Prof Richard M. Walker, Head of the Department of Government and International Affairs and Lee Shau Kee Foundation Chair Professor of Public Administration at Lingnan University, has been given the prestigious Routledge Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) in recognition of his sustained dedication and outstanding contributions to the field. Prof Walker is the first scholar in Hong Kong to receive this honour, bringing distinction to Hong Kong's academic community and emphasising Lingnan University's international leadership in the discipline.
Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University expressed his sincere congratulations to Prof Walker on this accolade, and said, "In recent years, Prof Walker has actively integrated Computational Social Science with public management research, and established the Governance and Bureaucracy Lab (GOVBUR Lab) at Lingnan University. The Lab examines new challenges, including the effectiveness and governance of artificial intelligence applications in the digital age, embodying the University's special vision of combining a liberal arts education with cutting-edge science. These international partners include several of the world's top 100 universities, such as Duke University, University of Michigan, and New York University in the US, Yonsei University in South Korea, and Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, which further consolidates our position as a leading research-oriented liberal arts university, comprehensive in arts and sciences, in the digital era."
Prof Walker said he was greatly honoured to receive this international recognition, and that "I believe one of the research endeavours that contributed to this award is a replication project that I led, funded by the Research Grants Council (RGC), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme of the Chief Executive’s Policy Unit. The project analyses the applicability of Western public administration theories in Asia. Given that university education and research in Asian public administration draw predominantly on Western concepts and often overlook the unique economic, political, social, and institutional contexts in Asia, replicating experimental studies of citizen satisfaction with public services as well as performance indicator data analysis, are essential, and allow us to develop updated theoretical frameworks grounded in empirical findings and to bring Asian data into the global scholarly conversation."
Beyond refining traditional academic theories, Prof Walker has also used big data to examine very large volumes of literature, which show that the research theme of Management Innovation (MI) in public service has itself developed into an independent field of study. He is currently co-authoring a book on Management Innovation in Public Services with Prof Fariborz Damanpour of Rutgers University, to be published by the Oxford University Press. This will be the first academic work to systematically explore the topic, and study how rational and institutional factors shape the development and implementation of management innovation in public service organisations.
To increase Lingnan University's international influence, Prof Walker has founded the GOVBUR Lab, which incorporates perspectives from public administration and political science to focus on dynamic issues such as citizen-government relationships, artificial intelligence, and governance efficacy. The Lab will form partnerships and arrange academic exchanges with the world's top universities, bringing together distinguished visiting scholars such as Prof Wang Yuhua from Harvard University, Prof Meng Tianguang from Tsinghua University, Prof Lü Xiaobo from the University of California, Berkeley, Prof Oliver James from the University of Exeter, and Prof M. Jae Moon from Yonsei University, and further extend Lingnan University's academic influence in international public management research and contribute to consolidating Hong Kong's position as an international higher education hub.
The Routledge Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by the council of the IRSPM. It was first given in 2007, and goes to only one distinguished scholar each year.
Prof Richard M. Walker (right) delivers a keynote speech on his latest research, and receives the Routledge Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 annual conference of the International Research Society for Public Management.
Lingnan University congratulates Hong Kong SAR astronaut Lai Ka-ying who has been chosen for the nation’s next space mission, where she will probably operate the Multi-Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory (MUSICO), a space-based research instrument led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Prof Li Jia, Director of the Lingnan University Shenzhen Research Institute (LUSZRI), and Associate Professor (Presidential Early Career Scholar) of the Wu Jieh Yee School of Interdisciplinary Studies (WJYSIS) at Lingnan University, together with her research team, contributed key data from a carbon emissions source database for the project, which will be used to compare greenhouse gas data including carbon dioxide and methane emission sources observed by MUSICO, helping researchers identify emission intensity and distribution patterns of power and industrial facilities across different regions more accurately, thereby providing robust scientific support for China’s carbon-peaking and carbon-neutrality goals.
Prof Li said that currently many satellite monitoring systems worldwide focus mainly on greenhouse gas emissions at the regional level, and identifying carbon emissions from a single large stationary emission source from space remains challenging as relying on the high-sensitivity MUSICO instrument also depends greatly on long-term, ground-based carbon emissions data for comparison.
Prof Li Jia (right), Prof Su Hui (middle), and Dr Wang Fan (left) at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site.
Prof Li said “Our database covers more than half of China’s carbon dioxide emission sources, and records emission volumes from different regions and industrial facilities. It is resolved down to the level of total emissions per square kilometre, with precise geographic coordinates, and functions much like a map and a navigation system, helping MUSICO identify the specific locations, intensities, and operational patterns of emission sources in space. This enables the instrument to observe the large-scale distribution of greenhouse gas concentrations, and also to analyse emissions from individual factories or facilities with greater precision, thereby increasing the accuracy and scientific value of space-based observation data.”
Prof Li continued “As an international financial centre, the Hong Kong SAR is well positioned to use Lingnan’s empirical data to advance the development of the green economy. In future, the database may be applied to carbon emissions verification, emissions reduction assessment, and urban low-carbon management, providing scientific support for low-carbon transformation in the Greater Bay Area and across China.”
For several years now, Prof Li Jia’s team has carried out extensive research on industrial carbon emissions in China, and participated in core national carbon neutrality projects, compiling inventories covering major high-emission industries, such as power generation, cement, steel, chemicals and electrolytic aluminium.
Over the past 20 years, Prof Li’s team has carried out continuous research on carbon emissions from the power and industrial sectors in China and Southeast Asian countries. The team has participated in and led carbon capture and storage planning projects in six Asian countries, and developed emissions inventories covering China’s major high-emission industries, including power generation, cement, steel, chemicals, and electrolytic aluminium. This is consistent with the analysis of individual emission sources such as ground-based power plants and oilfields, and helps verify whether observed measurements reflect normal fluctuations or abnormal emissions.
Between 2022 and 2025, Prof Li’s team collaborated with Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP) under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and took part in a first-batch key research project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, which expanded the database to cover additional major emission sectors.
From left: Hong Kong SAR astronaut Lai Ka-ying, Prof Li Jia.
Prof Li Jia said that the opportunity to participate in space monitoring-related scientific research collaboration on behalf of Lingnan University was made possible by WJYSIS’ continued encouragement of cross-disciplinary integration, fostering collaborative research in environmental science, data analytics, and artificial intelligence; also, while the Chinese Mainland has taken a leading position in large-scale carbon capture and emissions reduction technologies, the Hong Kong SAR has many advantages in international academic networks and well-established research collaboration platforms, which promote scientific exchange, research related to sustainable development, and collaboration between China and the international community.
Council members of Lingnan University visit the Lingnan University Shenzhen Research Institute (LUSZRI).
Prof S. Joe Qin, President and Wai Kee Kau Chair Professor of Data Science at Lingnan University, said that in recent years, Lingnan University has actively promoted its Liberal Arts + Technology development strategy, encouraging faculty and students to conduct interdisciplinary research that addresses real-world issues. Lingnan researchers’ involvement in national space and carbon monitoring projects shows the University’s strong foundation in inter-university and interdisciplinary collaboration, and highlights its academic contributions to public development in environmental science, data analytics, and low-carbon research.
The MUSICO research project is co-led by Prof Su Hui, Chair Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Global STEM Professor at HKUST, and Prof Zhang Limin, Chair Professor and Head of the same department. Prof Zhai Chengxing, Associate Professor of the Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas is the mission system engineer, and other team members are Senior Scientific Officer Dr Rong Pingping, Assistant Professor Zhang Jize, and Associate Professor Wang Zhe from HKUST’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Professor Ning Zhi, Associate Professors Shi Xiaoming, and Gu Dasa from the Division of Environment and Sustainability; Associate Professor Ma Xiaojuan from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Professor Zhu Pengyu from the Division of Public Policy; Professor Gao Meng from Hong Kong Baptist University; and Associate Professor Li Jia from Lingnan University.
