Prof. Qi received his Ph.D. in Environmental Science from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Syracuse University in 1994. Before joining HKUST, 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. Between 2014 and 2019, he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy. He taught ecosystem management and climate change science at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley from 1996 to 2003, and was a faculty scientist at Cornell University’s Engineering and Theory Centre from 1995 to 1996. He conducted post-doctoral research under Charles D. Keeling at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Prof. Qi is a globally recognized environmental scientist and policy expert and has led research and writing of the Annual Review of Low-Carbon Development in China. As an experienced scholar, he led groups of academics to make several breakthrough achievements in the Chinese environmental and climate policy and governance, sustainability science, and sustainable Urbanization.

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.

Professor Lan earned his Ph.D. in Public Administration from Syracuse University in 1991 and thereafter joined the Arizona State University (ASU). He is an Emeritus Professor at ASU. Before joining HKUST(GZ), he was a Professor (Distinguished) and the Director of the Beijing Center of Organizational Learning and Urban Governance Innovation at Tsinghua University. Prof Lan is a well-respected scholar in the field of public administration theory and administrative reform. He has published over 200 academic papers, 16 books and 30 book chapters. With a prestigious national scholarship, he has led research funded by the Chinese National Science Foundation and the Ministry of Education. Prof Lan has held significant editorial roles, including the Editor-in-Chief of Public Administration and Policy Review since 2012 and Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Chinese Political Studies since 1995. Prof Lan has also served as the Secretary-General for the Public Administration Curriculum under the Ministry of Education of China, where he led the establishment of college education standards for 500 public administration and social work programs in China.

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.