Ye Qi is Acting Head and Chair Professor of Carbon Neutrality and Climate Change Thrust and Joint Professor of Innovation, Policy and Entrepreneurship Thrust at HKUST(GZ). Prior to joining HKUST in January 2019, he was the Cheung Kong Professor of Environmental Policy and Management at Tsinghua University’s School of Public Policy and Management, and the Volkswagen Professor of Sustainability at Schwarzman College. From April 2014 to January 2019, he was Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Director of Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy. He was appointed as Cheung Kong Professor of Environmental Science at Beijing Normal University from 2002-2005. Before returning to China in 2003, he taught ecosystem management and climate change science at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at University of California, Berkeley from 1996 through 2003. Ye Qi received his Ph.D. in Environmental Science in 1994 jointly awarded by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Syracuse University. Ye’s research areas include the governance and policy of the environment, energy, climate change and urbanization. His current research focuses on the energy transition and lowcarbon development in a rapidly urbanizing world.

Ning Cai joined the Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as an Assistant Professor in 2008. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014 and was further promoted to full Professor in 2020. He received both MS and PhD in operations research in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia University and both BS and MS in probability and statistics in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Peking University. Ning Cai was the first Academic Director of the new Master of Science Program in Financial Technology (MSc in FinTech) jointly offered by School of Business and Management, School of Engineering, and School of Science. Currently, he is the Director of the Financial Engineering and FinTech Laboratory in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Decision Analytics.

Dr. Danyang XIE, Chair Professor of Economics, HKUST; Dean of Society Hub, HKUST (GZ). Dr. Danyang XIE received his Ph.D in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1992. His previous affiliations include University of Montreal (Assistant Professor, 1991-1994), the International Monetary Fund (Economist and Senior Economist, 2000-2004), Tsinghua University (Special Appointment Professor, 2002-2005), and Wuhan University (Dean of the Economics and Management School). At HKUST, he served as Department Head in Economics between April 2007 and June 2010 and Director of Shui On Centre for China Business and Management between May 2011 and July 2013. He had been a member of the Currency Board Sub-Committee of the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee between 2011 and 2016. He was an Independent Director of Bank of Communications-Schroders Fund Management Co. Ltd between 2011 and 2018. His research interest includes endogenous growth, fiscal policy, and money and banking.

Dr. Ge Lin KAN is the Head of UGOD Thrust of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). He received his Ph.D. in Geography from State University of New York at Buffalo in 1996. Prior to joining HKUST (GZ) in January 2022, he was the Professor of Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, School of Public Health at University of Nevada Las Vegas. He served as the director of UNLV Nevada IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence between 2015 and 2016, and he was the director (2011-2014) and Senior Scientist/Consultant (2015-2021) of Nebraska State Joint Public Health Data Center. His research interest includes GIS, spatial epidemiology, data integration, aging and urban health.