About Me
Welcome to my professional profile.
Academic Background
As the Associate Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Hong Kong’s Common Core Office, I thoroughly enjoy my work as a teacher, researcher, and in leadership and administration.
My primary responsibilities involve driving teaching innovation through transdisciplinary initiatives that challenge traditional models. As a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (formerly Higher Education Academy), I champion bold experiments that blend gaming, storytelling, creative art, and artificial intelligence to reimagine the boundaries of learning experiences for students to cultivate agency.
The focus of my research explores the futures of education through a sociological and philosophical lens, asking critical questions about where learning is headed next.
I earned my PhD in Education and a Master of Applied Finance from the University of Queensland, with degrees in biochemistry and economics.
Professional Experience
Before finding my home in academia, I spent over 15 years in banking, corporate learning and development, and entrepreneurship. My early career was grounded in both the business/financial analysis and relationship management side of commercial banking, before transitioning into a facilitation role training bankers in the corporate university. Moving to Hong Kong, I worked in consulting for a global firm, focused on sales and leadership execution, mainly for multinational investment banks, insurance firms, and government organisations.
One of my most defining and formative experiences was co-founding a luxury distribution and design business in Hong Kong. Leading that company from a startup to a pre-IPO enterprise with over HK$300 million in annual sales taught me enormously about people leadership, profit and loss responsibilities, digital technology implementation, and supply chain management in a fast-moving and high-stakes environment. While the journey was intensive, I am grateful to my former co-founder and talented staff for working alongside me in building such a spectacular enterprise during its peak.
Key findings and contributions:
- Teachers observed a lack of clear guidance from the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), leading to frustration and reliance on unofficial resources and self-organised professional networks for programme implementation.
- The growing dependence on voluntary workshop leaders and external examiners without adequate IB teaching experience has compromised the quality of training and grading, creating variability in implementation.
- Pressure from high-stakes assessments, with a focus on achieving competitive DP scores for university admissions undermines the IB’s holistic and character-driven educational aims, creating tension between idealistic goals and pragmatic demands. problem-solving.
Grants and Awards
- Recipient of $4.8 million (HKD) of teaching and learning grants as the principal investigator/lead.
- 2023 Silver Winner of the QS Reimagine Education Awards for Developing Emerging Skills and Competencies – Transdisciplinarity for Future Readiness.
- 1st Runner Up Finalist of the 2023 University Grant Committee Teaching Award – Communication-Intensive Courses.
- Winner of the 2022 University of Hong Kong Outstanding Teaching Excellence Awards (Team) – Communication-Intensive Courses.
Academic Roles
- Ambassador of the Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Alliance.
- Committee Chair, Communication-Intensive Courses Initiative, The University of Hong Kong.
- Executive Committee, Co-operative Education, The University of Hong Kong.
- External Examiner for HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE) and other universities.
- Panel Judge for the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Start-up competitions.
- Member of the HKU Entrepreneurship Working Group.
Community Memberships
- General Member of the Rotary Action Group For Peace, Hong Kong and Macao.
- Ambassador for the Institute for Economics and Peace.
Personal Interest
I love video games, making art, walking, dabbling in creative technologies, and playing the piano.
Favourite games: Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Rimworld.
Reach out and say hello, especially if I haven’t heard from you in a while. You are likely in my thoughts.