23 September 2022
Mr Chairman, Honorary University Fellows, distinguished guests, colleagues,
It gives me great pleasure to be here with you all today at the Honorary University Fellowship Conferment Ceremony of 2022. On this special occasion, we gather to recognise the contributions and achievements of three distinguished individuals. On behalf of the University, I am most delighted to welcome our new Honorary University Fellows: Dr Tisa Ho, Mr Edward Lui, and Ms Yao Jue.
They are all well-respected and renowned leaders in society, and they have all led extraordinary lives and had decorated careers with common roots in Hong Kong. With their passion, devotion and years of hard work, they have achieved prominence in their respective fields. Ms Yao and Dr Ho are leading figures in the arts and cultural sectors, and Mr Lui heads up a charitable foundation that helps many people in need in Hong Kong and mainland China. Their success and distinguished accomplishments are most impressive.
However, they deserve the honour not only because of their personal success, but also the deeds they have done to share that success. We are especially touched by how they have influenced the next generation, helped others realise their own dreams, and brought hope to society through their educational endeavours and charitable acts. They have set wonderful examples by generating possibilities and building platforms for others to rise. As the famous American boxer Sugar Ray Leonard once said, “Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materialising”. This is precisely what Dr Ho, Mr Lui and Ms Yao are doing, which is also very much aligned with HKBU’s educational and research ethos.
At HKBU, we prepare our students to be well-rounded leaders and caring global citizens who are ready to take on future challenges with their transdisciplinary education. We even endeavour to shape the world by reimagining creativity and innovation. In July, we established the School of Creative Arts to maximise synergies and take teaching and research in the creative arts to another level of excellence. We are also showing others how human creativity can be augmented through the co-creation of artistic works by AI and humans. Following the world’s first human-AI performance involving HKBU’s symphony orchestra, an AI virtual choir, an AI media artist and AI virtual dancers in July, we launched another world-first in August in the form of the “Turing AI Orchestra”. It’s a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation ecosystem that enables art creation through collaborations between scientists and artists using blockchain technology. As the project moves forward, our artists and AI scientists will further showcase how far our artistic imagination can travel with the exciting human-AI creations to come.
Our three Honorary University Fellows have brought about positive changes in society with their kind hearts, acts of leadership, and respective visions for the future. In an effort to create a sustainable, caring and compassionate society, HKBU mobilised our staff and students to provide holistic care to COVID patients when Hong Kong was hit hard by the pandemic earlier this year. By leveraging our strength in Chinese medicine, we offered free online Chinese medicine consultations and door-to-door deliveries of herbal medicine to patients. Our staff and students in nursing and social work also contributed to the community-wide efforts to fight the pandemic, from providing nursing support to emotional support and counselling services. This holistic approach illustrates how we are translating our knowledge and expertise to serve society’s needs. I am sure that with the support of our three new Fellows, the University’s efforts to advance human creativity and caring initiatives for society will be amplified.
We are blessed to have their support in our journey of knowledge creation and innovation, and they are truly fitting role models for our students and a source of inspiration for the whole HKBU community. Once more, let us warmly welcome our new Fellows to the HKBU family by giving them another round of applause. We look forward to benefiting from their wisdom and support in the time to come.
Thank you very much.