Hong Kong Academy of Politics and Public Policy

Mr Jasper Tsang Yok-sing was chairman of the political party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong from 1992 to 2003. Before Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, Mr Tsang was actively involved in the preparatory work for the setting up of the Special Administrative Region. He served on the Preparatory Committee formed by the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress in 1996 and was a member of the Provisional Legislative Council of the Hong Kong SAR from 1997 to 1998.

Mr Tsang was a member of the Legislative Council from 1998 to 2016, representing the Kowloon West constituency from 1998 to 2008 and the Hong Kong Island constituency from 2008 and 2016. Mr Tsang was the President of the Legislative Council from 2008 to 2016.

Mr Tsang is Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Social Science of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Convenor of Hong Kong Vision Research Programme studying issues of governance and the major policy areas.

Mr Tsang was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal of the Hong Kong SAR in 2015.

Professor Edward Chen is an internationally renowned economist and distinguished educator, holding degrees from the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University. From 1995 to 2007, he served as the President of Lingnan University, successfully transforming it into a liberal arts institution. Professor Chen has received honorary doctorates from several institutions, including the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Education University of Hong Kong and University of Plymouth in England. He is a fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong and a fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Finance under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. He has been a visiting scholar at several prestigious international universities, such as Yale University, Oxford University, Stockholm University, and the University of California, Davis. Additionally, he holds honorary professorships at various universities. Between 2014 and 2017, Professor Chen served as the President of the Qianhai Institute for Innovative Research in Shenzhen. He is also a member of the Economist Committee under Time Magazine and a Fulbright Scholar. He was the Chairman of the Board of HKU SPACE from 2013 until his retirement in 2022. In terms of public service, Professor Chen was a member of the Basic Law Consultative Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from 1985 to 1990, a Legislative Council member from 1991 to 1992, and a member of the Executive Council from 1992 to 1997. He also chaired the Consumer Council from 1991 to 1997, laying the groundwork for fair competition policies in Hong Kong. In recognition of his contributions, Professor Chen was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1993, awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995, and received the Gold Bauhinia Star from the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2003.

Mr. Ronny Tong was born in Hong Kong and has received his education in both Hong Kong and England. He holds an LL.B. with first class honours from the University of Hong Kong and a B.C.L. with honours from the Oxford University. He came first and was awarded first class honours in England’s Bar Examination and was called to the English Bar and the Hong Kong Bar in 1974 and 1975 respectively. Since then, he has been in active practice as a barrister in Hong Kong specializing in commercial, shipping, company and other Chancery matters. He was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel in 1990 (now Senior Counsel). He served as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association from 1999 to 2001 and was elected as a member of the Legislative Council in 2004 from the New Territories East Constituency. His three major areas of concern are Constitutional Development, Fair Competition and the Alleviation of Poverty. He was re-elected to serve a third term in 2012 from the same constituency and was an active member of the Legislative Council. His term ended on 30th September, 2015, but he will continue to serve Hong Kong as Convener of his think tank, Path of Democracy, which was set up since June 2015. Mr. Tong is a non-official member of ExCo from July 2017. He wishes to contribute in relaunching of political reform in Hong Kong, also to improve the relationship between the government and the democrats.

Professor Sonny Lo Shiu Hing is a political scientist holding a doctoral degree from the University of Toronto, a Master's degree from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor degree from York University, Canada.

Before joining HKU SPACE in December 2016, Professor Lo had worked in the Department of Social Sciences at the Education University of Hong Kong, the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada, the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong, the Division of Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University, the Division of General Education at Lingnan College (now Lingnan University), and the Department of Government and Public Administration at the University of East Asia (Macau).

Professor Sonny Lo is the author of eleven single-authored books, including The Politics of Policing in Greater China, The Politics of Controlling Organized Crime in Greater China, Hong Kong's Indigenous Democracy, The Politics of Crisis Management in China: The Sichuan Earthquake, Competing Chinese Political Visions, The Politics of Cross-Border Crime in Greater China, The Dynamics of Beijing-Hong Kong Relations, Political Change in Macao, Governing Hong Kong, The Politics of Democratization in Hong Kong, and Political Development in Macau.

An economics graduate from the University of Hong Kong, Prof. Ho also holds MA and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto.  His interests are diverse, covering economics, psychology, philosophy, religion, education, music, etc.  He holds the view that the design of public policy must be grounded on a good understanding of human nature, and expounds this view in his book Public Policy and the Public Interest (Routledge).   He had served as economist and then research officer with the Ontario Ministry of Treasury and Economics and the Ontario Economic Council.   He was with the Chinese University of Hong Kong for 12 years before joining Lingnan University in 1995 and served as Head of the Economics Department and Director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies.   In 2015 he retired from the University, but served as adjunct professor and continued his teaching and research.    He joined Chu Hai College of Higher Education as Dean of Business in September 2016 and served there for 3 years.  In 2019 he returned to Lingnan University and worked part time for the Pan Sutong Shanghai HK Economic Policy Research Institute.  He was appointed Director of the Institute in July 2021.  Prof. Ho’s research mostly focus on policy issues, with over 100 journal papers and book chapters, several authored books plus several edited volumes published by international publishers and university presses. In public service, Prof. Ho had served as part time member of the Central Policy Unit, member of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, member of the Health Services Research Committee under the Hospital Authority, member of Council of Advisors for the HK Institute for Monetary Research, member of the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service, etc.   He was a member of the Policy Research and Advocacy Standing Committee, HK Council of Social Services from 2010-2012.  Prof. Ho presently is also an Hon. Research Fellow with the HK Institute of Asia Pacific Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  He was awarded the BBS in 2016.