Kris Hartley

Kris Hartley is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Asian and Policy Studies, Education University of Hong Kong. He researches development policy in Asia with a focus on innovation and technology. Kris is also a Nonresident Fellow for Global Cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and an Affiliated Scholar at the Center for Government Competitiveness at Seoul National University. Kris has previously held academic appointments at Cornell University, University of Melbourne, Vietnam National University, and Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, and during his doctoral studies was a visiting researcher at the University of Hong Kong and the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

With over a decade of public and private sector experience, Kris has worked with the United Nations, central and local government agencies in the United States, New Zealand, and Thailand, and research institutes in Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, and Australia. He has consulted on a variety of topics including compact growth strategies, sustainable development, transportation planning, earthquake recovery, and infrastructure management.

Kris’s research and consulting projects are connected by the overarching theme of new public policy models for the 21st century. His 2014 book (Routledge) addresses administrative reform and policy adaptation in the context of national competitiveness and global systemic unpredictability. His research has been published in a variety of academic journals including Telecommunications Policy, Geoforum, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Environmental Development, and City, Culture and Society. Additionally, Kris has pursued an active external engagement agenda, presenting at over 30 academic conferences, giving numerous broadcast interviews and invited lectures, and publishing over 100 commentaries in press venues including CNN International, China Daily, Huffington Post, and The Straits Times.

Kris holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore and a Master of City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. As a doctoral student, he held the President’s Graduate Fellowship and was awarded the 2016 Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize for best Ph.D. thesis in the Social Sciences.