About Us

XU Jialu, Professor

Chairman of the UIC Council

Professor Xu Jialu is the former Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress. He graduated from Beijing Normal University in 1959 and remained a staff member and, later, Chairman of the Faculty of Chinese Language until 1987. From 1987-1994 Professor Xu Jialu was Vice-President of Beijing Normal University and a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress. Subsequently, he was named Chairman of the Working Committee on Language and Linguistics under the NPC and Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of NPC. With numerous publications on language and linguistics, Professor Xu Jialu is an authority in the field. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hong Kong Baptist University.

TANG Tao, Chair Professor

President

Professor Tang Tao is a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and Fellow of the China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM). Widely known for his expertise in computational mathematics, in particular high-order methods and adaptive grid methods, Professor Tang was awarded the Leslie Fox Prize in Numerical Analysis, the Feng Kang Prize for Scientific Computing, First Prize in Natural Science by Ministry of Education, and Second Prize in the National Natural Science Award. He gave an invited lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in 2018.

Professor Tang has long been served in Canada and Hong Kong in a variety of key roles. From 2015 to 2019, he was appointed as the Vice-president and Provost at the Southern University of Science and Technology. At present, he is the President of Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC).

Patrick CHAU, Chair Professor

Provost

Professor Patrick Chau is Provost and Chair Professor in Information Systems and Business Analytics at UIC. Professor Chau received his PhD in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He was elected President of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) in 2021-2022. AIS is the premier academic society in the Information Systems discipline with over 5000 members from close to 100 countries around the world. He was the first and only scholar from China elected to this presidency since the establishment of AIS in 1994. Professor Chau was appointed “Chang Jiang Scholars Programme” Chair Professorship by the Ministry of Education in 2010. He has also held Padma and Hari Harilela Professorship in Strategic Information Management at The University of Hong Kong, Qiushi Chair Professorship at Zhejiang University and Lee Dak Sum Chair Professor in Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. He received AIS Fellow Award in 2013, an honour from AIS extended only to a very small number of scholars in the discipline of Information Systems globally each year.

Professor Chau conducts research in IT adoption and electronic commerce and has more than 100 papers published in prestigious journals in the Information Systems discipline. He has been on Elsevier’s List of Top 2% Scientists worldwide since its first release. As of August 2023, his Google Scholar citations exceed 27,400 with an H-index of 62 and, in Scopus, more than 11,700 with an h-index of 43. He is Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of Information and Management, an A* journal in the Australia’s ABDC Journal List and a Level 3 journal in the UK’s ABS Journal List. Under his editorship, the 2-year impact factor of the Journal has grown from 1.84 in 2014 to 10.33 in 2021. He is also a Senior Editor of the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, which is an A* journal in the Australian ABDC Journal List and a 4* journal in the UK’s ABS Journal List. He was Co-editor of Electronic Commerce Research & Applications and Global Editor of DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems.

Before joining UIC, Professor Chau was Vice-Provost for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Prior to that position, he had served at The University of Hong Kong for almost twenty years, holding various management positions including Director of the School of Business and Associate Dean at the Faculty of Business and Economics.

ZHOU Yongming, Chair Professor

Vice President (Academic)

Zhou Yongming is a chair professor and Vice President (Academic) at UIC. He attended Nanjing University from 1980-1987 and taught briefly in the Chinese Department before studying abroad. He received his PhD in cultural anthropology from Duke University in 1997. He became an assistant professor in anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999, obtained the tenure in 2005 and the full professorship in 2010. In 2001-2002, he was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. Before joining UIC, he was a chair professor and directed the Center for Social Sciences and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). He also served as the Executive Director of the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts at SUSTech. He was appointed as a “Qiushi” Chair Professor by Zhejiang University and a distinguished professor by Sun Yat-Sen University and Chongqing University.

Professor Zhou specializes in historical and cultural anthropology. He is the author of books Anti-Drug Crusades in Twentieth-Century China: Nationalism, History, and State-Building (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) and Historicizing Online Politics: Telegraphy, the Internet, and Political Participation in China (Stanford University Press, 2006). He has also been a Mellon Fellow at the Needham Research Institute at Cambridge, a visiting fellow at the East Asian Institute (1999) and a senior fellow at the Asia Institute (2008) at the National University of Singapore. Professor Zhou served as the president of the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs in 2012. His latest “roadology” project focuses on the socio-cultural impacts of transnational road building on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and in the Great Mekong Subregion. He is the editor of “Roadology”: Roads, Space and Culture and Chinese Anthropology, and is editor-in-chief of the Heritage Studies.

MAO Yaqing, Professor

Party Secretary of the College Party Committee, Vice President (Administration)

Professor Mao Yaqing is an education expert who received his PhD Degree from Beijing Normal University. He is the Deputy Head of the National Working Group of Experts on the Training of Primary and Secondary School Principals, and Vice Chairman of the National Association for the Training of Primary and Middle School Principals. He is also the Director of the Research Centre of Principal Leadership at the Beijing Normal University, and a senior visiting scholar of London University as well as the University of Michigan. Professor Mao Yaqing’s research mainly covers education leadership, school management improvement and quality of higher education and management. He has published over 10 books and more than 100 papers on recognised periodicals. In 2005 and 2010 respectively, both from the Ministry of Education of China, Professor Mao Yaqing received The New Century Excellent Talent Award and Outstanding Research Award of China Academic Humanities and Social Sciences.

JIA Weijia, Chair Professor

Vice President (Research and Development), Dean of Graduate School

Professor Jia Weijia obtained his Doctorate of Science from the Polytechnic Faculty of Mons, Belgium. He was a Professor at the Department of Computer Science in the City University of Hong Kong. Between 2014 and 2017, he served as the Zhiyuan Chair Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. From 2018 to June 2020, he served as Chair Professor of the University of Macau and the Deputy Director of State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City.

In acknowledgement of his scientific achievements, Professor Jia Weijia was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and a distinguished member of the China Computer Federation (CCF).

Professor Jia Weijia has long been engaged in the research of computer science, enjoying a high reputation in areas such as AI Algorithm, Men-Machines-Things Knowledge Graph Completions, Smart City and 5G IoT, Next Generation Networking and Communications, and Edge Computing with 14 books and over 600 top-tier journal/conference papers to his credit. As a successful fund-applicant, Professor Jia Weijia has obtained substantial research funding as Principal Investigator (PI) and has received several prizes including the First Prize of Science and Technology from the Ministry of Education and the Best Product Award of Shenzhen Hi-tech Exhibition. He also took on a number of journal editorships, including IEEE Transactions on Parallel & Distributed Systems, Computer Communications etc.

Stella CHO, Professor

Associate Vice President (Student Development), Acting Dean of School of General Education

Professor Stella Cho is a seasoned accounting academic. She earned her PhD degree from the University of Hong Kong. Professor Stella Cho’s teaching and research interests are in taxation and corporate governance. She has published several books in her profession-related areas and her research papers were widely published in many internationally referred journals as well. Professor Stella Cho was a member of the editorial board of the Asia Pacific Journal of Taxation. Between 2008 – 2020 academic years, she served as the first Dean of the Division of Business and Management, UIC. Prior to joining UIC, she taught at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for years. She has rich experience in university management, teaching, research, and professional & public services, both in Hong Kong and the Mainland.

Professor Stella Cho is renowned for her contribution in the accounting profession in both the HKSAR and the Mainland. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a fellow member of a number of professional accountancy bodies including HKICPA, ACCA, TIHK, HKSI, SCAA, just to name a few. Professor Stella Cho has served the HKICPA as an elected Council Member for ten terms and the President of HKIAAT for three terms. She was elected as a member of the HKSAR Election Committee (Accountancy Sub-sector) for three terms. Professor Stella Cho was appointed by the HKSAR Government to serve in many government committees, review panels, appeal boards. Currently, she is an appointed member of the Panel for Public Interest Entities Auditors Review Tribunal, and the Deposit Protection Appeals Tribunal. In 2016 and 2019, she was appointed as a member of the 1st and the 2nd Advisory Board of Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises, Ministry of Finance, PRC, respectively. In 2017, she was appointed as the Vice President of the Accounting Society of Zhuhai. She was elected as a member of the 4th Council for the Promotion of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in 2018, and the Deputy Director of its Accounting Profession Committee in 2019.

PAN Jianxin, Chair Professor

Associate Vice President (Internationalization), Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology

Professor Pan Jianxin received his PhD from Hong Kong Baptist University in 1996, followed by his postdoctoral fellowship in Rothamsted Research of the UK (1996-1999), research associate in the University of St Andrews (1999-2000) and lecturership in Keele University (2000-2002). During his academic pursuit in the University of Manchester from 2002, he was promoted as Senior Lecturer in 2004, Reader in 2005 and Full Professor in 2006. Professor Pan had served as the Head of Probability and Statistics Group, on Senior Leadership Team of the School and the Director of Internationalization of the Department of Mathematics at The University of Manchester, UK.

Professor Jianxin Pan is an internationally renowned researcher in statistical science and his research interests are within statistical modeling, statistical learning, and data science with application to medicine, public health, finance as well as industry. He has published over 130 research articles in journals of statistics and multidisciplinary research, and three research monographs with Springer and Science Press. He was awarded fundings from various research councils including those in the UK and Europe.

Professor Jianxin Pan is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute. He was the Chair of the Royal Statistical Society Manchester Group and has been serving as an Associate Editor for several prestigious academic journals, including Biometrics (2008-2018), Biostatistics and Epidemiology (2013-), Biometrical Journal (2016-), and Journal of Multivariate Analysis (2019-) and Electronic Journal of Statistics (2022-). He has successfully supervised over 20 PhD students and over 50 MSc/MPhil students.

LI Jianhui, Professor

Academic Registrar

Professor Li Jianhui received his Bachelor’s Degree from Jilin University and MPhil Degree from Beijing Normal University. He was conferred a PhD by Peking University. Prior to joining UIC, Professor Li was Deputy Director of the Office of Graduate Training of the Graduate School and has served as Vice Dean of the College of Philosophy, Beijing Normal University for two years. Since 1996, Professor Li Jianhui has been invited as visiting scholar to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard University, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Oxford, Needham Research Institute of Cambridge and Utrecht University.

Professor Li Jianhui’s research is in the area of philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of mind, philosophy of biology, and social studies of science. His research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation as a major programme, key programme, and general programme, respectively. He published over 8 books and more than 60 papers. Two books were awarded as excellent achievements of the Beijing Philosophy and Social Science Award, and another book was awarded as an excellent achievement of the University Research Award of Ministry of Education (Humanity and Social Science).

Steve Wenbin LIU, Chair Professor

Dean of Faculty of Business and Management (on leave)

Professor Steve Liu earned his PhD degree from the University of Leeds in the UK. He began his academic career at Central South University, China, and taught successively at Imperial College, UK from 1991 to 1994, followed by the University of Kent, UK since 1995. With a wealth of experience in administration and management, he was appointed as the Chair Professor and the Head of Management Science Sector of Kent Business School, as well as the Director of Joint Research Centre for Anglo-Chinese Business and Management.

Besides his positions at UIC, Professor Liu also serves as a Professor of Beijing Normal University; the Overseas Professor in Evaluation Centre, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); the Overseas Assessor for management and mathematics, CAS; the Director of the Centre for Evaluation Studies (CES) jointly established by Beijing Normal University (BNU) and BNU-HKBU United International College (UIC); the Executive Vice Director of UIC-WingChain Blockchain Research Centre; the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Evaluation Association, Chinese Society of Optimization, Overall Planning and Economic Mathematics; and the Deputy Director of CSIAM Activity Group on Financial Technology and Algorithm.  

Professor Steve Liu’s main research areas are in Management and Computational Mathematics, specifically in productivity and performance analysis, scientometrics and research evaluation, numerical partial differential equations, and computational optimal control. Over 200 of his research papers have been published or accepted for publication, mostly in major international journals. He has also taken up the Editorships of several journals, including Omega - The International Journal of Management Science, Information Process Management, and Journal of Research Management, etc.

Adolf K.Y. NG, Professor

Acting Dean of Faculty of Business and Management

Professor Adolf K.Y. Ng received his PhD degree from the University of Oxford, excelling in the research and teaching of transport, global supply chains, and green logistics. Professor Ng’s scholarly outputs include eight books, more than 110 papers in leading journals, and other forms of publications. He receives numerous prestigious accolades, and frequently offers strategic advice to major organisations, such as the United Nations (UN), the European Commission (EC) and the African Development Bank (AFDB). He is currently an Associate Editor of Maritime Policy & Management.

JIANG Wei, Associate Professor

Executive Dean of School of Culture and Creativity

Dr Jiang Wei is Executive Dean of the School of Culture and Creativity. He received his PhD in Communication from the University of Macao, and visited the University of Southern California on the T. C. Wang Fellowship. His screen script has once been subsidised by the Culture Bureau of Macao. Before his joining UIC he has had himself immersed and professionalised in the film industry as Assistant Director and Art Coordinator to renowned film directors such as John WOO and JIANG Wen. His research areas focus on the Japanese representations in Chinese war films made during and after Mao's era, the Revolutionary Model Opera films in the Cultural Revolution, Chinese shadow plays, and Chinese new media.

Tze-ki HON, Professor

Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Tze-ki Hon received a BA degree from the University of Hong Kong, a MA degree from the University of Michigan, and a PhD degree from the University of Chicago. Previously Professor Hon taught at Hanover College in Indiana (1992-1996), State University of New York at Geneseo (1996-2016), and City University of Hong Kong (2017-2021). He is a specialist of the Yijing, particularly its textual body and its commentarial traditions. He has also published on the cultural history of China, modern Chinese thought, and the western studies of Chinese classics. He wrote three books: The Yijing and Chinese Politics (2005), Revolution as Restoration (2013), The Allure of the Nation (2015). He co-authored Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes) (2014) with Geoffrey Redmond. He edited six volumes including Confucianism for the Contemporary World (2017), Cold War Cities (2021), and The Other Yijing (2022). His articles have appeared in Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Modern China, Monumenta Serica, and Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies.

Ashura LAM

Assistant to President, Deputy Registrar of Academic Registry, Administration Director of Graduate School

After obtaining her Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ms Ashura Lam furthered her studies and fields of research across multiple disciplines. She was awarded a Juris Doctor degree as well as a Master of Science in New Media by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, in addition to becoming a Master of Arts in Language Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Ms Ashura Lam possesses extensive experience in administration and committee servicing in universities of Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland. Before assuming her current responsibilities, she served as the Director of UIC’s Academic and Administrative Quality Assurance Office and Assistant to Vice-President (Academic). She also assumed the position of Head of President and College Office between September 2019 and December 2022.

ZHANG Shaofeng

Assistant to President, Director of Public Affairs Office, Director of Academy of Continuing Education

Mr Zhang Shaofeng has worked in universities for nearly 30 years, including 15 years of management experience in Sino-foreign cooperation universities, with solid experience from the new organisation establishment to the later promotion and development, especially in student admission, student management, and student placement.