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Visiting Researcher, the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London; PhD in Law, SOAS, University of London

Dr. (Eric) Yan-ho Lai is a visiting researcher at the Dickson Poon School of Law of King’s College London, and a non-resident fellow in Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University. Lai receives his PhD in Law at SOAS University of London, where his research focuses on the dynamics of legal transplant, legal professionalism and legal mobilisation in authoritarian regimes, as well as Hong Kong and Chinese law and politics, social movements, and international human rights. He is formerly a visiting fellow in Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Law fellow in Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University. He is currently a co-convenor of the Hong Kong Studies Association in the UK, and a country expert on Hong Kong for the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.

Experience

  • 2022–present
    Non-resident Fellow, Center for Asian Law, Georgetown University Law Center
  • 2021–2022
    Hong Kong Law Fellow, Center for Asian Law, Georgetown University Law Center
  • 2019–2020
    Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
  • 2019–2020
    Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Government and International Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University
  • 2018–2019
    Visiting Fellow, Centre for Comparative and Public Law, the University of Hong Kong

Education

  • 2022 
    SOAS University of London, PhD in Law
  • 2013 
    London School of Economics and Political Science, MSc Political Sociology
  • 2012 
    The Chinese University of Hong Kong, BSSc Government and Public Administration

Publications

  • 2022
    Securitisation or Autocratisation? Hong Kong’s Rule of Law under the Shadow of China’ Authoritarian Governance, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Vol. 58, No.1
  • 2022
    From Rule of Law to Rule by Fear: An Annual Review of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, In: JYS Cheng, T Lodén and L Stünkel (eds), Politics in East Asia Today: Between Democracy, Debates, and Discourse. Stockholm: Institute for Security and Development Policy, pp. 17-27.
  • 2022
    Departure from International Human Rights Law and Comparative Best Practice: HKSAR v Tong Ying Kit, Hong Kong Law Journal, Vol. 52, Part 2, pp.466 - 486.
  • 2021
    Unravelling Authoritarian Rule of Law in Hong Kong: From Post-Umbrella Resistance to the Anti-Extradition Bill Protests (破解香港的威權法治: 傘後與反送中以來的民主運動), Showwe Information, 2021, ISBN: 9789865540654
  • 2021
    Unravelling Authoritarian Rule of Law in Hong Kong: From Post-Umbrella Resistance to the Anti-Extradition Bill Protest (in Traditional Chinese), Xin-Rui Culture and Creation (Taiwan)
  • 2020
    Discernment of Spirits and Pastoral Circle in Social Movement: A Theological Reflection on Hong Kong’s Anti-extradition Movement, Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies Vol. 11
  • 2020
    Solidarity and Implications of a Leaderless Movement in Hong Kong: Its Strengths and Limitations, Communist and Post-communist Studies Vol. 53 (4)
  • 2019
    Lady Justice or the Golden Calf? The “China Factor” in Hong Kong's Legal System, Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, Vol. 15 (2)

Honours

Chevening Scholar