Marie Bernal is a newly appointed Lecturer at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies. Having been trained as an architect and theologian at the University of Notre Dame, in her early career she worked extensively as an architectural designer and project manager at luxury residential and luxury retail architecture firms in New York City.
Upon her relocation to Hong Kong, she served as a manager and later director in NPOs, with a short tenure in the corporate world, while undertaking her doctoral degree studies at HKUST. Her multidisciplinary background saw her conducting research in the field of civil engineering, with a special interest in the application and regulation of nanomaterials in construction. This led her to her current focus and research in the Division of Public Policy, which centers around the intersection of risk regulation, behavioral and cognitive science, policymaking, and policy dynamics.
Her most recent work explores chemical policy development in the United States at various levels of governance, with a particular focus on the effect of the public’s risk perception, regulatory preferences and civic engagement in the process.
