The Future of Universities
VIEW EVENT DETAILS
RUNDOWN:
17:00 Registration
17:30 Opening Remarks
17:35 Panel Discussion
18:15 Q&A
18:45 Closing Remarks
18:50 End
This program is free of charge; registration is required.
Today’s universities face an array of unprecedented challenges, including tuition fee hikes, shortages of research funding, the ascent of artificial intelligence, and political interference. What must universities embrace to remain relevant and impactful in a rapidly changing world?
The Hang Lung Mathematics Awards and Asia Society Hong Kong Center are honored to co-host a panel featuring two renowned university leaders: Professor Nancy Rothwell and Professor Lap-Chee Tsui. Professor Rothwell was the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester. Over her 14-year tenure, both student enrollment and research funding saw notable increases. She also chaired the Russell Group of top British universities from 2020 to 2023. Professor Tsui, during his decade-long service as Vice-Chancellor, enhanced the University of Hong Kong’s international standing and supervised the construction of a new modern campus which increased the university’s space by 35%. He was also the Founding President of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences from 2015 to 2022. The two esteemed educators, in conversation with Professor Nick Rawlins, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, will speak from their invaluable personal experiences as they delve into the roles and value of universities in the 21st century.
In collaboration with Asia Society Hong Kong Center, this event forms part of the Hang Lung Mathematics Awards Public Talk series under the theme “Shaping our Future”. It aims to underscore the significance and importance of basic sciences in our rapidly evolving world.
For more information about the Hang Lung Mathematics Awards, please visit https://hlma.hanglung.com/en.

Professor Nancy Rothwell was appointed President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester in July 2010, the first woman to lead the University or either of its two predecessor institutions, and her term ended in July 2024. Nancy is currently working alongside the recently appointed President & Vice-Chancellor Professor Duncan Ivison, as Campaign and External Relations Ambassador and Emeritus Professor. She is a member of the Councils of the Royal Society, MRC and CRUK, a Bord member of UK Biobank and the Singapore Global Health Advisory Board. She was recently appointed as a Member and Deputy Chair for the Government’s Industrial Strategy Council.
Nancy’s research in the field of neuroscience has contributed towards major advances in the understanding and treatment of brain damage in stroke and head injury. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004 and made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005, in recognition of her services to science.
She was the founding President of the Royal Society of Biology and has also served as co-Chair of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, Chair of the Russell Group, a member of the UK Investment Council, and as a non-executive director of AstraZeneca. She is currently a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester, and a member of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Board and the Health Innovation Manchester Board.
Nancy takes a strong and active interest in public communication of science and regularly gives talks to schools and the public and contributes to television, radio and press.

Professor Lap-Chee Tsui is Chairman of the University of Hong Kong Foundation for Educational Development and Research, Emeritus University Professor of University of Toronto, and Qiushi Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang University, China (serving as Advisor of Residential College of its International Campus in Haining). He was the 14th Vice Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong (2002-2014) and, prior to which, the Geneticist-in-Chief at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and University Professor at University of Toronto, Canada. He was also the Founding President of Hong Kong Academy of Sciences (2015-2022)
Prof Tsui was born in Shanghai, China. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and his PhD from University of Pittsburgh in 1979. He is world renowned for his research work in human genetics and genomics, most notably the identification of the gene for Cystic Fibrosis in 1989 and, later, other human genetic disorders while conducting a comprehensive characterisation of human chromosome 7.
Prof Tsui is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Royal Society of London (FRS), and Academia Sinica. He is also an International Member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), a Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, a member of Hong Kong Academy of Sciences and a Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Laureate. He is the recipient of many national and international awards, including 16 honorary doctoral degrees from prestigious universities around the world, the Orders of Canada (OC) and Ontario (OOnt) and Knighthood of the Légion d'Honneur of France. Prof. Tsui was appointed Justice of the Peace (JP) in 2001 and awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star (GBS) and the Grand Bauhinia Medal (GBM) by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2011 and 2016, respectively.

Professor Nick Rawlins is the Master of Morningside College and a Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He moved to Morningside College from a post as Vice-President of the Toulouse School of Economics in France, where he was also a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Toulouse. His move to Toulouse followed a fifty-year academic career at the University of Oxford.
Professor Rawlins was born in Malta during his father’s period of National Service with the Royal Navy, after which the family returned to the UK. Both his primary and secondary schooling (at Winchester College) took place in the UK. He took a B.A. in Psychology and Physiology at University College, Oxford, which was followed by a D.Phil in Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology, during which period he also held a visiting studentship at the University of Oslo. Thereafter he held a succession of posts in Oxford, as a Junior Research Fellow, enriched by a year as a Fogarty Fellow at Johns Hopkins, and then as a Royal Society Research Fellow, Tutorial Fellow, Statutory Professor, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Development and External Affairs during which he was responsible for the largest and most successful fund-raising campaign that had ever been conducted by a university outside North America.
Professor Rawlins’s research lies at the intersection of behaviour with brain function and dysfunction. He has studied the neural bases of learning, attention, and memory in organisms ranging from the medicinal leech to healthy human volunteers. These core interests have led to further studies of fear and anxiety, pain, schizophrenia and its treatment, and neurodegeneration and neural repair. Despite these interests he retains a cheerful disposition.
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Event Details
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Hall, Asia Society Hong Kong Center