CUHK hosts Harvard University's largest conference in Asia Pacific for 500 students

Some 570 delegates from the world’s foremost universities and leaders in various fields from over 60 countries gathered at CUHK for the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) 2016 Asia Conference, which was held on campus during 19-23 August 2016. Themed ‘EMPOWER’, the event invited over 90 speakers including renowned academics, business professionals, and political leaders, providing a dynamic forum for delegates to exchange ideas on the most pressing global issues across a wide spectrum, from business and sustainability, to entrepreneurship, humanitarian affairs and diplomacy.

The event was kicked off by an opening ceremony, with prominent speakers including Prof. Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor, CUHK; Dr. Han Seung-soo, Former Prime Minister, Republic of Korea and Former President, UN General Assembly; and Ms. Tawakkol Karman, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and Yemeni journalist and politician. Other distinguished speakers addressing at the event included Mr. John Chen, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackBerry Limited; Prof. Sir James Mirrlees, 1996 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences; Mr. Antony Leung, Former Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR; Dr. Victor Fung, Chairman of Li & Fung Group; and Prof. Frederick Ma, Chairman of MTR Corporation Limited.

HPAIR is a student-run organisation of the Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, HPAIR Asia Conference is Harvard University's largest annual student event in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference is a 5-day programme which provides a dynamic forum of exchange on international issues vital to Asia, fosters long-term relationships among young leaders from around the globe, and connects talented delegates with some of today’s leaders in academia, business and government.

Subsequent to a highly competitive world-class bidding process last year, an undergraduate student team comprising 39 students from different academic departments at CUHK won the honour of organising HPAIR 2016 Asia Conference in CUHK. The last time the conference was held at CUHK was in 1999.

The conference provided valuable opportunities for discussion about the many challenges and trends across the international landscape, including political, social, economic, cultural, and business features through a series of plenary sessions, panels, keynotes, and workshops. Various innovative sessions including Impact Challenge, HPAIRx and Career Fair were introduced this year.