Media

HKU weekly notice (from April 29 to May 7)

29 Apr 2011

 

Centenary Distinguished Lecture by Nobel Laureate Professor Elinor Ostrom:
Rethinking Environmental Protection and Politics
Professor Elinor Ostrom, recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, will give a Centenary Distinguished Lecture entitled "Rethinking Environmental Protection and Politics".

In 2009, Professor Ostrom became the first woman recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, for her "anaylsis of economic governance, especially the commons". She has challenged conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed. She has demonstrated how common property can be successfully managed by user associations instead of managed by state or private institutions. In this lecture, Professor Ostrom will focus on the issues of environmental protection.  Extensive empirical evidence has shown that individual citizens are not helpless in tackling the environmental issues. A new collective action theory has been developed. Instead of always recommending external governmental actions, polycentric governance arrangements - from that of neighborhood, local community to national or international governments - has been highlighted.

The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Professor Peter Hills, Director of The Kadoorie Institute, HKU, Dr Sarah Liao Sau-tung, Senior Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor on Environmental and Sustainability Matters, HKU, Ms Christine Loh, CEO of Civic Exchange and moderated by Professor Richard Wong, Philip Wong Kennedy Wong Professor in Political Economy, Professor of Economics, HKU.

Media interview session
Date: May 3, 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 3pm - 4pm
Venue: Room 701, 7/F, Knowles Building, HKU

Lecture
Date: May 3, 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU
Language: English

Lunch with a Laureate
A group of 20 senior secondary school students and undergraduates will meet Professor Ostrom for "Lunch with a Laureate". The event aims to foster Knowledge Exchange between university and secondary schools, and help students broaden their horizons by meeting face-to-face with some of the most brilliant minds in the world today.

Date: May 4, 2011 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Venue: 1 University Drive, HKU

To know more about the lecture, please visit:
http://www.hku.hk/socsc/centenary_lecture/

For media enquiries, please contact: Ms Trinni Choy (Assistant Director (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2606 email: pychoy@hku.hk  or Ms Melanie Wan (Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk.

International Conference on Healthy Longevity: The Emergence of Oldest-Old and Centenarians
Over 20 internationally renowned scholars, professionals, and policy-makers from Australia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Japan, Okinawa, South Korea and United States will share their research and experience on healthy longevity, and engage in intellectual exchanges on issues including demography, psycho-social, behavioral, functioning, geriatrics (i.e. biomarkers, objective measurements/physical tests) of the oldest-old across Asian and Western countries.

Five sessions are arranged to cover the following topics on the 1st day (May 6) of the conference:
- What have we learned in centenarian and healthy aging research in the last two decades?
- Gender and longevity based on experiences in the Blue Zones
- International models of studying centenarians and healthy aging
- Healthy longevity predictors - Health, geo- and bio-markers
- Healthy longevity predictors - Psychosocial dynamics

A public forum towards an age-friendly oldest-old society: Health and social care and a good practice sharing session will be held in the morning of 2nd day (May 7).

Date: May 6 and 7, 2011 (Friday and Saturday)
Venue: Wang Gungwu Theatre, Graduate House, HKU
|Time: (day one) 8:45am to 6:15pm, (day two) 9am to noon

The preliminary program is available at http://socialwork.hku.hk/eventfiles/longevity/form/prelim_prog.pdf

Registration required, please return registration form downloaded from: http://socialwork.hku.hk/eventfiles/longevity/form/reg_form.pdf by e-mail or by fax at 24597161.

For enquires, please contact: Mr. Sam Lee, HKU Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Telephone: (852) 2859 2097 email: samsamlee@hku.hk

Hong Kong Women's NGO Forum: Working with CEDAW
HKSAR Government is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). As part of its compliance, it will be submitting, together with the Mainland Chinese government, a Hong Kong report to the UN CEDAW committee in due course. This occasion is an opportunity to bring together frontline NGOs and researchers to HKU which has encouraged for some time, a policy for knowledge exchange and community outreach. The discussions, planned along themed panels, will involve local activists and researchers deliberating on current issues. It is hoped that such an engagement will stimulate the writing of alternative reports in Hong Kong in order to improve the lives of many women who still face discrimination.

The forum is jointly organized by the Women's Studies Research Centre (WSRC), the Emerging Strategic Research Theme (ESRT) on Diversity Studies, HKU Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL), and the Hong Kong Federation of Women's Centres (HKFWC).

Date: May 7, 2011 (Sat)
Time: 9:00 am - 6:15 pm
Venue: Council Chamber, 8/F, Meng Wah Complex, HKU

Registration required, please email diversity.hku@gmail.com  to reserve a place.

For enquiries,, please contact Flora Leung by email at fkleung@hku.hk or by phone at 2859 2941.

HKU weekly notice is sent to its subscribers on Friday afternoons. If you want to receive the event highlights, please regieter with Ms Helen Ho by email at hmsho@hku.hk.