News & Stories

The recent Extinction Rebellion movement in the UK protested against climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and the risk of social and ecological collapse. Protesters called for policies that can achieve a net zero carbon footprint by 2025, one of the 17 sustainable development goals agreed by world leaders at the United Nations in 2015. Meeting these goals requires more than addressing climate change. Sustainable development is a balance between the needs of the environment, society and economy in order to maintain a quality standard of life for both present and future generations. Many countries, including the UK, have implemented goal-specific measures in a bid to achieve the 17 goals, with voluntary national reviews to see if the measures are effective.

Our fishery gave birth to a love of seafood, but it is also contributing to the global fish stocks decline. We degraded it through overfishing, pollution and reclamation before building a fleet to ravage fisheries in other places. Many cities have actually done the same. Ironically, calls to save global fish stocks come from cities that sacrificed their own fisheries. Yet, Hong Kong also shows the way to a solution. It retains a resilient population of people who fish, those with the expertise and toughness to build a sustainable fishery, that is, such as those where catch volume and fishing practices allow for continual regeneration of stock, while enabling fishers to achieve a decent standard of living. People in the industry will overfish and abuse the ecosystem to provide more income if they can't afford a living. But our highly adaptable fishermen can demonstrate a global model for sustainable fishery.

By Miao Jia, Research Assistant Professor of Division of Social Science, HKUST By 2064, Hong Kong's number of elderly (aged 65 and older) will reach 2.58 million, accounting for 36 percent of the population. Today this percentage stands at 16, with one third of the elderly living in poverty. These staggering figures pose severe challenges to our society, thus studying the well-being of Hong Kong's elderly is vital to developing the right solutions. Since 2010, our Center for Applied Social and Economic Research team at HKUST has been conducting surveys of 3,200 families, 7,200 adults and 950 children every two years (The Hong Kong Panel Study of Social Dynamics), looking into how our society is transformed over time and how various government and social policies are influencing families.

By Donald Low, Professor of Practice in Public Policy and Chen Kejun, master of public policy student Leaders from more than 30 countries gathered in Beijing late last month for a forum on the Belt and Road Initiative. In his speech at the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping stressed that "the market should play a decisive role in resource allocation." This appears to be in response to international concerns about the "debt trap," the cost-benefit calculus of Belt and Road projects, and the possible export of China's governance practices. To address Belt and Road doubts, China should take three steps to strengthen the role of the market in the initiative. First, it should enhance transparency and market discipline by making public procurement procedures, tendering processes and lending standards.

Co-hosted by HKUST’s Institute for Public Policy and Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering-Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (CAE-HKAES) Forum on Integrative Development of Innovation and Technology in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta was held on 24 May. The Forum provided a platform for attendees to exchange views upon the findings of an eight-month study of the innovation and technology policy in the region.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Leadership and Public Policy (LAPP) Executive Education will organize a forum on 14 February 2015 to discuss the way forward for democratic development in Hong Kong. Renowned local and overseas experts and academics will exchange their views on this hot topic of the city.

The Oxford-HKUST Leadership and Public Policy Series, jointly established by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and University of Oxford (Oxford), was officially launched today. The leading regional initiative seeks to provide executive education for public sector officials and senior executives in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Asia. Program instructors will come from HKUST, Oxford and other academic institutions worldwide, and will also include leaders and practitioners from fields that impact on public sectors. Officiating at the Launch Forum were: the Honorable C Y Leung, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Prof Andrew Hamilton, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford; Dr Marvin K T Cheung, Chairman of the HKUST Council; and Prof Tony F Chan, President of HKUST.

On 25 January 2013 in Davos, Switzerland, University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) President Professor Tony Chan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for International Collaboration. Under this collaboration, both sides agree to jointly establish the Oxford-HKUST Leadership and Public Policy Series, which aims to provide executive education short courses to public sector officials from Hong Kong, Mainland China, and eventually Asia.