About the HKU Speakers

Dr. Susan Bridges

Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), The University of Hong Kong

Dr. Susan Bridges is the Director at the Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Education, Honorary Associate Professor with BIHMSE at the LKS Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Adjunct Professor at the Australian Catholic University. She is an award-winning educator (HKU 2012; QS Wharton 2016) and leads curriculum re-design and staff development projects in higher education. She chaired the Faculty of Education’s Task Force on e-learning, devised the Faculty’s first e-learning policy, initiated and led the Faculty’s award winning E-learning Team. She chaired the curriculum reform of the UGC-funded Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) and led the successful launch of a cross-faculty Masters of Education specialism in ‘Health Professions Education’ with the LKS Faculty of Medicine. In 2016, Dr. Bridges joined the U21 Education Innovation cluster Steering Group to further support innovation across the network, including internationalization of the curriculum. She collaborates with researchers in the US, Finland, Japan and Australia to explore the ‘how’ of effective pedagogy and clinical communication through interactional and ethnographic approaches. She is the principal investigator of 4 HKSAR General Research Fund (GRF) grants and in 2020 was awarded a HKU Theme-based Research seed grant to lead a new research initiative with the Faculty of Science. In 2020, she was elected Chair, Problem-based Education Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association. Her forthcoming co-edited book with R. Imafuku on “Interactional Research into Problem-based Learning” is with Purdue University Press.

Prof. Nancy Law

Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Prof. Nancy Law is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. She served as the Founding Director for the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE) for 15 years from 1998. She also led the Science of Learning Strategic Research Theme at the University of Hong Kong. She is a Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences, and is known globally for her strong record and expertise in the integration of digital technology in learning and teaching to promote student-centred pedagogical innovations. Professor Law received a Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme Award by the HKSAR Research Grants Council in 2014 in recognition of her research in scalability of technology-enhanced learning innovations. She is currently spearheading large projects in two related areas: implementation and refinement of multilevel network models of innovation as sociotechnical co-evolution, and investigation of students’ development as digital citizens from childhood to early adulthood. She has served on a number of policy advisory boards/working groups related to ICT in education for the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong SAR government and other community, government groups and institutions. She has also been contributing as expert consultant to the European Commission, UNESCO and OECD on various aspects of technology-enhanced learning.

Prof. Ian Holliday

Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), The University of Hong Kong

Professor Holliday has been Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) since 2015. He assists the HKU President in setting the direction and policy of HKU teaching and learning, and oversees quality assurance for undergraduate and postgraduate curricula. Previously he was Dean of Social Sciences at HKU, and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on Myanmar politics and governance.

Gavin S. Coates

Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong

Gavin Coates is a Senior Lecturer at HKU’s Division of Landscape Architecture teaching Planting Design, Landscape Technology and Landscape Representation.

After graduating in 1980 he joined leading British landscape consultancy, Brian Clouston and Partners in London, transferring in 1982 to the Hong Kong office BCP Hong Kong (now ACLA Limited). He participated in several key Projects for the Hong Kong Government including Tseung Kwan O New Town infrastructure, various public housing estates, Yuen Long Town Park and the design of the waterfall area of Hong Kong Park.

From 2004 to 2015, Gavin served as Principal Landscape Architect at ACLA Limited in Hong Kong, primarily involved with the design and site supervision of the Greening Master Plan programme instigated by the Civil Engineering and Development Department of the HKSAR Government. These projects called for a range of skills from city-wide urban planning, through streetscape improvement and waterfront promenade design, to detailed practical planting design and participation in public planting events.

Gavin is also well known as a cartoonist, illustrator, and author of environmental children’s books.

Dr. Rebecca Yu Shan Lam

School of Chinese, Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong

Rebecca Lam, educated at the University of Hong Kong, has taught Chinese language in the Chinese Language Enhancement Programme of the University of Hong Kong since 2010. Her research interests include Chinese language teaching, modern Chinese grammar and rhetoric learning.

David S. Lee

HKU Business School, The University of Hong Kong

David is a Principal Lecturer at HKU Business School where he works in the areas of ethics, fintech, law, and governance. David teaches courses for undergraduate, master’s degree programmes including the MBA and EMBA degrees, and executive education. Additionally, combining his interests in ethics and fintech, David is a co-teacher for a first of its kind massive online open course hosted on edX titled Fintech Ethics and Risks, which has almost 12,000 students globally. He is a co-author of the first Asia focused business ethics casebook and he actively develops his own cases. Prior to academia, David worked in law and investment management. He is especially active in advising students and former students as they consider different career and life paths.

Dr. Dirk Schnieders

Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong

Dr. Dirk Schnieders graduated with a Diplom-Informatiker (FH) degree from the Fachhochschule Dortmund (Germany) in 2004 and received his MSc and PhD in Computer Science from The University of Hong Kong in 2007 and 2011. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong.