UK Friends of HKU was unveiled on June 18, 2019 at a cocktail reception co-hosted by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. The charity was established to facilitate UK-based organisations and individuals to donate to HKU.
The launching reception was well-attended by past and present senior public officials, business leaders, alumni, and friends. They included Priscilla To 杜潔麗 (BSc(CompSc) 1992), current Director-General of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London; Lord David Wilson, alumnus and former Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong (1987-1992); and Martin Barrow, Director of Jardine Matheson Ltd and Committee Member of The Hong Kong Association in the UK.
The first gift to the UK Friends of HKU was received from a beloved member of the HKU family, the late Professor Ian Davies. The Ian Davies Professorship in Ethics was created with a generous endowment and reflects the late professor’s life-long dedication to upholding ethics in the workplace. During his two-decade long career at HKU, he took up distinguished roles including the Dean of Dentistry, and became the University’s 13th Vice-Chancellor (2000-2002).
Maggie Crosswaite, one of the executors of Professor Davies’ estate and a long-time colleague at HKU said, “His whole career, be it in dentistry or later on in the University’s management, was ethics-driven. Upholding honourable and professional behaviour was his guiding principle at all times.”
“Ian instructed the executors that a large part of his estate must be donated to HKU. We believe that an Endowed Professorship in Ethics is the most appropriate way to remember our dear friend’s legacy,” she continued.
Professor Simon Lam 林誠光 from the Faculty of Business and Economics was named as the first Ian Davies Professor in Ethics. He will embark on a new research project analysing ethical leadership in China.
The Professorship, which should rotate every three years with the possibility of renewal, will be eligible for all HKU faculties.
“ The mission is to support the advancement of education connected with HKU, and its past and present students. ”
George Payne
Chairman, UK Friends of HKU