Chair Prof. Anthony G.O. Yeh, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hong Kong Academy of Sciences and Fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences) and Academy of Social Sciences UK is Chan To-Hann Professor in Urban Planning and Design, Chair Professor of Department of Urban Planning and Design, and Director of Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning. He has been former Dean of Graduate School, Director of Centre of Urban Studies and Urban Planning, Institute of Transport Studies, and Head of Department of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Hong Kong. His main areas of specialisation are in urban development and planning in Hong Kong, China, and South East Asia and the applications of geographic information systems (GIS) as planning support system of smart cities. He received the UN-HABITAT Lecture Award in 2008 for his outstanding and sustained contribution to research, thinking and practice in the human settlements field. His projects have won a gold medal in the 2018 Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, silver medal in 2023, and gold medal in 2024, and a gold award in Smart Logistics in the 2022 Hong Kong ICT Awards and Best Use of AI in Smart Mobility in 2025.

He has published over 30 books and monographs and over 180 international journal papers and book chapters. He also serves as editorial board members in major international journals and honorary professors and external examiners of a number of universities and research institutes in China and S.E. Asia. He has been President of Asia GIS Association, Founding Secretary-General of the Asian Planning Schools Association and Asia GIS Association, Founding President of the Hong Kong GIS Association, Chairman of the Hong Kong Geographical Association, Vice‑President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners, Vice‑President of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners, and Chairman of the Geographic Information Science Commission of the International Geographic Union (IGU).

Cindy Fan is Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement and Professor of Geography at UCLA. As Senior International Officer, she provides strategic leadership for the university’s international partnerships and agreements, represents UCLA globally, and oversees the 22 interdisciplinary research centers and eight degree programs within the International Institute. Dr. Fan received her PhD from the Ohio State University. Internationally known for her research on migration and split households, gender, and regional development in China, she has numerous publications including the pioneering book China on the Move. She has received the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, Distinguished Scholar Awards from the American Association of Geographers, an American Council on Education Fellowship, major grants from the Mellon Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation and National Science Foundation, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Bristol. Dr. Fan is an elected member of the National Academy of International Education.

Mei-Po Kwan is Head of Chung Chi College, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Geography and Resource Management, and Director of the Institute of Space and Earth Information Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the U.K. Academy of Social Sciences, the Hong Kong Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the Royal Geographical Society (U.K.), and the Geographical Society of China. She received many prestigious awards and honors from the AAG, including the Distinguished Scholarship Honors, the Anderson Medal of Honors in Applied Geography, the Wilbanks Prize for Transformational Research in Geography, and the Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography. She also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences (CPGIS). Kwan has published over 580 journal articles, books, and book chapters. She has received research grants of over USD 68.8 million from sources including the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. She has delivered over 420 keynote addresses and invited lectures in more than 20 countries. She served as an editor of Annals of the American Association of Geographers for 12 years. Kwan has made ground-breaking contributions to research on environmental health, human mobility, smart cities, and geographic information science (GIScience). She is a leading researcher in deploying real-time GPS tracking and mobile sensing to collect individual-level data in environmental health research and use them in building future and sustainable cities. She discovered the uncertain geographic context problem (UGCoP) and the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP), which question the existing knowledge in neighborhood effect research based on residence-based approaches and led to a shift to the mobility-based paradigm in environmental exposure assessment.

Professor Lily Kong was appointed President of Singapore Management University in 2019, the first Singaporean to lead the institution and the first Singaporean woman to head any university in Singapore. She also holds the Lee Kong Chian Chair Professorship of Social Sciences. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with roots in Geography and is widely known for her research on urban transformations, and social and cultural change in Asian cities.

An award-winning researcher and teacher, Professor Kong has received numerous international awards and accolades, including the British Academy Fellowship, Commonwealth Fellowship, Fulbright Fellowship, Geographical Society of China Fellowship, Robert Stoddard Award from the Association of American Geographers, and the Victoria Medal from the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), and the SR Nathan Fellowship. She is consistently ranked in the top 1-2% in her field in studies by Stanford. She has also been conferred an Honorary Degree by Loughborough University.

Jinhong Ding is Professor, Institute of Population Research, East China Normal University. He previously served as Director of the Population Geography Committee of the Geographical Society of China, Director of the Population, Resources and Environment Committee of the China Population Association, Deputy Director of the Department of Geography at East China Normal University, Director of the Institute of Population Research, and Dean of the School of Social Development. Prof. Ding has long been engaged in theoretical and policy research on population migration, urbanization, marriage, and fertility, he has published over 150 academic papers, and received numerous provincial and ministerial awards for outstanding academic achievements. Currently, he serves as Director of the Academic Committee of the School of Social Development at East China Normal University, President of the Shanghai Population Association, and Vice President of the China Population Association.

Dr. Helen Bao is a Professor of Urban Economics & Public Policy at the Department of Land Economy and a Fellow in Land Economy at the Newnham College, University of Cambridge. She is also the Deputy Head of Department, as well the Director of the Lab of Interdisciplinary Spatial Analysis at Cambridge University. After completing her PhD in Statistics at the City University of Hong Kong, Helen joined the University of Cambridge in 2006. Helen's research focuses on government policy and interventions that facilitate market operations and mitigate market failures in urban settings, such as sustainable urbanisation and housing affordability. On the technical front, she specialises in the application of behavioural insights and hedonic price modelling in land and housing markets. Helen's new book, " Behavioural Economic Analysis of Institutional Changes: Lessons learned from China's Land System Reforms," pushes the research frontier of behavioural urban studies. Helen has published extensively on the application of behavioural insights in real estate markets in Urban Studies, Regional Sciences, Land Use Policy, Housing Studies, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Cities, Transport and Research Part F - Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, among others. Helen's research has received grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. She is an Associate Editor of Cities and an editorial board member of key journals in the area of urban studies, such as Land Use Policy.

Associate Professor Elin Charles-Edwards is a population geographer and demographer at The University of Queensland, where she is an Associate Professor in Human Geography and Director of the Queensland Centre for Population Research.

Her research focuses on the patterns, drivers and consequences of population mobility and migration across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Her work has been widely published in leading international journals and edited volumes in population geography and demography.

Associate Professor Charles-Edwards holds a Bachelor of Arts and a PhD from The University of Queensland. Her research has informed population policy and planning through sustained collaboration with government agencies and policy stakeholders. She is President of the Australian Population Association and has provided extensive academic service through editorial roles, professional leadership, and contributions to national advisory bodies.