RUNDOWN:
17:45       Registration
18:00       Opening remark and Welcome remark
18:10       Performance & Screening
18:50      Panel Discussion
19:20      Q&A
19:40      Closing Remarks
19:45      VR Session, Cocktail & Networking
20:30      End

This program is free of charge; registration is required.

Night of Ideas is back in Hong Kong in 2025!

The Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau, the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC) are thrilled to announce that "Nuit des Idées" (Night of Ideas) is back in Hong Kong with an exciting programme throughout 2025! This global event, celebrated across five continents, invites participants to explore the theme of "Empowerment" through a series of discussions and activities.

The Night of Ideas will commence with a launch event at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center on April 7, 2025. As the inaugural event this year, this evening will feature thought-provoking performances and activities on three specific areas of empowerment:

• Blue Talk: Preserving Our Ocean
• Ageing, social inclusion and intergenerational initiatives
• Rights of LGBT+ People

Following these dynamic sessions, there will be an enlightening round table discussion on the topic of “Empowerment” as an invitation to ask ourselves how we can take effective action on major contemporary global issues, to explore the participation of young people and civil society in public decision-making, and to provide a platform for debate.

Preserving Our Ocean

A preview of an exhibition of marine life photographs will be available at the cocktail area, including the winner of the 2023 Hong Kong Underwater Photo Competition organized by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, and the winner photography of the “Underwater” category of the 1st World Ocean Day Photo Competition organized by the United Nations by Mr. Alan Lo. Alan Lo is a photographer based in Hong Kong, who expresses his curiosity to the underwater world through various approaches. Apart from winning the 1st Annual World Oceans Day Competition in 2014, which we will have the pleasure to display at the Night of Ideas, he has notably been highly honoured for the Nature Best Photography Asia in 2015, has won the Scuba Diving magazine’s 2014 and 2013 photo contests and has won the 1st Prize for the Indonesia World Underwater photo contest in 2013. In 2024, two of his photographs were awarded at the Monochrome Awards.

A Virtual Reality VR experience created by Dr. Cindy Lam, Assistant Professor of Science Education from HKUST’s Department of Ocean Science will be featured with two headsets available. This marine VR game creates an immersive learning experience, allowing learners to explore realistic underwater environments that would otherwise to be inaccessible or impractical to visit in real life. With lifelike 3D models and scenes of marine habitats at HKUST, players can actively explore coral communities, and deeper water ecosystems, rather than passively observing them. The project incorporates interactive gameplay, adaptive learning, and built-in assessment tools, aiming to inspire further marine research and promote environmental stewardship among students and the public. With this ground breaking initiative, the marine VR game could make ocean science more accessible, engaging and impactful in the society. These activities will invite participants to think about ocean protection in the context of the upcoming third United Nations Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France where world leaders and major stakeholders as well as companies will gather to discuss on ways to save our ocean for a sustainable future.

Ageing, social inclusion and intergenerational initiatives

A brief dance performance excerpt by elderly individuals living with Parkinson's disease, participants in the Jockey Club Dance Well Project presented by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The dancers will express their reflections on this initiative and discuss the transformative impact of dance on their experience with Parkinson's, highlighting its physical and psychosocial benefits. We hope through this launch event on ageing to plant the seeds for new ideas to grow within the audience in the perspective of the upcoming event dedicated to Ageing in October 2025.

Rights of LGBT+ People

An excerpt of the Hong Kong movie “All Shall Be Well” will be screened with a presentation by the filmmaker, Mr. Ray Yeung. In this session, participants and the public will be invited to reflect how same-sex couples continue to be constrained and face discriminations and how to progress towards equality regardless of their gender orientation.

Ray Yeung is a Hong Kong filmmaker with four feature films to his credit. His most recent work, All Shall Be Well, premiered at the 2024 Berlinale International Film Festival, where it received the Teddy Award for Best Feature and secured third place in the Panorama Audience Award. Prior to this, his feature film Suk Suk (also known as Twilight's Kiss) premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 and was subsequently showcased at Berlinale in 2020.In 2021, Ray was honored as the Artist of the Year (Film) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. He has also served as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival since 2000, demonstrating his dedication to promoting LGBTQ+ cinema.

Speakers:

Dr. Kay Chi-yan Lam brings extensive experience in policy research and higher education, having served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute and the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the HKSAR Government. Currently, she is the Research Director at a policy consulting firm and a Consultant at the Department of Public and International Affairs at City University of Hong Kong. Dr. Lam will delve into the topic of "empowerment" through public engagement, discussing community initiatives that empower individuals and groups to collaboratively address challenges and highlighting the significance of impact studies in these efforts.

Fion Leung is the Co-founder of Time Auction, a charity that promotes volunteerism. Time Auction was started as a side project in 2014 and registered as a charity in 2017. Since then, Fion has dedicated herself full-time to leveraging technology to drive scalable impact. In 2020, Fion launched a platform that efficiently connects skilled volunteers with nonprofits that can benefit from their talents, addressing a talent gap in the nonprofit sector. To date, the Time Auction community has contributed over 310,000 volunteer hours.

Fion's work has earned her recognition on the Tatler Hong Kong's Generation T List 2019, as a GLG Social Impact Fellow in 2021, and as an Asia 21 2022 Class of Young Leaders. Prior to her venture into philanthropy, Fion worked as a Product Evangelist at a media startup, Notey, and a Graduate Analyst at Barclays. She graduated from HKUST with a degree in Business Administration.

Agnes Shuk-mei Ku is Associate Professor of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She is also affiliated with the Centre for Cultural Sociology at Yale University. Her research interests include cultural sociology, civil society, citizenship, urban space and Hong Kong identity. Her publications include The Civil Sphere in East Asia (2019, Cambridge University Press, co-edited with Jeffrey Alexander, David Palmer and Sunwoong Park); Where Time Turns Black (2017, AsiaOne); Hong Kong Mobile: Making a Global Population (2008, Hong Kong University Press, co-edited with Helen Siu); Remaking Citizenship in Hong Kong: Community, Nation and the Global City (2004, Routledge, co-edited with Ngai Pun); Narratives, Politics and the Public Sphere: Struggles over Political Reform in the Final Transitional Years in Hong Kong (1999, Ashgate).  

About The Night of Ideas (in French: La Nuit des Idées)

Launched in Paris for the first time in 2016, the Night of Ideas in Hong Kong is part of a worldwide operation that aims at sharing the French culture of debate, with the support of the Institut Français of Paris. From Seoul to Los Angeles, from Tokyo to Paris, passing through Singapore, Hong Kong and New York. Every year over 200 events are organized in 115 countries.

The event has been featured in Hong Kong since 2018 with major local partners: Asia Society (2018, Artificial Intelligence), Hong Kong Design Institute (2019, Night of Architecture, Saint James’ Settlement (2020, The Revolution of Sharing), the Hong Kong Museum of Arts (2021, St[art] again).

Philosophers, writers, researchers, intellectuals, students, whistleblowers, artists and political figures propose their vision of the present and their solutions to the challenges of tomorrow on issues of equality, ecology, education, urban planning, science, policy and technology.

Official website: www.lanuitdesidees.com

About the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC)

The French Centre for Research on Contemporary China, created in 1991, is a research institute jointly funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). The only European Research Centre in China entirely devoted to the study of contemporary China in the field of social sciences and humanities, it studies the political, economic, social and cultural changes in the Contemporary (post-1949) People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. 

Sign up link:

https://bit.ly/3Fku32H

The views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers and participants and, unless expressly stated to the contrary, do not reflect the opinion, position or official policy of Asia Society Hong Kong, its members, or its committees. Asia Society Hong Kong does not endorse or approve and assumes no responsibility for the content of the information presented