In an event on March 28, the University introduced a new international academic center in Hong Kong, which will be involved in a range of workshops and conferences in addition to being the base for an undergraduate study-abroad program focusing on colonization as part of the Civilizations Core.

The Center in Hong Kong will also host the Booth School’s Executive M.B.A. Program in Asia, which is already located nearby. The University moved the Chicago Booth M.B.A. program from Singapore to Hong Kong in 2013 due to the city’s proximity to mainland China, where demand for the degree is high.

Like the University’s other centers in Beijing, Delhi, London, and Paris, the Center in Hong Kong will centralize activities for UChicago faculty and students living and working in the city. Hong Kong was selected as a location because of the collaboration that the University has already undertaken with many universities in the Hong Kong area through the Center in Beijing.

Recent events at the new center include a meeting about the Asian Family in Transition Initiative, a series of conferences held in conjunction with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and an upcoming quantum technology workshop.

The March 28 event, which celebrated the launch of the new center, featured two panel discussions and keynote remarks, including from President Robert Zimmer and Sunil Kumar, the dean of the Booth School.

In the first panel discussion, Dali Yang, the faculty director of the Center in Beijing and a professor of political science, moderated a discussion on human capital and development, which featured UChicago professors in economics and psychology along with faculty from the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The second panel discussion at the event, entitled Frontiers in Science, covered topics such as quantum technologies, big data, and molecular medicine. Ka Yee Lee, a professor of chemistry at the University, participated in the panel and is the chair of the Faculty Advisory Board at the new center.

In the University’s press release, Lee stated, “Our goal is for the center to be an intellectual destination that expands opportunities for collaboration with researchers and students representing a wide array of institutions in Hong Kong and the region.”