Lingnan University to confer honorary doctoral degrees upon Norman Chan, Sylvia Chang, Deane E. Neubauer and Zhong Nanshan

Lingnan University (LU) will confer honorary doctoral degrees upon four distinguished individuals in recognition of their outstanding achievements in their respective professions and valuable contributions to the well-being of society.

The honorary doctorate recipients are: prominent financial leader Mr Norman Chan Tak-lam（陳德霖）, esteemed film director Ms Sylvia Chang Ai-chia （張艾嘉）, prolific political science scholar Prof Deane E. Neubauer, and world-renowned respiratory disease expert Prof Zhong Nanshan（鍾南山）. The Honorary Doctorate Conferment Ceremony will be held on 9 December.

Biographies of the Honorary Doctorate recipients:

Mr Norman Chan Tak-lam, GBS, JP

Mr Norman Chan Tak-lam is currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) as well as an Honorary Professor of its Business School.

A Sociology major of CUHK, Mr Chan joined the Administrative Service of the Hong Kong Government after graduation. In 1991 he was appointed Deputy Director of Monetary Management at the Office of the Exchange Fund. In 1993, he was instrumental in creating the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), and was promoted to Deputy Chief Executive in 1996. In 1997 to 1998, the Asian Financial Crisis hit Hong Kong, but with Mr Chan at the helm, the HKMA took brave, timely and decisive actions to counter the ferocious systemic shocks and threats, and ultimately safeguarded the stability of Hong Kong currency and financial markets.

Mr Chan left the HKMA for about four years and rejoined in 2009 to serve as Chief Executive until his retirement in 2019. During his 10-year term, he reinforced the financial system and enhanced Hong Kong’s position as Asia’s premier banking and financial centre.

In recognition of his contributions to society, Mr Chan was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star in 1999 and the Gold Bauhinia Star in 2012. He is also an Honorary Fellow of CUHK.

Ms Sylvia Chang Ai-chia

Ms Sylvia Chang Ai-chia is one of the most versatile, prolific and creative performing artists in the Chinese-speaking world. She was born in Taiwan, and at 17 she went into television and then the film industry, becoming one of the few performing arts stars in both Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Since the 1970s, Ms Chang has made a lot of best-selling music albums, appeared in over 100 films and a number of television and stage dramas, and won many awards. She has finished her first script in 1972 and made her film directing debut in 1981, and has now directed 16 films and written over 20 scripts. Her passion in creativity and performing arts, and courage to venture have brought her a unique successful path.

Ms Chang makes significant contributions to charity in Hong Kong and throughout the world. She has been working with the World Vision, and has visited to South Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America, to support people in need. She believes that everyone is responsible for taking care of others, and she sees films as a way for her to share her care, which is how warmth and mutual respect have become her specific creative style.

Prof Deane E. Neubauer

Prof Deane E. Neubauer is currently an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in the US, where he served since 1970 until 2004. Since the 1980s, he has served on Higher Education Accreditation teams predominantly in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, to promote quality education. Over the years, he has served on 235 dissertation committees, some of them in public health and the physical sciences.

Prof Neubauer also worked with the East-West Center, a US-based institution for public diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific region, from 2006 to 2020, where he assisted in founding the Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership (APHERP), an inter-university research partnership involving 15 universities. APHERP is presently hosted at LU. His contribution has positioned LU as a leading hub for higher education research and learning.

Prof Neubauer has demonstrated outstanding academic achievements and notable contributions in global higher education, who has so far received about 30 prominent awards, honours, and grants, including excellence in teaching awards, distinguished awards for service to the community and several US Congress-backed grants to establish research platforms such as the Globalisation Research Centre.

Prof Zhong Nanshan

Prof Zhong Nanshan is Professor of Medicine at the Guangzhou Medical University, Director of the State Clinical Research Centre of Respiratory Disease, a member of the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a recipient of the Order of the Republic.

Prof Zhong is well known for his contribution to the country during epidemics. Whenever people’s health and lives have been at risk during epidemics, Prof Zhong has stood up to steer the efforts to control the spread and contain the number of cases, typical examples were SARS in 2003 and COVID-19 in 2019.

Prof Zhong has devoted significant effort to medicine, technology and education. He has published more than 50 papers in international academic journals, and over 200 in national journals, as well as writing 16 books. He has also taken out nine patents and has received more than 20 science and technology awards, including the second and third classes award of the State Science and Technology Progress Award, and the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation. He was conferred honorary doctoral degrees by The University of Edinburgh, the University of Birmingham, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.