The Air We Breathe - A Public Health Dialogue

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust is the largest community benefactor in Hong Kong, donating an average of $1 billion each year to charities and community projects. In recent years, the Trust has taken a more proactive approach in its charities donations, by identifying and generating projects that anticipate future community and social needs. These Trust-initiated projects include P.A.T.H.S. to Adulthood: A Jockey Club Youth Enhancement Scheme; CADENZA: A Jockey Club Initiative for Seniors; Read & Write: A Jockey Club Learning Support Network; FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society.

Civic Exchange

Civic Exchange is a Hong Kong-based non-profit public policy think tank established in 2000. It is an independent organisation that has access to policymakers, officials, businesses, media, and NGOs — reaching across sectors and borders. Civic Exchange has solid experience in air quality research and recent work in this area includes shipping-related air pollution and the health impacts of air pollution in southern China. It has also hosted a series of forums on the relationship between energy policy, air quality, buildings and climate change.

Clean Air Initiative-Asia for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) Center

CAI–Asia is a network of government agencies, NGOs, research institutes, international organisations, and private sector firms that aims to promote and demonstrate innovative ways to improve the air quality in Asian cities through partnerships and sharing experiences. The CAI-Asia Center is based in Manila and oversees a number of air quality management activities including the bi-annual Better Air Quality (BAQ) Conference.

Department of Community and Family Medicine, School of Public Health, Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Department of Community and Family Medicine provides leadership in and promotes undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education and research in community medicine, family medicine and other areas of public health. They collaborate with government, the World Health Organisation, and other agencies locally and overseas in education, research and the further development of community and family medicine services. Their research programme focuses on occupational and environmental health research, air pollution and health studies, elderly health, nutrition, and the epidemiology of infectious and chronic diseases, family medicine and health services research.

Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Hong Kong University

The Department of Community Medicine has contributed to the international literature and to the health of the local population in a wide spectrum of health and medical priority areas, including the epidemiology of chronic diseases (such as cancer and screening); the impact of tobacco on community health and the economy; tobacco control advocacy; infectious disease surveillance, transmission and control; the cost-effectiveness of vaccines; indoor and outdoor air pollution health effects; persistent organic pollutants in maternal and child health; health services research; health informatics and health economics; psycho-oncology and breast cancer research; and medical education. The Department has extensive experience conducting research on the health-related costs of air pollution, particularly focused on Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. In response to the SARS crisis, HKU established the School of Public Health and the Public Health Research Centre in 2004.

Hong Kong Transition Project at Hong Kong Baptist University

The Hong Kong Transition Project is a long-term study of Hong Kong people’s transition from British subjects to SAR citizens. Citizenship requires that citizens have the power to elect their own leaders and amend or approve their own constitutional documents. The project focuses on the time period beginning in 1982, when negotiations for Hong Kong’s return commenced without Hong Kong people’s participation as British colonial subjects, until 2007-2008 when under the Basic Law elections under new election rules decided by Hong Kong people themselves are scheduled to take place. It is headquartered at Hong Kong Baptist University, with academic members there, the University of Macau, City University, Lingnan University and the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

HKUST’s Institute for the Environment (IENV) is a multidisciplinary research organisation that focuses on a number of key environmental areas—air, water, solids/land, marine, and economy and society—to boost sustainable development and improve people’s lives. They focus on local and regional high impact studies, but also strive to advance worldwide understanding of the way the environment works and draw attention to Hong Kong as a centre for pioneering research in this field. IENV also seeks strong partnerships with government and academic institutions in the mainland, and engages in a variety of education and outreach activities.

Research Centre for Urban Environmental Technology & Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The Research Centre for Urban Environmental Technology and Management is designed to integrate and further develop the existing strengths in environmental engineering and management in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering into a leading centre of excellence in the region. The Research Centre has strengths in application-oriented research to develop pollution abatement and management technologies, as well as transferring developed technologies and know-how to local and regional users. The Centre also has a strong educational programme focusing on environmental engineers and other professionals by providing continuing professional development courses for life-long learning and problem solving through interdisciplinary partnership.

Hong Kong Thoracic Society

The Hong Kong Thoracic Society was founded by a group of physicians with special interest in thoracic medicine, they recognized the increasing number of physicians and surgeons who are having special interest in thoracic diseases and the need to form different subspecialty societies and associations locally.