Professor JIM, Chi Yung

BA HK; PhD Reading; CertHydrology US Geol Survey; MISoilSci; CSci; MHKIP (Hon); BH; JP

Chair Professor of Geography & Environmental Science

Professor Jim obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (First Class Honours) in Geography and Geology from HKU, PhD in Soil Science from the University of Reading, in the UK, and a Certificate in Hydrology from the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, USA. His long-standing community services have been recognized by the Badge of Honour and Justice of the Peace awards.

Academic and professional appointments

Currently:

• Chair Professor of Geography and Environmental Science, Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies, Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK).
• Chair Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong (HKU).
• Honorary Professor, Department of Geography, HKU.

Previously

• Research Chair Professor of Geography and Environmental Science, Department of Social Sciences, EdUHK.
• Chair Professor Department of Geography, HKU.
• Head, Department of Geography, HKU.
• Dean, Faculty of Arts, HKU.
• Master, Robert Black College, HKU.

International research recognition

Professor Jim is recognised internationally as a leading researcher, educator and advocate for understanding, conserving, creating and refining nature in cities. He has published over 460 scientific papers and books and has accumulated more than 43 years of teaching and research experience, in both the conceptual and applied domains. He has supervised to graduation 52 mainly PhD and some MPhil students. His research achievements can be reflected by the following internationally recognised benchmarks:

• The Stanford University Top 2% Scientists study in 2023 ranked him the first in the world in Forestry research (1/30711 researchers) for both career-long and current-year categories.
• The Stanford University Top 2% Scientists study in 2022 ranked him the third in the world in Built Environment research (3/28776 researchers).
• The Stanford University Top 2% Scientists study in 2021 ranked him the ninth in the world in Urban and Regional Planning research (9/8522 researchers).
• The Clarivate Analytics' Essential Science Indicators has identified him as a Top 1% Scholar of the World since 2012.
• The ISI Web of Science acknowledged him as the most cited scholar of the world in the field of urban greening.
• The International Society of Arboriculture has awarded the L.C. Chadwick Award to him in recognition of his tree research excellence.
• HKU has bestowed on him the Outstanding Researcher Award and Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award.
• HKU Student Union recognised his teaching performance with the Best Teacher Award.

The research endeavours of Professor Jim revolve around the core theme of nature-in-the-city, encompassing urban ecology, urban forestry, urban soil science, urban climatology, urban green infrastructure, green roofs, green walls (vertical greening), natural and artificial turf, and urban nature conservation. Adopting multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, and emphasising compact, densely populated cities, he focuses geographically on Hong Kong and other Chinese cities. Besides his scholarly work, Professor Jim is active in community service, as chairman and member of government advisory bodies and NGOs. Contributing actively to knowledge exchange, he has extended his research findings to promoting and improving urban greening, especially in the context of high-density urbanisation.

Other highlights

• Honorary Member, Hong Kong Institute of Planners, 2009.
• Justice of the Peace (JP), 1997.
• Badge of Honour (BH), 1995.
• Chadwick Award, International Society of Arboriculture, for research distinction in tree science, 2014.
• Silver Medal, Invention Geneva 2021, Tree Assessment for Life Education (TALE) Project.
• Gold Medal and Special Award, International Invention Innovation Competition, Canada (iCAN) 2021, Tree Assessment for Life Education.
• Fellow of the Arboricultural Association (UK), 1996.
• Croucher Foundation Fellow 1987.
• Commonwealth Scholar 1977-1980.

• Listed publications: Scopus = 326; Google Scholar = 534
• Citations: Scopus = 12,320; Google Scholar = 21,198
• h-index: Scopus = 58; Google Scholar = 78; i10-index: Google Scholar = 267
• Author of 40 scholarly books and over 400 refereed papers

• Co-Editor-in-Chief of Urban Ecosystems (Springer, New York)
• Associate editor or editorial board of nine reputable international journals
• Teaching the largest class ever in the history of HKU, with over 1000 students
• Outstanding Researcher Award, HKU (first batch)
• Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award, HKU
• Best Teacher Award, HKU Student Union (first batch)
• Long Service Award, HKU (twice)
• Supervised to graduation 52 mainly PhD and some MPhil research students

Research weblinks

• ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4052-8363
• Scopus Author ID 7006143750: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7006143750
• Google Scholar Citations: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aZobaBoAAAAJ
• Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/CY_Jim
• EdUHK: https://oraas0.ied.edu.hk/rich/web/people_details.jsp?pid=227359
• EdUHK Researcher Repository: https://repository.eduhk.hk/en/persons/chi-yung-jim/publications/

• Urban ecology, urban biodiversity and nature conservation
• Urban forestry, tree planting, care and management (arboriculture)
• Urban soil science, characterisation, limitations, amelioration and management
• Urban climatology, thermal comfort, microclimatic benefits of green-cum-blue covers, and climate-change adaptation
• Urban green infrastructure, as sustainable city and nature-based solutions
• Urban spatial-environmental planning, conservation, enhancement and creation of nature in cities

Urban ecology

Urban forestry

Urban green infrastructure

Nature-based solutions for sustainable cities

Current Notable External Appointments



Expert advisor to Hong Kong bodies

• Executive Committee and Trustee, Friends of the Country Parks (FOCP) (1999–).
• Specialist Assessor, Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) (2016–).
• Expert Advisor, Hong Kong Science Museum (2016–).
• Advisory Member, Greening Master Plan Committee (2004–).
• Governing Council, Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) (appointed 2017–2024).
• External advisor, Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA), Panel on Accredited Arborists (2018–2020).
• Non-Panel Reviewer of research grant applications, Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding Scheme, Central Policy Unit (2016–).
• Expert Reviewer of research grant applications, Environment and Conservation Fund (2023)
• Honorary Professor, Faculty of Design and Environment, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) (2016–2021).
• Emeritus Professor, University of Hong Kong (2018–).
• Honorary Professor, Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong (2018–).
• Honorary Professor, Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong (2018–2022).
• External Examiner, BSc (Hon) Horticulture, Arboriculture and Landscape Management, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (2021–).
• External Examiner for the Degree Modules in the Department of Social Sciences, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (2018–).
• Physical Sciences Panel, Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), Research Grants Committee (RGC) (2018–).
• Social Sciences Panel, Hong Kong Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), Research Grants Committee (RGC) (2019–).
• International Urban Forestry Conference, Hong Kong, Chairman of international session (2024)
• Member, High-level Advisory Panel, Chief Executive’s Award for Teaching Excellence (CEATE) (2018/2019).
• Member, Academic Review Committee of Hong Kong Chronicles, Our Hong Kong Foundation (2019–).
• Management Board, Tong Mei Road Government Primary School (2019-).
• Board of Governors, Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education (2019–2024).
• Council Member, Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education (2012–2024).
• Member, HKQAA Remuneration Committee (2020-2024).
• Chairman, HKQAA Certification Review Board (2020-2024).
• Chairman, HKQAA Technical Committee on Environmental Management (2020-2024).
• Chairman, HKQAA Technical Committee on Hygiene Control Systems (2020-2024).
• External Examiner for PhD thesis, Chinese University of Hong Kong (2017, 2019, 2022).
• External Examiner for PhD thesis, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2017, 2022).

Expert advisor to international bodies

• External Expert Advisor, Center for Tree Science, Morton Arboretum, Chicago (2013–).
• External Expert, Academic Board for PhD, University of Florence (2017–).
• Scientific Committee, First World Forum on Urban Forests, FAO, United Nations (2018).
• Group Member of FAO (UN) Asia Pacific Outlook Study on Urban Forestry (2018).
• External reviewer of Urban Forestry e-learning course for the FAO e-Learning Academy, United Nations (2023–2024).
• Adjudicator for international green roof award, Word Green Infrastructure Network (2024–).
• Official nominator for the VinFuture Prize (2024–).

External examiner for PhD thesis

• University of Wales Bangor (1995).
• Sydney University (2014).
• Copenhagen University (2015).
• National University of Singapore (2013, 2017).
• University of New South Wales (2018).
• University of Putra Malaysia (2020).
• University of Malaya (2019, 2020, 2023).
• Melbourne University (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023).
• Griffith University (2023).

External assessor for research grant applications

• UK Natural Environment Research Council (2011, 2015, 2016).
• Kazakhstan National Centre of Science and Technology Evaluation (2017).
• European Union COST research grants (2014, 2017).
• Belgium Fund for Scientific Research (2019).
• UK Medical Research Council (2019).
• Cyprus University ONISILOS Funding Scheme (2019).
• European Union Horizon research grants (2020).
• European Research Council (2020).
• Singapore Housing Development Board Research & Development Programme (2020a, 2020b).
• Israel Ministry of Science and Technology (2021).
• Hebrew University, Israel (2021).
• Swiss National Science Foundation (2022).
• Discovery Grant, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (2023).
• United Arab Emirates University, UAE (2024).
• Cities of Tomorrow (CoT) R&D Programme, National Research Foundation of Singapore (2024).

External Assessor for the appointment of professors

• University of Malaya (1999).
• National Taiwan University (2009).
• UC Berkeley (2011).
• Asian Institute of Technology (2011).
• University of Dublin (2014).
• United Arab Emirates University (2014).
• Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2015).
• Melbourne University (2015).
• National University of Singapore (2016).
• University of British Columbia (2018, 2016).
• University Putra Malaysia (2019).
• UC Davis (2022).
• University of Melbourne (2022).
• University of the Punjab (2022).
• Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2023).

International journal editorship

• Co-Editor-in-Chief, Urban Ecosystems, Springer, New York (ISI journal; 2021–).
• Editorial Board, Landscape and Urban Planning, Elsevier, Amsterdam (ISI journal; ranked first in Urban Studies Group; 2004–).
• Editorial Board, Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, Elsevier, Amsterdam (ISI journal; ranked Q1 in Urban Studies Group; 2002–).
• Associate Editor, Urban Ecosystems, Springer, New York (ISI journal; 2011–2021).
• Associate Editor, Arboriculture and Urban Forestry, flagship journal of the International Society of Arboriculture, Champaign, IL (2010–).
• Editorial Board, Cities, Elsevier, Amsterdam (ISI journal; ranked Q1 in Urban Studies Group; 2004–).
• Editorial Board, Pedosphere, Elsevier, Amsterdam (ISI journal; 2002–).
• Editorial Board (founding member), Socio-Ecological Practice Research, Springer, New York (New journal; 2018–).
• Editorial Board, Arboriculture and Urban Forestry, International Society of Arboriculture, Champaign, IL (2005–2008).
• Editorial Board, Arboricultural Journal, Arboricultural Association; Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, UK (1991–).
• Editorial Board, Forests, MDPI, Basel, Switzerland (ISI journal; 2021–2024).
• Editorial Board, Journal of Geographical Sciences, Springer, Beijing (ISI journal; 2001–).
• Editorial Board, Journal of Geographical Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei (2002–).
• Editorial Board, Asian Geographer, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, UK (2017–).