Research Interests

Biography

Jingwei Alex He is Professor in the Division of Public Policy and Acting Director of the Institute for Public Policy at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where he also serves as the Co-Director of the Master of Public Policy (MPP) Program. Professor He received his PhD degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. He specializes in public policy analysis, health policy and governance, and social policy reforms, with particular focus on East Asia. He has published extensively in these areas, contributing articles to leading international journals and publishing houses, including Public Administration Review, Policy Sciences, Policy Studies Journal, Governance, The China Quarterly, Journal of Social Policy, Health Policy & Planning, Social Science & Medicine, Social Policy & Administration, Policy & Society, and Health Policy. He also has a rich portfolio of academic articles and book chapters published in Chinese. Professor He has been ranked by Stanford as the world's top 2% most cited scholars in the field of political science and public administration for since 2021.

In May 2021, the University Grants Council (UGC) announced the results of the 2020 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), Hong Kong’s official scheme assessing the research performance and achievement of public universities. All eight public universities in Hong Kong participated in the disciplinary area of political science (including public administration, public policy, and international relations), or Unit of Assessment #25 (UoA 25), submitting their best research impact cases. In the entire Unit, Professor He’s impact case was among the only two research impact cases unanimously rated ‘outstanding’ (four star)—the top score—by the international expert panel.

Since 2014, Professor He has received many external as well as internal research grants, including 10 major projects funded by the Research Grants Council’s Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (HSSPFS), the General Research Fund (GRF, x5), Public Policy Research Funding Scheme (PPR), the Early Career Scheme (ECS), and the World Health Organization (APO, x2). Two of his GRF projects were rated 5.0 full score by the international review panel.

Professor He is Editor of Policy Design and Practice (ECSI), and Associate Editor of Journal of Asian Public Policy (SSCI Q1) and Policy and Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Policy Research (SSCI Q1, 2020-2025). He also serves as Executive Member of the East Asian Social Policy Network (EASP), Adjunct Research Fellow of the Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance of Tsinghua University, and the alumnus of the Ronald Coase Institute. He also sits in the editorial boards of Urban Governance (Elsevier), Teaching Public Administration (Sage), Societal Impact (Elsevier), Journal of Public Administration (公共行政評論), and Chinese Public Administration Review (公共管理評論). He was the recipient of

International Public Policy Association’s Transition and Developing Economies Award (the first Chinese awardee), 2023 Best Policy Research Award of CPSG (Chinese Policy Scholars Group, 留美公共政策學會), and twice the EdUHK President’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Research. He held the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship, the Lowenstein Fellowship, and the Ronald Coase Institute Fellowship.
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Professor He is actively engaged in policy advocacy. His articles appeared in leading newspapers, including China Daily, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Ming Pao and Singtao Daily. He was interviewed by the Phoenix TV, China Central Television (English Channel), The Straits Times, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), ATV, China Radio International, and CBS News in the US on various policy issues.

HIGHLIGHTED PUBLICATIONS

• He, J., Qian, J., and Zhu, L. (2025). Policy design and policy feedback in welfare retrenchment: a survey experiment in China. Policy Studies Journal (SSCI, Q1, 5-year IF=4.9), 53(2), 307-327.
• Wang, Q., and He, J.* (2025). Central-local relations, accountability, and defensive administration: unravelling the puzzling shrinkage of China’s urban social safety net. Journal of Social Policy (SSCI, Q1, 5-year IF=2.5), DOI: 10.1017/S0047279425000054.
• He, J., Fu, H., and Tang, N. (2025). From local innovation to national policy: cross-boundary policy entrepreneurship in China’s health regulatory reform. Australian Journal of Public Administration (SSCI, Q2, 5-year IF=2.2), 10.1111/1467-8500.12687.
• Zhang, Q., Wang, J.S.H., He, J., Peng, C., Abe, A., Ku, I., Ng. I.Y.H., and Zhao, X. (2025). Providing financial protection in health for low-income populations: a comparison of health financing designs in East Asia. International Journal for Equity in Health (SSCI, Q1, 5-year IF=5), 24, 215, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-025-02568-2.
• Shi, Y., and He, J.* (2025). Subnational policy entrepreneurs in action: a systematic quantitative review. Journal of Public Policy (SSCI, Q3, 5-year IF=2.4), 45(2), 372-398.
• He, J., Zhang, Z., Anand, P., & McMinn, S. (2025). Embracing generative artificial intelligence tools in higher education: a survey at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Journal of Asian Public Policy (SSCI, Q1, 5-year IF=1.9), 18(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2024.2447195
• Capano, G., He, J.*, & McMinn, S. (2025). Riding the tide of generative artificial intelligence in higher education policy: an Asian perspective. Journal of Asian Public Policy (SSCI, Q1, 5-year IF=1.9), 18(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/17516234.2025.2450571.
• He, J., Qian, J., and Zhu, L. (2024). Policy design and policy feedback in welfare retrenchment: a survey experiment in China. Policy Studies Journal, https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12569.
• He, J.*, Fan, Y., and Su, R. (2024). Unpack the black box of pilot sampling in policy experimentation: a qualitative comparative analysis of China’s public hospital reform. Governance, 37(3), 803-824 (CPSG Best Policy Research Award 2023).
• Mintrom, M., Maurya, D., and He, J. (eds.), 2020. Policy Entrepreneurship: An Asian Perspective, London: Routledge.
• He, J., Fan, Y., & Su, R. (2022). Seeking policy solutions in a complex system: experimentalist governance in China’s healthcare reform. Policy Sciences, 55(4), 755-776.
• He, J., Zhang, C., & Qian, J. (2022). Covid-19 and social inequality in China: the local-migrant divide and the limits of social protections in a pandemic. Policy & Society, 41(2), 275-290.
• Guo, Y., He, J.*, and Wang, F. (2022). Local policy discretion in social welfare: explaining the subnational variation in the de facto poverty line in urban China. The China Quarterly, 249, 114-138.
• He, J. (2022). The welfare is ours: rural-to-urban migration and domestic welfare chauvinism in urban China. Journal of Contemporary China, 31(134), 202-218.
• Bali, A.Z., He, J., and Ramesh, M. (2022). Health policy and COVID-19: path dependency and trajectory. Policy & Society, 41(1), 83-95.
• He, J., Qian, J., Chan, W.S., and Chou, K.L. (2021). Preference for private long-term care insurance products in a super-ageing society: a discrete choice experiment in Hong Kong. Social Science & Medicine, 270, 1136232.
• He, J., Ratigan, K., and Qian, J. (2021). Attitudinal feedback towards sub-national social policy: a comparison of popular support for social health insurance in China. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 23(3), 350-371.
• He, J. (2018). Manoeuvring within fragmented bureaucracy and vested interests: policy entrepreneurship in China’s local health care reform, The China Quarterly, 236, 1088-1110.
• Yin, J.D.C. and He, J.* (2018). Health insurance reforms in Singapore and Hong Kong: How the two ageing Asian Tigers respond to health financing challenges? Health Policy, 122(7), 693-697.