Dr Shane Phillipson, HKIEd’s very own gifted education specialist, is Australian born of Lebanese-German parentage. He is married to Dr Sivanes Phillipson, who is not only Malaysian born of Indian-Chinese parentage, she also speaks five languages. Together, they have an eight-year-old son who is Australian-“made” but Hong Kong-raised.

“We have married each other four times so far in both elaborate and intimate ceremonies, in Malaysia and Australia. I like the idea of getting married to Sivanes every few years so that we can reaffirm our vows to each other” says Dr Phillipson, with a tender look at his wife. His sees their partnership in life as being similar to the Ginkgo Bilobo plant — each leaf has a shape that is not quite one, but it is not quite two either.

Looking back on his childhood, Dr Phillipson describes his school days rather curtly with the words “I loved learning, but hated school”. Being interested in the sciences, mathematics and biology, the education system during his time simply did not cater for children like him. That perhaps explains why he chose to carry out research in the under-achievement of gifted children, knowing that school education could be a determining factor. Dr Phillipson is now considered a specialist in gifted education, integrating the scientific, psychological and mathematical approaches to conceptions of giftedness.