Faculty Knowledge Exchange (KE) Award 2015

Dr Petra Bach
Department of Earth Sciences
Project: 'Design and Establishment of the Stephen Hui Geological Museum’

Dr Bach is the designer and curator of the Stephen Hui Geological Museum, which is the first and only geological museum in Hong Kong. The accessible displays of 1,500 genuine fossils, minerals and rocks are intended to provide an object-based learning facility for understanding the nature and evolution of our planet Earth. Much care was taken in creating a setting that evokes a sense of exploration in an outdoor environment and depicts the natural occurrence of fossils and different rocks usually encountered in field. A bilingual museum webpage was also developed as one of the very few available comprehensive English / Chinese websites devoted to Earth Sciences. The museum welcomes at least over 20,000 visitors every year and has become a recognised resource for Earth Science education in Hong Kong. Since its opening, the 2.5-hour long guided museum tours were enjoyed by more than 25,000 participants. In addition, the museum has developed teaching loan sets for educational bodies, workshops as well as temporary exhibitions.