PhD in Civil Engineering
Current position: Senior Lecturer at the National Energy University, Malaysia
Research focus: urban stormwater management, flood modeling, and water resources management
Ming Fai started to develop a guideline on sustainable urban environment for Malaysia. This guideline aims to protect the hydrological and ecological value of the urban landscape while providing resilient and adaptive measures to deal with flood events.
2016 Outstanding Young Academician, National Energy University, Malaysia
2011 National Science Fellowship scholarship of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia
CV as submitted for the Green Talents award (2015):
Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia
Research focus: Urban storm water management, developing flood forecasting and mitigation system
Storms and flooding are crucial issues for Malaysia. Therefore, Ming Fai Chow’s scientific and professional goals are to develop a guideline for sustainable urban environments that can be implemented in his home country, directly helping Malaysians with the challenges of extreme weather.
As a consequence of climate change, increasing urban population and economic development, it has become difficult to adapt the urban environment to flood risk. This situation calls for response strategies which manage the flood risk in a more flexible and holistic way. Ming Fai Chow is one of the researchers who are developing new approaches for flood and storm water management. In Ming Fai’s home country of Malaysia, urban flooding and water pollution are real and present problems. His past PhD research involved the quantification and modelling of urban storm water pollution in different types of land uses in Malaysia.
Despite the gravity and extent of the problem, Ming Fai’s research has already shown evidence of real improvements to the situation. Through his research, he found that controlling the first 10 mm of storm water runoff can lead to a 50% reduction of the pollutant loading. His findings have now contributed to the design of storm water treatment systems that are more efficient and cost-effective.
The Green Talent Forum was an attractive platform for Ming Fai because he relishes the chance to work with German institutions such as The Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KWB). Ming Fai maintains that Malaysia can learn a great deal from Germany’s research into his field: “Germany has strengths in science and technology, so partnering with Germany is an excellent way for a developing country to address these issues... When German researchers work together with Malaysian counterparts on local observation and structural testing, it will help to train future researchers and transfer technology to Malaysia.”
The jury was impressed with Ming Fai’s extensive list of published works and his practical approach to his topic, focussing on what issues and questions need to be addressed.
