Dr Kris Hartley, Assistant Professor at the Department of Asian and Policy Studies (APS), The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), will embark on a six-month teaching fellowship at the Chiang Mai University (CMU) School of Public Policy in Thailand, where he will teach courses on public policy and smart cities. His semester-long engagement with CMU, beginning in January 2020, will generate new connections and collaborative opportunities for EdUHK in a country that is rapidly developing but facing numerous policy challenges.

An awardee of the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Teaching Fellowship, Dr Hartley is excited to pursue his academic and teaching development in the field of public policy through this flagship international educational exchange programme. “I am thrilled by the opportunity to extend my network and learn from public policy colleagues in Thailand. My most interesting ideas and projects, whether in teaching or research, have revealed themselves in collaborative settings. This fellowship will help to further facilitate that process,” he said.

Having joined EdUHK in December 2018, Dr Hartley’s passion for education is evident not only in his enthusiastic classroom demeanour but also in his role as a mentor for aspiring policy professionals. He expects the exchange programme to benefit CMU through engaged teaching. “My contribution will be to share with CMU colleagues and students my experiences in research and policy engagement throughout Asia, and to implement teaching and student engagement strategies I developed as a faculty member at Cornell, Melbourne University, and now EdUHK,” he said.

Dr Hartley’s Fulbright fellowship will deepen his expertise, providing an even richer classroom experience at EdUHK for years to come. “I am always searching for ways to make the classroom experience more meaningful, and any opportunity I have to exchange ideas with a new group of colleagues is valuable. I expect to bring back to EdUHK new pedagogical strategies and a deeper and more substantive understanding of my own discipline (public policy in Asia),” he said.

The award of the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Teaching Fellowship to Dr Hartley will help build on the MOU signed between the CMU and APS on 19 October 2017. APS looks forward to deepening academic and student mobility and expanding research collaboration between the two institutions.