23 July 2024

Organised by UNESCO World Heritage Institute of Training and Research-Asia and the Pacific Region, the “2024 Global Awards for World Heritage Education Innovative Cases” award ceremony was held on 23 July 2024 in New Delhi, India. The HSUHK Tiger Balm Garden Metaverse Virtual Reality project was judged in three rounds of expert reviews and highly impressed the panel, who selected it to win the “Star of Outstanding” award among hundreds of global projects.

As a cross-institutional project, HSUHK spearheaded a collaborative endeavour with Hong Kong Chu Hai College, HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education, and the University of Hong Kong for this funded project supported by the Education Bureau. The project was led by Dr Eugene Wong, Associate Professor at the Department of Supply Chain and Information Management and Director of Virtual Reality Centre at HSUHK, who worked with Professor Desmond Hui, Head of the Department of Art and Design; Dr Patrick Mok, Assistant Professor at the Department of Art and Design, and other HSUHK staff members. It was also supported by the Virtual Reality Centre and Centre of Teaching and Learning. The project aims to reconstruct lost heritage of Tiger Balm Garden as well as improve teaching, learning and public awareness of culture, heritage, and architecture through the development of a real-time interactive and immersive Metaverse system.