Master of Public Policy (MPP) Info Session

Dr. Pengyu Zhu is an Associate Professor in the Division of Public Policy at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He is the Co-Director of the Master of Public Policy Program at HKUST. Prior to joining HKUST, Dr. Zhu has been a faculty member in the Department of Community and Regional Planning at Boise State University, USA (2011-2016) and in the Department of Geography at University of Hong Kong (2017-2019). Dr. Zhu received his Ph.D. in Policy, Planning and Development from the Sol Price School of Public Policy at University of Southern California in 2011. He has taught courses on transportation and land use, transportation economics, economics applications to planning and policy, urban economics, urban geography, quantitative research methods, and urban design and site planning studios.

Naubahar Sharif is an Associate Professor in the Division of Public Policy and Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He earned his doctorate in ‘Science and Technology Studies’ from Cornell University (USA) in 2005 and completed the Executive Education program in ‘Innovation for Economic Development’ at Harvard University (USA) in 2011. He has published numerous research and theoretical articles in leading academic journals and has been awarded external funding from the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong under the Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) scheme, the General Research Fund (GRF) scheme, and the Public Policy Research (PPR) scheme. Under the auspices of Hong Kong’s Central Policy Unit, Dr. Sharif has received funding (as a co-investigator) for a Strategic Public Policy Research (SPPR) proposal to study the potential of China’s One-Belt-One-Road initiative to benefit Hong Kong through trade and investment. Dr. Sharif also consulted for the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) of the HKSAR Government from 2006 to 2010. Currently in his research he focuses on innovation and technology policymaking in Hong Kong, the impact of the One-Belt-One-Road initiative in Pakistan, and also the process of industrial automation, including robotics, unfolding in Southern China.