Professor John Lee Chi-Kin, President and Chair Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, joined The Education University of Hong Kong (the then Hong Kong Institute of Education) in 2010. He was Vice President (Academic) from 2010 to 2019, and Vice President (Academic) and Provost from 2019 to 2023. Professor Lee was previously Dean of Education and a Professor at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He was also the Director of the Centre for University and School Partnership and served as a Fellow of United College and Morningside College at CUHK. Professor Lee was a recipient of The Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award 1999 at CUHK. Before that, he worked as a secondary school teacher and as a Lecturer in the Sir Robert Black College of Education.
Professor Lee graduated from The University of Hong Kong and subsequently received an MSc degree from the University of Oxford, and an MA (Education), PhD and Diploma in Education (with distinction) from CUHK. His research interests focus on curriculum and instruction, geographical and environmental education, life and values education, and teacher development and school improvement. He is active in leading education research and development projects and has a solid track record in securing external grants. Professor Lee was named among the top 1% most-cited scientists in the world in terms of career-long impact, in the latest list released by Stanford University. He was a Fellow of the Hong Kong Primary Educational Research Association.
Professor Lee has served as Editor of the International Journal of Children's Spirituality, Executive Editor of Teaching and Teacher Education and editorial board member of Teachers and Teaching, as well as an editorial board members or advisory editor of many local, regional and international journals. He is also a prolific writer, having edited and written more than 25 books, and published over 175 journal articles and book chapters. He is the leading co-editor of the Springer book series, Curriculum and School Development in Asia and Education for Sustainability, as well as The Routledge Series on Life and Values Education and The Routledge Series on Chinese Language Education.
Professor Lee has actively participated in education and social service in Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland and overseas. He has held many visiting, guest and adjunct professorships at universities overseas and in Chinese Mainland. He has served as Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor, conferred by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. He has served as Honorary Advisor (Education) of Sik Sik Yuen, the Hong Kong Kindergarten Association, and the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers; as Advisor of the Character Education Foundation (CEF) and the Hong Kong Association of Deputy Principals; as Academic Advisor of the Association of Inspectors, Education Bureau (AIEDB), and so forth. He is also a Member of the Academic Committee of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Primary and Secondary Schools Principal Federation and Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Center for Hong Kong and Macao Research of South China Normal University. In addition, he was appointed by the Hong Kong SAR Government as a Justice of the Peace (JP).
Professor Lee is a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the UNESCO Chair in Regional Education Development and Lifelong Learning (2019-2023; 2023-2027), a Research Fellow of The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), and Director of the Academy for Applied Policy Studies and Education Futures, Academy for Educational Development and Innovation, and Centre for Religious and Spirituality Education at EdUHK.
Professor Lee is active in leading education research and development projects and has a solid track record in securing external grants. In 2008, his project, entitled ‘Accelerated Schools for Quality Education Project’, won the Quality Education Fund Outstanding Project Award. Another project (together with Professor Jim Chi-yung, Dr Alice Chow Sin-yin and team), entitled “Tree Assessment for Life Education (TALE) Project”, won a Silver Medal in the first-ever virtual edition of the Geneva Inventions Expo held in March 2021, and won a Gold Medal and a Special Award in the International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN) in August 2021. Professor Lee’s another project (led by Dr Song Yanjie), entitled ‘Learningverse – A 3D Metaverse for Online Collaborative Learning’, was awarded a Bronze Medal in the 48th Geneva International Inventions Exhibition in 2023. Professor Lee also received the President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Knowledge Transfer (Team Award) in 2016/17 and 2021/2022.
Professor Lee served as a council member of the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications (ACTEQ), the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA), and the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic & Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ); a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Relations of the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), and the Task Force on Professional Development of Teachers of the Education Bureau; and a co-opted member of the Hospital Governing Committee of Queen Mary Hospital, Tsan Yuk Hospital, and so on. He was a UNESCO consultant for an environmental education project in China, an executive governing board member of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, and so forth. Professor Lee was involved in a research project on small class teaching in early childhood and primary education, supported by the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau of Macau, China. And he led a team of colleagues appointed by the World Bank as consultants for the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training’s Enhancing Teacher Education Program in 2017/18.
Abstract
Development of Two Academies: Advancing Interdisciplinary Educational Innovation for Future Learning
This keynote offers a personal reflection on the establishment and growth of two Academies — Academy for Applied Policy Studies and Education Futures (AAPSEF) and Academy for Educational Development and Innovation (AEDI) — at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). Their creation signifies both a structural and conceptual transformation in the University’s approach to academic and professional development. The activities of these Academies, alongside Institutes and Centers, mirror broader societal and economic trends while responding to the urgent call for interdisciplinary innovation in education.
Set against the backdrop of the National 15th Five-Year Plan in the Chinese Mainland as well as Hong Kong SAR’s aspiration to become an international education hub and leading Asian city for global talent, this keynote examines the evolving notion of education futures. It highlights the implications for EdUHK’s trajectory as it advances its core mission in education while embracing complementary disciplines, positioning itself at the forefront of shaping innovative pathways for the future of learning.
