Institution. Subject to the above, the current payment scale for reinstatement of membership other than for non-resident members, is a reinstatement fee of HK$400 (for administration purpose), plus all arrears in subscription. The arrears in subscription shall be subject to a maximum of three years’ subscriptions prior to the application for reinstatement of membership.

Non-resident members who apply for the reinstatement of membership as non-resident members shall only be required to pay a reinstatement fee of HK$400; all arrears in subscription shall be waived. All other requirements for reinstatement of membership shall remain unchanged.

HKIE Transactions is an international journal that provides a forum for discussing all aspects of engineering from both theoretical and practical perspectives. All published papers are available at http://www.hkie.org.hk/hkietransactions.

Volume 29 Number 4 - Special issue for The HKIE Outstanding Paper Award for Young Engineers/ Researchers 2022

Papers included:

Awarded papers

Critical study on the extraction of collagen from eggshell membrane by enzymatic hydrolysis reaction

By Xiangxuan Deng*, Shan Liang, Kwing-san Wan, Tsz-yat Young, Kam-yim Young, Ming-yin Shan, Pak-kui Tang and Wai-lun Chan

Design criteria for strut-and-tie modelling in Hong Kong practice

By T N Wong* and R K L Su

Numerical study of electrochemical thermocells for harvesting low-grade waste heat

By Chun Cheng*, Shien-Ping Feng and Meng Ni

Shortlisted papers

Building information modelling-based integrated design process for green building applied in O•PARK2 and potential contribution to carbon neutral construction

By Zi Yang*, Da Shi, Chris Kee Wo Leung, Yanxiang Cui, Ji Dai and Victor Yick Nam Wu

Suicide risk level prediction and suicide trigger detection: a benchmark dataset

By Jun Li*, Xinhong Chen , Zehang Lin, Kaiqi Yang, Hong Va Leong, Nancy Xiaonan Yu and Qing Li

*The first author who was at the age of 35 or below on the closing date of submission to The HKIE Outstanding Paper Award for Young Engineers/Researchers 2022.

“Proud to be Engineers” lapel pin

This golden, square-shaped lapel pin (equipped with a butterfly clutch) features the Simplified Dragon Coat of Arms at its centre and the words “Proud to be Engineers” — the Presidential Theme of Session 2022/2023 — on the sides. This simple but elegant design matches well with a suit and gives the pin’s wearers a sleek appearance that makes them proudly and instantly recognisable as engineers. The pin is available for sale at HK$100 each.

The HKIE Diary 2023

The HKIE Thermo Cup

HKIE ties

With an eye-catching and stylish design, the HKIE Ties are among the most popular souvenirs for our members. Three ties are now available and may be an essential piece to add to your wardrobe. Embroidered with the simplified HKIE Dragon Coat of Arms, either in a single or monogram pattern, the ties are timeless accessories for fellow engineers and suitable for every occasion. The three ties are now available at HK$100 each.

For details of our whole range of souvenirs, please visit: https://hkie.org.hk/en/membership/souvenir/.

For enquiries and ordering, please contact our reception dest at 2895 4446.