WUN and mobility schemes advance water services research

Since 2014, a team of international researchers led by Prof. Julien Chaisse in the Faculty of Law at CUHK has been investigating how arbitral tribunals have dealt with the failure of contracts to manage privatised water supplies by focusing on economic cases of water privatisation. The collaborative effort was first kick-started by an award from the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Research Development Fund that brought researchers from across continents together to discuss and develop concrete research plans and grant proposals.

‘WUN allowed me to engage in research on a large scale. I have been able to produce a number of events and publications, and build a network of international scholars which can pool scientific resources and apply for new projects,’ Prof. Julien Chaisse said.

Encouraged by the initial success, the team is determined to continue the collaboration and extend it to other areas. Prof. Chaisse and his collaborator at the University of Sydney, Prof. Tihomir Ancev in the School of Economics, have had several research exchange visits under the CUHK Internationalisation Faculty Mobility Schemes. With the support of the schemes, the collaboration was extended further to involve Prof. Xu Yuan in the Department of Geography and Resource Management. Prof. Xu and Prof. Ancev are planning to work together in projects on energy and environmental policy.

Two books edited by Prof. Chaisse that feature contributions from his collaborators were released recently: The Regulation of the Global Water Services Market (Cambridge University Press, January 2017) and Charting the Water Regulatory Future: Issues, Challenges and Directions (Edward Elgar Publishing, January 2017).

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The University has in place a number of Internationalisation Faculty Mobility Schemes to strengthen the international exposure of its faculty members and visibility of CUHK as a whole. An economy class air ticket and accommodation are provided for selected outbound faculty members while hotel/on-campus accommodation support is provided for inbound visiting scholars. In 2016-17, more than 70 awards were given under the schemes.

The schemes are now open for application for 2017-18. The application deadline is 13 April 2017. Please visit the website for more details of the schemes.